Labors of love

May 15, 2026 by
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There are some things I do as a baker that I do not really enjoy, and am thankful that they are only infrequently required. One of those is the task I completed this evening, making candied violets. While I adore being able to garnish a cake or tart with gorgeous edible flowers, I do not love the effort it takes to candy these gems. The easy part is picking the flowers – my lawn is brimming with them (much to my neighbors’ chagrin, I am sure). I have learned to gather only the largest blossoms with the flattest petals, to make the job ever so slightly easier. The ingredient list is simple: flowers, egg white, and sugar. The process is simple, too, but tedious. Exceedingly tedious.

To date, I have not been able to find a shortcut for this job: each flower must be handled individually. There are a few ways to do it that take about the same amount of time. I have settled on using a small pastry brush to apply egg white to both sides of the petals. (It’s a good idea to use pasteurized eggs, but I’m living on the edge this year.) The egg white needs to be gently beaten to loosen it, but it cannot become foamy. The coating cannot be too thick or the sugar will clump. Too thin and the sugar won’t adhere. Speaking of sugar, only superfine/caster sugar will do – this is no place for raw or even granulated sugar.

Once I have coated the petals, I’ve found it best to lightly sprinkle the sugar onto the flowers – first one side, then a gentle shake, then sprinkle the other side. Dipping the flowers into the sugar only ends in heartache (clumpy and uneven coating). Once you have sprinkled the back, give it another gentle shake, then carefully lay the flower down onto parchment. Repeat, and repeat, and repeat until you are sick of the process. For someone like me who does not possess great quantities of patience, this does not take long. The leaves want to stick together or curl up. All surfaces around the project (including me) somehow get egg white on them. Every few minutes I have to rinse my fingers because the clumps of sugar make it difficult to delicately grasp the flowers, adding to my annoyance. The small bowl of flowers above took over 1.5 hours to candy, and produced a mere quarter-sheet pan of flowers, loosely spaced.

Now that it’s done, I am glad I pushed through. I’m happy to have these beauties, which I will use to decorate baked goods. The candied flowers don’t last long, as the color fades after a few weeks. However, while they last they are an amazing garnish that will draw oohs and ahs from your guests. These candied violets serve as a reminder that doing a task that is not much fun can result in something you can truly savor. What are your labors of love in the cooking or baking spheres?

Category: Antipasto

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8 Comments

  • okmosa  on  May 15, 2026

    Wow, well done!

  • Jane  on  May 15, 2026

    Well done, Darcie! My recent labor of love was removing every speck of pith from mandarin segments for the topping on Mandarin and cardamom petits gâteaux from Pâtisserie Made Simple (one of my favorite recent books). Of course I could have used canned mandarins but I don’t like the taste as much as fresh fruit. But I should never need to do that again as Katie told me about an amazing product, Pure Pectinex Ultra SP-L that breaks down pith (available on Amazon). I don’t know of any magic product for making candied violets though!

  • MollyB  on  May 15, 2026

    Pectinex sounds like a great product, Jane! I’m going to have to try it! I’d say my labor of love that I can only summon the patience for once or twice a year, is stuffed squash blossoms. They have to be picked early in the day before it’s too hot (or they close up), they have to be fresh (or the petals stick together), and you have to be super careful when handling them (or the petals tear). Then you have to carefully put in your stuffing–I like melty cheese with green chiles–and fold down the petals, and then batter and fry them. They’re amazing when you get it right, but a lot of work!

  • anya_sf  on  May 15, 2026

    Beautiful! I would never have the patience.

  • FuzzyChef  on  May 16, 2026

    Really anything involving handmade pasta. Not as fiddly, but just as time consuming.

  • matag  on  May 16, 2026

    Amazingly beautiful

  • sanfrannative  on  May 16, 2026

    Beautiful! You are so lucky to have such an abundant source of violets to candy! My mom used to let me take three or so off of one of her violets. So I’ve never candied more than 3-6 at a time.

  • hibeez  on  May 20, 2026

    I was just thinking about doing this, as I was gazing at my lawn full of violets. Perhaps I will scale it back a bit and only do a dozen or so. I also just hacked a huge branch off my white lilac, and plan to make lilac simple syrup. Love edible flowers!

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