violet lemonade recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: drink
 
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup water
  • ⅓ cup edible violet petals, gently rinsed of grit
  • 5 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 lemons, juiced (about ½ cup of juice)
  • A splash of seltzer, optional
  • 1 to 2 drops of violet essence, optional*
  • Ice
  • Fresh violets to garnish
Instructions
  1. Heat the water to almost boiling, allow to sit for a couple of minutes, then add in the beautiful violet petals. Over the next few minutes, the water will turn a bluish or greenish color as the flower petals steep.
  2. Add the sugar to the warm violet water and stir to dissolve.
  3. Add the lemon juice and watch the color turn more purple-pink. Give the mixture a stir and steep for at least an hour. Cool to room temperature, strain over ice, add a splash of seltzer water to each glass, and serve with violet garnish.
  4. You can steep up to 3 days in the refrigerator if desired, for a darker hue. For the pictures you see above, I steeped for about three hours.
  5. Makes 2 lovely drinks.
  6. A note on the ice: For the extra-fancy folk, reserve some petals for the ice cube tray. For each cube well, sprinkle in a petal or two, fill with water, freeze, and use with the lemonade.
Notes
* Adding the violet essence is totally optional. I find it brings out the subtle floral taste of the petals, seeing as I do not have the wonderfully fragrant sweet English violets but the bland and visually brilliant common blues.

Important note: I will repeat this on each of my posts about edible violets. African violets are NOT the same as edible violets, genus Viola. Repeat: African violets are in the genus Saintpaulia and NOT edible!
Recipe by story of a kitchen at https://www.storyofakitchen.com/drink-recipes/violet-lemonade-recipe/