Stay for Tea

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I visited a friend who is in town from France, spending some time staying with her folks on their farm. Their beautiful home is set in a garden of lemon trees, violets blossoms and green succulents. We were invited by our friend for a relaxing afternoon, with a particularly sweet offer of making our own candied flowers.

Undeterred by the soft rain that’s been coming down for several hours, we stepped into the garden and foraged for whatever we could dunk in some sugar. Traditionally, candied violets are poured over with hot syrup, and used in France as a garnish for desserts. However, that is just one way and one reason to do it. We had an approach far more simple, and our goal was to just enjoy making the candied flowers and eating them like snacks.

Violets are the preferred flower, but Johnny-jump-ups and Borage can do! Make sure to dry them off pretty well before candying. Read the rest of this entry »