Heart to Hearth Cookery

To candy violets

This is violet season!  The preservation season for violets is very short and there is so much to do.  One of the first preservation techniques I use is to candy the violets which I am demonstrating in the picture.  This is a time consuming task that uses gum arabic and the whitest sugar (double or triple refined)prepared very fine in a marble mortar and pestle.  In the picture, I am using my squirrel-haired brush to cover each petal completely with the gum arabic.  This will make the very finely ground sugar adhere easily.  If all the petals are covered both front and back, I will have a perfect candied violet to serve in glass sweetmeat dishes to impress dinner guests all year!