Lovely post, Fiona! Wonderfully nostalgic...violets will be everywhere under the beech hedge in my sometime garden in Wales. Used to crystalise the flowers with my grandchildrren every year. Primroses, too (primrose leaves make delicious fritters dipped in a light batter, as I'm sure you know - never tried it with violet leaves).
Love, love violets and Elisabeth, your Substack too. Thank you for my Substack encouragement. Getting outside foraging, and then cooking with wild ingredients is good for my soul. I’m planning my February 2023 diary : Menton (lemons) and then to Toulouse for the violets with HUGE apologies to those who suffer from anosmia. The sense of smell is a wonderful thing.
There's a lovely little vignette in MFK Fisher's Two Towns in Provence about a violet-seller who went round the customers in the Deux Garçons cafe in Aix - I expect you know it. I visited her years ago in California (1987, I think) and she wanted to know if the violet seller was still there - maybe his son, I said, but certainly still selling violets, still adding a little distilled essence to the bunches discreetly behind a tree outside the cafe before he went in.
Thank you so much for sharing, Elisabeth. I wanted to flick through Frances Bissell's book The Scented Kitchen (what a title) and Florence White's Flowers as Food, but both are in my East Coast Kitchen. The Bothy on Uist is tiny. Its hallway is strewn with books but nevertheless the books I want, never seem to be on the right coast (if there is one) of Scotland. I will soon be the proud owner of Two Towns in Provence. Thank you Elisabeth - to other readers I add, do look at https://substack.com/profile/5509370-elisabeth-luard Elisabeth do you have violet illustrations to share? I've sent my green fingered daughter in law, Lizzie, some Parma violets to plant in her London garden. Scotland is too cold for that species. It is such a pretty, mauve flower. https://www.grovesnurseries.co.uk/ This company hand packs its violets with TLC: newspaper and straw. I'm growing hardier species in Scotland and lovely Rachael, girlfriend to 5/6, is giving the beginner's violet selection a go. Go Violets, go.
Lovely post, Fiona! Wonderfully nostalgic...violets will be everywhere under the beech hedge in my sometime garden in Wales. Used to crystalise the flowers with my grandchildrren every year. Primroses, too (primrose leaves make delicious fritters dipped in a light batter, as I'm sure you know - never tried it with violet leaves).
Love, love violets and Elisabeth, your Substack too. Thank you for my Substack encouragement. Getting outside foraging, and then cooking with wild ingredients is good for my soul. I’m planning my February 2023 diary : Menton (lemons) and then to Toulouse for the violets with HUGE apologies to those who suffer from anosmia. The sense of smell is a wonderful thing.
Sure I have a violet pic - but can't add it here as comment box won't let me. Will send it direct!
Stunning.
Such a delicate flower that teaches us to tread with care, keep our eyes open and explore with respect. How fortunate are we?
There's a lovely little vignette in MFK Fisher's Two Towns in Provence about a violet-seller who went round the customers in the Deux Garçons cafe in Aix - I expect you know it. I visited her years ago in California (1987, I think) and she wanted to know if the violet seller was still there - maybe his son, I said, but certainly still selling violets, still adding a little distilled essence to the bunches discreetly behind a tree outside the cafe before he went in.
Thank you so much for sharing, Elisabeth. I wanted to flick through Frances Bissell's book The Scented Kitchen (what a title) and Florence White's Flowers as Food, but both are in my East Coast Kitchen. The Bothy on Uist is tiny. Its hallway is strewn with books but nevertheless the books I want, never seem to be on the right coast (if there is one) of Scotland. I will soon be the proud owner of Two Towns in Provence. Thank you Elisabeth - to other readers I add, do look at https://substack.com/profile/5509370-elisabeth-luard Elisabeth do you have violet illustrations to share? I've sent my green fingered daughter in law, Lizzie, some Parma violets to plant in her London garden. Scotland is too cold for that species. It is such a pretty, mauve flower. https://www.grovesnurseries.co.uk/ This company hand packs its violets with TLC: newspaper and straw. I'm growing hardier species in Scotland and lovely Rachael, girlfriend to 5/6, is giving the beginner's violet selection a go. Go Violets, go.