Widely found and easy to identify, violets are sweet and perfumed in flavor. Add the tender leaves and flowers to salads. Heart-shaped leaves are edible, and tasty when cooked like spinach. Flowers beautifully embellish desserts and iced drinks. Freeze them in punches to delight children and adults alike. Flowers also make attractive adornments for frosted cakes, sorbets, or any other desserts, and they may be crystallized as well.
Rich in vitamin C and valued for many medicinal and well as culinary uses, recipes for edible violets abound in old recipe books and herbals. As with all edible flowers, use only varieties that have been organically grown and never sprayed.
