Violet Syrup

Green, Magenta and Lavender Violet Syrup

Violet syrup is historically one of the most common ways to prepare violets. It has been used to ease coughs, congestion and sore throats. The preparation of violet syrup has not changed over the centuries. To make your own violet syrup, you will want to pick the deepest colored violets you can find. They are easy to harvest by simply sliding your fingers up the stem and plucking off the head. Surprisingly, you will need to pick about twice as many violets as you expect to in order to obtain dark colored syrup. Many North American varieties of violets do not have a fragrance, this is ok. They syrup is lovely to look at, and is refreshing to taste.

An interesting fact to take note of, violet syrup will turn magenta if you add an acid to it (lime or lemon juice), and it will turn green if you add an alkaline to it (rose water). Violets were used to test alkaline or acid before the invention of litmus paper. Naturally, I also had to play with the colors. Above you will note the olive green color of the syrup flavored with rose water, the magenta color of the syrup flavored with lemon juice on the left, and the natural lavender color of the syrup on the right.

Syrup of Violets

Take a ratl of fresh violet flowers, and cover them with three ratls of boiling water, and boil until their substance comes out; then take the clean part of it and mix it with four ratls of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya and a half of this with three of hot water. Its benefits are in the fever of jaundice, it cuts thirst and lightens the body gently, and benefits in dry coughs, but it weakens the stomach.

An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century

To Make Syrupe of Violets.

Take your Violets, and pick the flowers, and weigh them, and then put them into a quart of water, and steepe them vpon hot embers, vntill such time as the flowers be turned white, and the water as blew as any violet, then take to that quart of infusion and take foure pound of clarified Suger, & boyle it till it come to a syrupe, scumming them and boyling them vpon a gentle fire, least it turne his colour, and being boyled, put the Syrupe vp and keepe it.

A Closet for Ladies and Gentlevvomen, 1608

154. _To make Syrup of Violets._
Take Violets clipped clean from the Whites, to every Ounce of Violets take two Ounces of Water, so steep them upon Embers till the Water be as blew as a Violet, and the Violets turned white, then put in more Violets into the same Water, and again the third time, then take to every Quart of Water four Pounds of fine Sugar, and boil it to a Syrup, and keep it

for your use; thus you may also make Syrup of Roses.

The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet Stored With All Manner Of Rare Receipts For Preserving, Candying And Cookery. Very Pleasant And Beneficial To All Ingenious Persons Of The Female Sex, 1672

393. _To make_ SYRRUP OF VIOLETS.Take violets and pick them; to every pound of violets put a pint of water, when the water is just ready to boil put it to your violets, and stir them well together, let them infuse twenty four hours and strain them; to every pound of syrrup, take almost two pounds of sugar, beat the sugar very well and put it into your syrrup, stir it that the sugar may dissolve, let it stand a day or two, stirring it two or three times, then set it on the fire, let be but warm and it will be thick enough.

English Housewifery Exemplified In above Four Hundred and Fifty Receipts Giving Directions for most Parts of Cookery, 1764

The Syrup of Sweet Violets should be made as follows: To one pound of sweet violet flowers freshly picked, add two-and-a-half pints of boiling water: infuse these for twenty-four hours in a glazed china vessel, then pour off the liquid, and strain it gently throughmuslin; afterwards add double its weight of the finest loaf sugar, and make it into a syrup, but without letting it boil.

Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure, 1897

The process of making the syrup is very simple. Below is the process I used, although with a little bit of research, you will discover that there are multiple methods readily available on the internet.

2 cups tightly packed fresh violet flowers, cleaned and dried
2 cups boiling water

Place violets in a glass, bring water to a boil and pour over violets. Let sit until flowers turn white. Strain flowers from water, add equal amount of sugar (in this case 2 cups) to water, and let boil for approximately five minutes. Pour hot syrup into glass jar and cool.

~Enjoy

Sugar and Gum Arabic Preserved Flowers

It is spring, and with spring comes a field full of lovely flowers, specifically, the bright purples of the common violet and brilliant yellows of the dandelion.  What? You say…the dandelion…a flower…it’s a weed. We will touch more upon the dandelion later.

The common violet, also known as sweet violet, blue violet or garden violet is a native of Europe. It has naturalized throughout North America.  There are approximately 400-500 species of Violets. The name comes from the Greek Ione. 

Io was a prestess of the goddess Juno, who was the wife of the king of the god's Jupiter.  She was a jealous goddess. Jupiter was also a feckless and unfaithful husband, and he fell in love with Io.  In an attempt to hide his affair from his wife, Jupiter changed Io into a white cow. He created a purple flower with heart shaped leaves for her to heat.  The flowers bear her name.

The ancient greeks considered violets a symbol of fertility and love, and they were oftentimes used in love potions.  The Empress Josephine was fond of violets, and it is rumored that Napoleon picked violets from her garden and kept them with him as a reminder of her in a locket.

Violets were used medievally in cooking. The leaves were eaten in salads, and the flowers were used in cooking to impart their color and flavor to vinegar, sugars and syrups. Use caution when eating violets, taken in large quantity, they do have a laxative effect.  

Harleian MS 279 features a recipe for Vyolette, a kind of putting made with rice flower, milk, sugar and violets. 

.lxxxxj. Vyolette. Nym Almaunde Mylke, an flowre of Rys, and pouder Gyngere, Galyngale Pepir, Datis, Fygys, & Rasonys y-corven, an coloure it with Safroun, an boyle it & make it chargeaunt; an whan thou dressyste, take the flowres, and hew he, an styre it there-with; nyme the braunchew with the flowres, an  sette a-boue and serue it Forth.

And another Recipe for Vyolette.

.Cxxv. Vyolette.--Take flourys of Vyolet, boyle hem, presse hem, bray hem smal, temper hem vppe, with Almaunde mylke, or gode Cowe Mylke, a-lye it with Amyndoun, or Flowre of Rys; take Sugre y-now, an putte there-to, or nony in defaute; coloure it with the same that the flowrys be on y-peyntid a-boue.

Violets also had medical useage.  They were used to cure fevers, to be rid of wicked spirits, to treat insomnia, headache, catarrh and to relieve inflammation of cold and chest.

I have been playing this past two weeks with preserving flowers.  Granted, the recipes below are late for the SCA, but the method may have existed in period, and the book “A Queen’s Delight” is often found on the “must read” list.

The Queen’s delight lists many different kinds of flowers that can be candied, conserved, preserved or distilled so that they may be used later in the season; Clove-Gilly flowers, Hyssop, Roses, Borage, Lavender, Peony, Rosemary and Violets.  I took a few liberties with the recipe “To Candy Rosemary-flowers in the Sun”, and (re)created candied or crystalized violets, pansies and dianthus (clove-gilly flower).  I hope to continue the method with roses and mint for a project later in the year. 

“Take Gum-Dragon, and steep it in Rose-water, then take the Rosemary flowers, good coloured, and well pickt, and wet them in the water that your Gum dragon is steeped in, then take them out, and lay them upon a paper, and strew fine Sugar over them; this do in the hot sun, turning them, and strewing Sugar on them, till they are candied, and so keep them for your use.”

A QUEENS Delight; OR, The Art of Preserving, Conserving and Candying. London: 1671

The method is simple and I have included the instructions here if you wish to try to create your own candied flowers.

Ingredients:

1 Disposable grill screen

1 Cookie tray

Wax Paper

Small Paintbrush

Superfine sugar*

1/4 Cup rosewater

1 Tbsp. Gum Arabic

Small Jar with Lid

Herbicide/Pesticide free edible flowers

Air tight storage container

Melt the gum arabic into the rosewater.  I suspect the rosewater is more for scent then actual culinary useage so you can (and I did) use about half the rosewater and the rest water.  When the gum arabic has melted into your rosewater it will form a honey colored liquid.  You can leave it in the jar for a few days if you wish.  

Pansies, Dianthus, Violets

Wash your flowers and dry them carefully (excess water will make the sugar form ugly clumps and the flowers will take longer to dry). Remove stems and leaves.  Dip the paint brush into the gum arabic and paint your flowers, making sure that you paint all of them as best you can.  Sprinkle with sugar. Place flowers on screen or waxed paper and let dry for several days.  I preferred the screen because it let air in around the entire flower.  I imaging if you use waxed paper you may need to flip the flowers over about halfway through the drying process to dry thoroughly.

Painted and sugared

As an added step.  I heated my oven to it's lowest setting (170 degrees), then turned off the heat when I began painting the flowers.  I was afraid that the wet weather we were experiencing might affect the flowers drying.  The oven had cooled off considerably by the time I had finished painting all of my flowers.  Most of the flowers dried overnight.  

There are alternative methods that use unflavored gelatine and egg whites if you want something quick that you may not be eating but using strictly as decoration.  Many sites on the internet have directions for these methods.  

My daughter and her friends really enjoyed eating the violets. So much so that they ate the entire first batch! They were described as "being fruity with a hint of flower" and "not bad at all".  I think they taste sort of like violets smell a kind of sweet, grapey-ish (yeah that's a word) flavor.  I didn't care for the pansies or the dianthus. They were very chewy.

Drying on Screen

*To make your own superfine sugar, take granulated sugar and put in your mixer, pulse for several seconds until the sugar looks like fine grained sand.  Ta-dah! 

Canabenys with Lekys - White Beans with Leeks

Canabenys with Lekys  2 For to make canabenez: Take white beans. Ley hem in watyr rennyng too days, and chaunge the watyr. Take hem dry, then dry hem hard uppon a ston or apron a este. Then shylle them in a mylle, and do away the holys; and cleve the benys iii or iiii at the most. And then take hem clene. And so may thou kepe hem as longe as thou wylte. 3 Canabens. Take kanbens. Wesch hem, and yf thu wilte stepe hem a lytyll, & make hem up with mylke of almondys. Put therto, sugure and salt. Out of lentyn, make hem up with cowe mylke, and put therto sygure and salt and buttyrr claryfyde. 4 Canabens with Bacon. Do suete brothe yn a potte. Wesche the canabens clene and do therto, and boyle yt up: put no other lykure therto. Loke they be salte, & serve hem. Take ribbys of bacon boylyd; do away the skyn and ley hem on a dysch, and serve hem forthe as ye serve venson with formente yn brothe. This weekend I will be serving "Canabenys with Lekys", a recipe that I have wanted to try since I first discovered Constance Hieatt's "Ordinance of Pottage". I used Hieatt's redacted recipe (see below) with a few twists of my own. Like Hieatt, my recipe is a combination of 3 and 4 above; however, my version is vegetarian. I substituted vegetarian sausage crumbles for the bacon or salt pork, and 50/50 mixture of homemade vegetarian stock and store bought vegetable broth for the broth. Additional changes include garlic instead of the savory and onions in addition to leeks. The beans of the ancient and medieval world were "broad or fava beans". They originated in the Mediterranean or Southeast Asia regions. Archeological evidence suggests the broad bean in use during the Neolithic period (6800 - 6500 BCE) in Israel. Egyptians, Romans and Greeks enjoyed them, and Apicius has a recipe for a preparation of these beans in his "De Re Coquinaria". Broad or fava beans are known by many different names; faba, field bean, bell bean, tic bean and the "horse bean". They are oftentimes grown as a ground cover crop, and fed to livestock. Dried Beans with Leeks -Constance Hieatt "Ordinance of Pottage" 1 C. dried beans (period appropriate would be fava--I used white kidney beans) 1/4 slab bacon or salt pork 6 cups meat broth 1 tsp. savory 1/2 tsp. salt 2 bunches of leeks (approximately 5 cups chopped) small handful of parsley 1/2 pound fresh greens Cover the beans with boiling water and soak for an hour. Drain, and rub off the skins from all the beans (not as tedious a job as it may sound). Put them in a pot with the broth, meat, savory and salt. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat, leaving the pot simmering gently. Trim the leeks, discarding the coarse dark green tops. Slice them, and if they are large chop them roughly, then wash thoroughly and add them to the beans. Continue cooking until the beans are very soft and beginning to disintegrate (about 45 minutes). Next, drain the broth through a colander into a large pot or bowl. Discard any bone or rind, with most but not all of the fat. Put what remains of the meat into a processor or blender, with the vegetables from the colander and a little of the broth (you will probably have to do this in two batches.) Process until fairly smooth, but not to the point of reducing it to baby food, then return ti all to the pot with the rest of the broth. Bring to a boil, then add parsley and greens (washed and chopped) and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Taste for salt and serve hot (Hieatt, An Ordinance of Pottage; An Edition of The Fifteenth Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University's MS Beinecke 163, 1988). As mentioned previously, my version was vegetarian and I found it to be good but a bit bland. It certainly blows the idea of medieval food being highly spiced and over seasoned out of the water, I can promise that. Follow up: The soup was a hit at the event over the weekend, despite the fact that the electric outlet kept blowing a circuit and it was being served cool to lukewarm. I'm definitely going to keep working on this and add it to my repertoire of "good things for feast". I even convinced a young lady who really dislikes onions to try it. Leeks are much milder in flavor and she actually took home a second and third helping:-D Works Cited Hieatt, C. B. (1988). An Ordinance of Pottage; An Edition of The Fifteenth Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University's MS Beinecke 163. London: Prospect Books.

A Selection of Dishes from Harleian MS 279 published approximately 1430 -Capon or Goose Stuffed, Pickle for the Mallard (Onion Jam), Let lory (Fresh Cheese)

Capoun Farced, Let Lory (top right) & Pickle for the Mallard

Baronial 12th Night Recipe

February 20th was the date selected to have a cook's gathering in my local Barony. However, the weather and illness proved extremely uncooperative and we were unable to meet. The decision to cancel was made after I had started cooking the food I was going to bring. Pictured above are the items that would have been served at this gathering; Capoun or Gos Farced, Let Lory and Pickle for the mallard. Below are the orginal recipes as they appears here: Two Fifteenth-Century Cookbooks - Harliean MS 279, the translated recipes and the redactions need to be credited to Cindy Renfrow and her excellent book "Take a Thousand Eggs or More". If you are interested in cooking in this time period, consider investing in this book. Also, please note that I included my notes that I sent out to the other individuals who were supposed to be joining me at the gathering. All in all, I would have to say I had two extremely successful and well received dishes and one so-so dish. 


Original Recipe: XXXV. Capoun or gos farced. — Take Percely, & Swynys grece, or Sewet of a schepe, & parboyle hem to-gederys til J^ey ben tendyr; J^an take harde plkys of Eyroun, & choppe for-w/tA ; caste ])er-to Pouder Pepir, Gyngere, Canel, Safroun, & Salt, & grapis in tyme of jere, & clowys y-nowe ; & for defawte of grapis, Oynons, fyrst wil y-boylid, & afterward alle to-choppyd, & so stufFe hym & roste hym, & serue hym forth. And jif ]70 lust, take a litil Porke y-sode, & al to-choppe hit smal a-mong )7«to|ier ; for it wol be J^e better, & namely ^ for ]>e Capoun.


Translated: 35. Capon or Goose stuffed. Take parsley & swines grease, or suet of a sheep, and parboil them together till they are tender; then take hard yolks of eggs, and chop forthwith; cast thereto powdered pepper, ginger, cinnamon, saffron & salt & grapes in time of year, and cloves enough; & for default of grapes, onions, first well boiled & afterward all chopped, & so stuff him & roast him, & serve him forth. And if thee like, take a little pork seethed, & all chop it small among that other; for it will be the better, & especially for the capon.


Interpreted Recipe

Stuffed Goose or Capon – Serves 8-10 – Basic recipe – note variations to follow

1 capon, approximately 6 pounds
1 cup chopped parsley
¼ cup water
½ cup fatty chicken broth
2 tbs. bacon fat, lard or suet
2 small onions peeled and chopped –or- ½ cup seedless grapes
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ginger
Dash of pepper
½ tsp. cinnamon powder
3 hardboiled egg yolks (or 1 hardboiled egg)

Note: The recipe calls for onions well boiled. Ms. Renfrow does not do this step in her recipe. I would strongly suggest that you boil the onions and chop finely when cooled before proceeding with the recipe.

Put parsley, water, broth and fat and onions in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook for five minutes. Remove the pot from heat. Remove the parsley and onions from the bowl and put them in a bowl. Add spices, salt and hardboiled egg to the parsley and onions and blend thoroughly. Stuff the capon with this mixture. Place the bird in a roasting pan and roast at 350 degrees for 1 ½ - 2 hours or until the juices run clear when poked with a fork. Remove the bird from the oven and place on a serving dish. Scoop out stuffing and serve separately, if desired. Serve hot.

Variation One: add saffron to the stuffing.

Variation Two: Add ¼ tsp. clove powder along with the grapes instead of onions.

Variation Three: Simmer a ½ pound of mild spiced pork sausage (or sage sausage) in ½ cup water until no pink remains. Drain sausage and add to any of the stuffing variations.

I used Variation three with a bit of modification. I used 1 small onion and 1/2 cup red grapes, along with a clove and the sausage. This was delicious. It had rave reviews from my daughter, her boyfriend and an older family friend. Even my husband who despises anything green or "weird" ate the chicken with no muss or complaints. This is definitely on my "things to cook at a future SCA Feast list."

Original Recipe: PikkyH ipotir le Mallard. ^ Take oynons, and hewe hem smaH, and fry hem in fressh grace, and caste hem into a potte, And fressh broth of beef, Wyne, & powder of poper, canel, and dropping of the mallard/ And lete hem boile togidur awhile ; And take hit fro ]>e ijre, and caste thereto mustard a litul, And ponder of ginger. And lete hit boile no more, and salt hit, And seme it forthe with j^e Mallard.

Translated: 36. Pickle for the Mallard. Take onions, and hew them small, and fry them in fresh grease, and cast them into a pot, and fresh broth of beef, wine & powder of pepper, cinnamon, and drippings of the mallard/ And let them boil together awhile; And take it from the fire, and cast thereto mustard a little, and powder of ginger, and let it boil no more, and salt it and serve it forth with the Mallard.

Interpreted Recipe

Pickle for the Mallard – Makes 2 ½ cups Serves 4 (Again, this is enough for 1 table of 8 during a feast-use your best judgment)

3 medium onions chopped
2 tbsp. oil or lard
½ cup beef broth (you should be able to sub chicken or 50/50 beef/ chicken mix)
½ cup white wine
¼ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. melted duck fat (if available, otherwise you should be able to sub out for oil, chicken fat, or lard)
½ tsp. dry mustard
½ tsp. ginger
1 tsp. salt

In large skillet over medium heat, fry the onions in oil until they are transparent, add the broth, wine, pepper, cinnamon, duck fat, and let the mixture boil until the flavors are mixed, about 10 minutes. Add mustard, ginger, and salt. Stir. Reduce heat. Serve hot with duck (capon, chicken, or goose).

Another recipe that received rave reviews to my captive audience and yes, this will also appear in a future feast. I sliced the onions in half, and then sliced each half into long slivers following the "ribs" of the onion as a guideline. I cooked the onions until they were translucent and then set them aside. Later I was able to skim off some of the chicken fat and used it in place of the 2 tbsp. of melted duck fat. After the chicken was out of the oven and resting, I completed this relish. I believe this would be good with beef as well as pork.

Original Recipe: Mviij. Let lory. — Take Mylke, an sette it ouer ]>e fyre; take Salt & Safroun, an caste ]7er-to ; take yroun, ]7e pike an J^e Whyte y-strainyd a lyte,^ & caste it j^er-to ; whan ]>e Mylke his skaldyng bote, caste ]!e stuf ]7er-to, an Jienne stere yt tyll it crodde ; and jif ])o\i wolt haue it a-forsyd with lyjt coste, Take ylke, & make it skaldyng bote, & caste ]7er-to Paw pikes of Eyroun, Sugre, ponder Gyngere, Clowes, Maces, an let not fully boyle ; & so bote, drcsse it forth, an ley it on ]>e crodde ; & jif ]>o\i wolt a-forse it in maner of charlet, do it in fasty??g dayis, & serue it forth.

Translated: 58: Larded Milk: Take milk and set it over the fire; take salt and saffron and cast thereto; take eggs, the yolk and the white strained a little and cast it thereto; when the Milk is scalding hot, cast the stuff thereto, and then stir it till it curdles: and if thou will have it seasoned with little cost, take Milk and make it scalding hot, and cast thereto raw yolks of eggs, sugar, powdered ginger, cloves, maces, and let it not fully boil; & so hot dress it forth, and lay it on the curd; and if thou will season it in manner of charlet, do it in fasting days, & serve it forth. 

Note: Rather than making the cheese (first part of recipe) purchase small curd cottage cheese instead, mix it with saffron, and top it with the egg sauce.

Interpreted Recipe  Let Lory – serves 4

4 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
2 beaten eggs (remove stringy white bits)
Pinch of saffron

Bring milk, salt and saffron to a boil in a 2 quart saucepan. Add the beaten eggs and stir. Form curds by alternately heating and cooling the mixture. Stir until it starts to curdle.

**Alternatively

Add 2 tsp. vinegar will make curds form faster.

Remove from heat when curds have formed and allow cooling completely. Place several layers of cheesecloth in a strainer and place strainer over a large bowl. Spoon the cheese mixture into the cheesecloth and allow draining until the drips start to slow down. Lift the cheesecloth bag without spilling the contents and squeeze gently until all whey has been removed.

Spoon the drained curds into a dish and top with the warm egg sauce before serving.

Egg Sauce

1 cup milk
1 tbsp. sugar
3 beaten egg yolks
½ tsp ginger (or to taste)
¼ tsp. each clove and mace

Heat milk to scalding hot and remove from heat. When cooled slightly, stir a spoonful of the milk into the beaten eggs yolks. Add the egg yolk mixture to the milk and stir. Heat gently while stirring. Add spices and stir until sauce reaches desired thickness—do not boil. Remove from the heat, spoon over the curds, and serve warm.

This is a so-so dish for a few reasons. Let's start with the positives, it is a very pretty dish to look at, pale yellow creamy curds drenched with a custard sauce. It somewhat resembles a very sweet cottage cheese and it is a very filling dish. That being said, it was not the most flavorful dish. It was bland compared to the other dishes it was served aside. Also, the really big negative for me, is that it was a very fussy dish--it needed babysat. You have to be very careful not to burn the milk, and once the curds started to form (I used the alternative and added vinegar), you need to keep a very close eye on it. I didn't, so my curds were "slightly smoky" on the back end.

Use this as a cautionary tale--if you are going to make cheese, ignore any and all distractions including messages from friends, company at the back door, and the dog's sudden need to urinate. That quickly you will go from a wonderfully delicious, decadent treat, to a mass of burnt curds. In this case, I had a very small area in the pan that was lightly browned and it ruined the whole dish.

That being said, I am not opposed to making this if I am serving a royal luncheon or a small group of people. If I were to do this at a feast, I would need an experienced cheesemaker whose entire time would be spent making this dish one batch at a time. *THAT* is why this dish is not something I could recommend for a future event. There are much more delightful things to cook that require the same degree of care and attentiveness this recipe needs.

However, I will be experimenting with this in the future, this might very well a dish that can be made a day or two ahead, and then served. If so, this will appear, quite probably as something on the table. One of my friends smeared it on his sourdough and declared it "better then butter".

#medievalfood #scafeast #scacook #historicfood #harleianMS279