Just a couple weeks ago I went to visit my friend in Pennsylvania and she served me an incredible cocktail with homemade violet simple syrup. It was love at first sip! A truly summer cocktail with gin, lemon, violet simple syrup and seltzer, this drink is the perfect libation when the hot rays of the summer sun are beating down on you. To my excitement and surprise, when I got home and glanced out my bedroom window at our yard, I noticed a cropping of violets and thought I’d try my hand at making a batch violet simple syrup so I could recreate the delicious cocktail from my travels.

Blair and I sat in the yard, like children, after work for about 45 minutes and rescued (from the unavoidable doom of the lawn mower) as many violets as we could until the sun went down. After a quick rinse in the sink we packed a few mason jars with blossoms and divided 6 cups of boiling water between the three jars, just to cover the flowers. The recipe we followed, from here, suggests letting the flowers set for 24 hours but ours got an extra day of steeping because we didn’t have enough sugar to move on to the next step, whoops! Rookie mistake! But, I must say, it all turned out fine… better than fine, actually. It made a delicious, and beautiful, cocktail that we’ll be making again for the sunny days ahead.

To mix what I’m calling a Gin and Violet Fizz simply measure two tablespoons of violet syrup into a glass of ice with one shot (or more, however you like it!) of nice gin and a twist of lemon. Give everything a little stir, top with seltzer and garnish with an extra violet blossom or two. Then go find a sunny patch to sit and enjoy!

Cheers! Hayley