I’ve mentioned that you can cook with weeds before, and many are familiar with including young dandelion greens in salads and braises. Since it’s dandelion (and violet) season here in the Ether Garden, I figured I’d share my favorite ways to enjoy the flavors of spring using these lovely spring blossoms and herbs.

Floral preserves and syrups were quite popular in days of yore, and are a wonderfully delicious way to enjoy a number of blooms. Violet syrup is a lovely treat drizzled over lemon infused waffles or mixed into your iced tea. The syrup (or jelly, if you prefer) is easily prepared by filling a quart jar with lightly packed violet blossoms. When picking make sure you are choosing violets which have not been sprayed with anything, and remove the stems before use (while the stems are edible, they can give the end product a bitter taste). I like to rinse my violets in a sieve under the sprinkler attachment of my sink before continuing. Fill the jar with boiling water, cover and allow to steep overnight. When finished steeping, line a sieve with cheesecloth and strain out the blossoms, reserving the liquid. At this point you will want to prepare* your canning jars, lids, and rings before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

Measure your violet infusion, and add water enough to make two cups of liquid. Up to now your violet infusion is most likely a lovely shade of royal blue. Add two tablespoons fresh lemon juice and the liquid will turn a brilliant magenta color. In a large non-reactive pot combine the liquid and 3 ½ sugar and add ½ teaspoon butter or margarine to reduce foaming if you like. Bring to a full rolling boil on high heat. Now if you want syrup continue boiling for ten minutes. If you’re making jelly you’ll want to stir in one packet of liquid pectin (I tend to use Certo, but Ball makes some as well), return to a full rolling boil and continue boiling for exactly one minute, stirring all the while. For both syrup and jelly you will want to remove your pot from the heat, ladle your hot liquid into your prepared jars leaving ⅛ headspace. Seal your jars and process* in a boiling-water bath for five minutes, then remove and allow to cool upright and naturally.

This same recipe can be used to make herb jellies and syrups. You might try it with peppermint, lavender, or lemon verbena. Homemade treats like these are easy ways to enjoy the flavors of the seasons year-round, and make lovely gifts. I like to make the jewel toned violet jelly and can it up in little 4oz ‘quilted’ pattern jars to give as gifts throughout the year. Next up in this series will be baking with dandelion blossoms!

*For those of you new to or not familiar with home-canning, I recommend referencing a canning guide such as the Ball Blue Book or the USDA Principles of Home Canning Guide, which is conveniently available as a PDF.

It’s that time of year again- the native woodland plants are already popping up and reminding us that spring is indeed here. Unfortunately, along with our lovely natives such as the lovely Jack in the Pulpits and Violets, invasive species are setting up camp as well. The most vigorous of these is Garlic Mustard. Gayla over at You Grow Girl made a great post last year with a bit of history about the plant.

Right now the Garlic Mustard is in it’s young form as crowns of leaves, but they’re growing fast. I’ve already seen some plants fully mature and blooming! At this young stage it can look a bit like our native Violets and also similar to Creeping Charlie, so do check first before you pull. The distinctive garlicky smell will give it away. With such vigorous growth you want to pull this weed as soon as you spot it- the longer you leave it the deeper its root system establishes and it becomes nearly impossible to cleanly pluck later in the season.

Right after a rain is a great time to pull this up, as the ground will be softer. You want to pull out as much of the root system as possible, and do NOT put the plant into your compost. This is something you want to destroy, not redistribute. Here is some great detail information and more photos of what you’re looking for when you go to battle against this invader.

So… destroy the plant you say, but how? Well, you can burn it or pulverize it, but why not just eat it? It’s a delightful little edible, despite it’s invasiveness and noxious weed classification. It makes a nice cooking green and has that nice green-garlicky flavor. Wonderful in a cooked pesto sauce, beans-and-greens, or cooked with mushrooms. Young leaves picked early in the season can be used in salads, and a horseradish-like preparation can be made from the roots.