SC - Viking Foods

Tue May 9 07:51:53 PDT 2000

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	Mon, 8 May 2000 21:28:42 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 21:28:42 EDT
Subject: Vyolette
To: masterhuen at egroups.com, mk-cooks at midrealm.org,
        owner-sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
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The violets were blanketing my rock garden last week, and I decided to 
harvest them.  I spent most of last Saturday picking violets and trimming 
their petals off.  It was even more tedious than blanching almonds.  I hauled 
out _Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books_ and turned to:

VYOLETTE
Take Flourys of Vyolet, boyle hem, presse hem, bray hem smal, temper hem vppe 
with Almaunde mylke, or gode Cowe Mylke, a-lye it with Amyndoun or Flowre of 
Rys; take Sugre y-now, an putte (th)er-to, or hony in defaute; coloure it 
with (th)e same (th)at (th)e flowrys be on y-peyntid a-boue.
Harelian MS 279

This recipe gives choices for just about every ingredient.  I chose almond 
milk and rice flour because I had almond milk I needed to use up, and 
happened to have rice flour on hand. The "flowrys y-peyntid aboue" mentioned 
in the recipe refer to the previous recipe, and were painted with saffron or 
sandlewood.  Why anyone would further color this lovely lavender pudding with 
yellow or red is beyond me. Although it it not specifically mentioned, I 
chose to simmer the almond milk and rice flour in order to aid thickening and 
cook the flour.  One might consider using the violet colored water left after 
boiling the petals to use making the almond milk.  Here is my redaction:

2 C violet petals, trimmed and rinsed.
1 C water
1 1/2 C unstrained almond milk
2 T rice flour
4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp saffron, optional

1. In a saucepan, bring water to a boil.  Stir in violet petals, return to 
the boil, stirring constantly, for one minute.  Drain the petals in a sieve, 
and press out as much water as possible.  

2. On a cutting board, finely mince the boiled petals, and mash them to a 
paste.

3.  In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring almond milk to a boil, reduce 
heat, and simmer, stirring frequently, for two minutes.  Stir in mashed 
petals.  Stir in rice flour, a bit at a time,  Stir in sugar and saffron.  
Continue to simmer and stir for five minutes.  Serve in individual small 
bowls.

Serves four.

It was okay; It had the consistency of thick oatmeal, and was pleasantly 
sweet.  The saffron, as well as changing the color from lavender to pale 
yellow-green, added a saffron taste which covered up the delicate violet 
taste it originally had.  Oh well, that's what the primary source said to do, 
and we've got to take them at their word.  Using strained almond milk or cow 
milk would have given it a smoother texture, but might have required more 
rice flour to thicken it.  I don't know if I'll try it again next year at 
this time; it was a lot of work.

Rudd Rayfield  

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