Yesterday morning you would have found me sitting in my little front yard with a bowl and a pair of scissors. The 9 year olds riding their bikes up and down the street looked at me oddly, as I sat and one by one picked violets. You see, I needed to finally cut my grass, having resisted thus far and it getting quite long. But as I considered doing so, I was crushed by the thought of cutting all the beautiful and edible violets. The dark purple ones were in high bloom last week, and the white-purple varieted ones now. So, I sat there and picked most of them, one by one, and enjoyed every second of it…

These past few weeks I’ve been really into eating violets– like a lot, every day. I taught a section of a class a few weeks ago on edible flowers, and inspired myself. I was frustrated because it was too early in the season to find many, and definitely I have no interest in paying $4+ for ones in the specialty stores (though am considering growing and selling them TO the specialty stores since some people will pay that much)… And alas one of the most precious edible flowers was right there all around me. Violets.

I eat by color, so adding something like violets to food is quite the visual delight. I’ve been focusing on deserts, which is great, because I’m not a sweets person and don’t usually eat or crave desert– but I could stand to gain a few pounds, and I have to say the thought of eating flowers makes me want to eat desert, just for the visual stimulation. I made this pineapple-orange-ginger puree (literally, some pineapple, orange, and ginger– pureed) that I put atop vanilla icecream, sprinkled violets, and garnished with basil. The basil actually was what made the dish, and makes me much more intrigued to use it in sweet things. The yellow and purple contrast, with the touch of green, was a perfect color combo. Last night I had angel food cake with the season’s first strawberries and violets. Loved the red & purple together.

We’ll see what’s next on the menu– I skipped mowing my side yard so I’d have more to come!