It started on my quarantine birthday. One of my dearest friends who, like us, had not left the house for weeks, agreed to break the rules of quarantine to come walk in the woods with me on my birthday. We were headed out to look for morel mushrooms, which we found. More on that in an article to come. But my birthday present sparked a journey. My friend brought me a jar of violet jelly.
My cocktail subscription box (also more on that in an article to come) contained a recipe that used jam this month. The recipe was the genius concoction of Sother Teague. And after drinking it I became enamored with the idea of using jams and jellies as a sweetener in cocktails, and I had just vowed to learn more.
If you have read the blog at all, you know that my favorite drink is the Aviation, typically made with creme de violette. But, violet jelly? Honestly, I can’t say I knew it existed let alone how to get it. Many stories were told that day, and among them was the story of how my friend made her violet jelly which got me thinking: I wonder if you could make your own creme de violette?
Let me just say that trying to find a recipe to make creme de violette reminded me of the time I tried to search for Bare Naked Ladies concert tickets on the office computer. That is, Google does not always understand. Every time I googled “ creme de violette recipe” I would get recipes for drinks made with creme de violette rather than a recipe for how to make creme de violette. Searching for how to make creme de violette was not much more help. What recipes I did find were in short supply, and they completely contradicted one another for the most part. Some people soak the violets in alcohol. Some people soak them in water. Soaking times varied from two days to two weeks, and the alcohol added also varied. Basically, I was left to take a stab at it.
I started with the picking. I filled three pint jars with as many woodland violets as I could fit. I should pause here to say that I did see quite a few warnings that this recipe should never be tried with African violets. They are not at all the same and can be poisonous.
After I had violets I sifted through them to remove as many stems as humanly possible. Then I put the violets in about 2 quarts of water and slowly heated the water up, almost to a boil. One recipe I found cautioned me not to boil the violets. I’m not sure what difference it would make, but I didn’t boil them, so I can’t say. To be safe I would heat the water slowly and make sure it never reaches a boil. Let the water and violets cool. Once it is cool, put it in an airtight container, and store it in the refrigerator. I left mine in there for about a week.
One recipe I read suggested soaking the violets in vodka. Another suggested gin. As much as I love gin, creme de violette tastes nothing like gin. Instead, it taste like… violets. Shocker. As a result I harkened back to my Italian heritage and the making of limoncello and decided to go my own direction and use Everclear. I know most people like vodka, because it has very little flavor, but I felt like a grain alcohol base was a better idea.
What recipes I could find agreed that simple syrup and alcohol should be added, but they could not agree to the ratio of syrup or the amount of alcohol. I added one cup of alcohol for each quart of liquid. I also made my simple syrup heavy syrup, with two parts sugar and one part water. (1 c. sugar and 1/2 c. water) I heated the syrup and then cooled it before adding it.
When you’re ready for mixing, strain and press the violets. The flowers that are left will look almost white. Make the simple syrup, heating it if necessary to dissolve the sugar, and allowing it to cool before adding it to the violet liquid. Mix violet liquid, syrup, and alcohol together, and you are ready to bottle it. It really is that simple. I put some of mine in smaller jars to give as gifts. Good luck, and let me know how it goes in the comments!