If you’re inspired to make sugared violets every spring, but are trying to watch your carbs, here’s a simple solution for you: low carb sugared violets! This process is so simple that even the kids can help out. You should be enjoying low carb sugared violets in just a few days with these 5 steps!
Low Carb Cravings
Anyone enjoying the benefits of a low carb, Keto-type diet can testify to the fact that you’re certainly not languishing in a desert of dry, boring foods. The low carb diet is rich and filling and there’s plenty of room for recipes that make your mouth happy.
When there are enough nutrients in your food, you actually don’t crave sweets like you used to. When there’s food in your food, your belly is happy! I know that’s hard for some people to imagine, especially if they’re still addicted to sugars and grains. However, I promise it’s true!
Even the kids will be converted to this truth over time.
Kids Going Low Carb?
My kids will usually self-check at social events now. I don’t forbid them to eat what everyone else is eating at birthday parties and holidays. (With the exception of some dyes that do present issues pretty quickly; symptoms like nausea and vomiting.) Sometimes they still go overboard; sometimes they choose to skip the heavily sweet treats altogether. It’s a learning process for them, just like it is for an adult.
Learning to listen to our bodies is the key to good health. If there’s a secret to health, this is it: listen to your body as long as it takes to give it what it needs.
Still, sometimes a person just wants a “smackering of something sweet”, as Winnie the Pooh was wont to say.
5-Step Low Carb Sugared Violets
Sugared violets are a spring delicacy that should not be missed! They look fancy and delicate and too hard for a busy homesteading mom to bother with, but I promise, they’re not at all. Seriously, if I can manage to make sugared violets, you can do, too. Besides, as I mentioned, this is something you can get the kids to help you with.
Here’s a quick video to show you the basic process. More detailed instructions are below.
5-Step Low Carb Sugared Violets
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Violets Stems removed
- 2 Egg whites
- 1/2 Cup Erythritol Or xylitol granulated stevia, etc.
Instructions
- Gather violets from any wild place; this process is called foraging. Be sure you don't forage near a road where exhaust or other toxins might have settled on your violets. Start with one or two cups of blooms. Never take more than 1/3 of the blooms on any plant to allow the violet to re-bloom and continue to produce enough for pollinators and seed setting. Snip each violet right beneath the flower head to remove the stem.
- Run the violets through a salad spinner to remove any dust. Try not to wash the violets as this will require drying time and they may begin to wilt as they dry. If you MUST wash them, run them through the salad spinner to remove extra water and place them on a towel or dehydrator rack to dry.
- Using a clean paintbrush, paint egg white on the tops and undersides of each petal. Work quickly, being as gently as possible.
- Place each wet violet into a dish of your favorite low carb, granulated white sugar. You'll only need 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar. Gently press the violet into the sugar. Flip the violet and repeat the process on the other side. After you've processed all your sugared violets, use the rest of the sugar in your next baked treat. *
- Place each wet and sugared violet on a plate or bakers rack to dry. Blooms should be stiff in 3-5 days.
Notes
Beyond Sugared Violets
There are so many things you can do with spring blooms – don’t stop at sugared violets! For example, if you have leftover violets, make this violet gelatin. 
If you have violet leaves, blooms, other herbs and wild plants, learn to make nourishing soaps with The Nerdy Farm Wife. She’s the queen of homemade soaps and I love her books and courses. Learn more here.
Low Carb Food and Foraging
To learn more about the Keto diet, please visit Peace Love and Low Carb. I have Kyndra’s cookbook, Craveable Keto, and it’s my absolute favorite Keto cookbook of the ones I’ve read. And I’ve read a few. I own a couple other Keto cookbooks, but even the kids pull out Kyndra’s before the other ones when it’s their turn to cook. And, yes, her recipes are simple enough to follow that even the kids can use them.
To learn more about lower carb sugars, please visit this article from Ditch the Carbs.
To learn more about foraging, please visit this post.
You may also decide you’d like to learn more about the botany of plants, ethically and properly foraging and what to do with all your foraged plants (besides make sugared violets). If so, I encourage you to check out Herbal Academy’s Botany and Wildcrafting (a fancy name for foraging) course. The kids and I are taking it and loving all that we’re learning. We got the coloring book that goes along with it and have had a blast with that.
Leave a Reply