About this Recipe

Cocktail parties are those 'Glam Events' with fancy foods and drinks. This recipe for Wild Violet Syrup Cocktail offers us a bit of fun! This cocktail recipe made with freshly picked violets was made and shared by Marcia at a "Ladies of the Palate" event I was part of. You can serve this with club soda for a non alcoholic version or you can serve with gin or vodka.

We haven't got a lot of experience in Grandmother's kitchen using wild flowers in recipes yet and are going to try out some of the recipes offered by Stephanie. We do grow and use a variety of fresh herbs all the time in our dressings and to flavor our savory and sweet recipes.

Be sure to check out the beautiful website created by Stephanie Rose that teaches the use of Garden Therapy (Read more)

Grandmother's Kitchen Tips:

1. Use fresh herbs in your kitchen as much as possible. It is not only fragrant to have fresh herbs at your fingertips, it also adds color, flavor, minerals and vitamins to your diet.

2. For a small balcony or window garden, we suggest you purchase herbs that are already growing in the 4-inch pots. Seeds take a long time to germinate and it is often discouraging waiting for the seeds to turn into something that is big enough to enjoy. If you have large gardens that have tons of space you may use seeds as well, but for instant results the already grown herbs and flowers are very satisfying.

3. If you don't have space to grown your own herbs, you can also purchase them cut and fresh in many grocery stores. You can take that 'bunch' of parsley, cilantro, thyme or whatever is available and put the bunch into a glass with a little water in the bottom. Place them into the refrigerator and pinch off and use as needed.You will be amazed how long they stay fresh with this method. We suggest giving them wash before using as they likely have been handled a lot.

4. If you are uncertain how to clean your herbs read here Grandmother's Guide to Washing Fruits and Veggies

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Ingredients

(Print)

Makes 8 servings

1 cup fresh-picked violets, rinsed clean

1 cup boiling water

1 cup sugar (or you can substitute honey or sweetener of your choice)

club soda

Gin or Vodka (optional)

Directions

1. Pour the boiling water over the violets in a medium sized bowl and let sit at room temperature covered with plastic wrap overnight on the kitchen counter.

2. Next day, strain the liquid into a small saucepan. Press down on the flowers with a rubber spatula to release all the liquid. Discard the violets. Add the sugar to the saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking until the sugar has dissolved.

3. Remove from the heat. Let cool completely.

4. Pour your violet simple syrup into a sterilized mason jar and refrigerate until chilled.

5. When the syrup is chilled pour an ounce or so into a glass and fill with club soda. If you like you can first moisten the rim of the jar and make a sugared rim. Garnish with fresh violets.

6. IF you are making an alcoholic beverage add gin or vodka to the violet syrup. Add ice and serve.

You can also freeze the violet syrup in ice cube trays and put them into a drink glass adding a little bit of vodka or gin to the ice cubes. It is a nice little cocktail for a special occasion.

Thanks to Stephanie Rose for the Original recipe here at: Garden Therapy's Sweet Spring Cocktail

"Here is A Bartender's Guide to the Cocktail Party"

Cocktail parties are easy to give because they are less demanding then a full on dinner party. The host needs to provide some interesting little plates with edibles on them and some good drinks. The drinks can be alcoholic and non-alcoholic and for the 'bar portion' here are things to consider.

1. Glasses

Have appropriate glassware, spotlessly clean and have more glasses than guests in case of breakage or someone extra showing up. Have wine glasses, or beer glasses, or highball or whatever stemware is going to suit the cocktails you are serving. A great place to obtain glassware are the second hand stores. Often you can get whole sets of beautiful stemware for just a few dollars.

2. Hardware

The host needs to be prepared for the necessary tools to open bottles and mix drinks. Generally a corkscrew,a cap remover, a jigger for measuring and a long handled bar-spoon and stirrer will cover most drinks. You also need a good sharp knife for cutting bottle seals, slicing lemons and picks for spearing olives. Ice picks if using block ice and ice tongs for ice cubes.

3. Ice

You can never have too much ice. When you are serving cold drinks you need to be sure you are well stocked. Many drinks are 'on the rocks' so you need lots of rocks! Think about how many guests are coming and how many drinks you potentially will be serving when you are calculating how much ice to have on hand. Also make sure you are using ice cubes made from good clean non-chlorinated filtered water so you don't change the flavor of drink with bad ice.

Water can taste very poor directly from the tap and if you don't normally drink it because it tastes bad from the tap, it is also going to taste bad made into an ice cube, so just be mindful about the ice.

4. Mixers

The most important companion to alcohol is the mixer. Club soda, carbonated waters, soda drinks and juices all need to be planned into whatever is on the drink menu.

5. Garnish

Some drinks are garnished with fruits and vegetables. Make sure they are fresh, clean and colorful. It is easier to slice lemons or limes ahead of time and have them in a nice little bowl. Olives are easier to deal with if they are out of their large jar and placed in a bowl. Make the 'bar' area just as attractive and appealing as the food area.

6. Quantities

On the whole, entertaining people you know, you have a pretty good idea of how much each one will consume. However, a general rule would be 3 drinks per person over a 2 hour period of time.

References: Grand Diplome Cooking Course (1972, Hardcover), William Anne. Danbury Press.