Violets

Violets, Viola odorata, are flowering now. I love their soft distinctive scent and the deep purple of the flowers. They come in several colours and are closely related to heartsease, Viola tricolor. The flowers are edible as are the leaves. Their scent is prized in French perfumes and confectionery. It is considered a cooling herb that has soothing and pan relieving properties. It's something I would think of using when someone has a sore irritated throat, a tummy ache or a UTI.

Winter is the time when I like to experiment with new things. I have been making things like these lotion bars and found them so simple.

I infused violet leaf in coconut oil a few weeks ago. I added a pile of fresh violet leaves to the organic raw coconut oil in a botton of a jar and put it in a water bath for 2 hours. The water kept evaporating off so I needed to keep an eye on it an top it up with boiling water.

The violet leaf lotion bars turned out perfect and smell like beeswax. They work well to soothe and nourish inflamed skin.