Even the names of our edible viola flowers are utterly delicious: banana cream, blackberry sorbet, blueberry cheesecake, lemon meringue, orange marmalade, and much more. Our chefs use these delightful beauties in innovative ways on their plates and in their glasses—and here’s what four of them have to say about their love of the edible viola.
Executive Pastry Chef Oralia Perez
At the Bloom and Bee at The Post Oak Hotel, the lovely indoor decor evokes the ambiance of a luxurious outdoor garden full of natural light and pastel hues. “From the very beginning,” Chef Oralia says, “we’ve had a focus on desserts—and on being as creative, even whimsical, as possible.”
Early on, Bloom and Bee served a unique twist on Baked Alaska, a dessert that quickly became a signature dish for them. As another eye-catching one, Chef Oralia and her team used a dry beehive with dried meringue and ice cream. The specifics of the flavors vary by season, and are usually fresh—and are topped by plucked viola petals to create a vision of bees flying around.
Chef Oralia also uses violas from The Chef’s Garden in savory applications, including salads. She sometimes uses them fresh, other times dried and sprinkled with sugar, and even in creative ways in drinks.
Executive Chef Matt Baker
Matt is the executive chef and owner of Gravitas, which has used violas in dishes since opening five years ago.
“I love how The Chef’s Garden’s violas are the perfect size, that of about a dime. This allows us to customize plates, using multiple ones on a single plate without it being overwhelming.”
Each year, Gravitas offers a seasonal salad as a first course with twenty-five to thirty items on the plate. “Violas play well in this dish because of their subtle sweetness. I also appreciate their nice bright colors—meaning natural colors—that aren’t too exotic. Instead, they look classic, natural, elegant.”
At a previous restaurant where Chef Matt worked, violas were used in a chips-and-dip dish: a ranch-flavored custard with trout roe and homemade potato chips. The roe was blanketed over a white herbed custard; on top were scattered violas in shades of orange, yellow, and purple.
“These violas hold up well without wilting or drying out too quickly,” he says, “so you get good usage.”
Executive Chef Malcolm Prude
A chef at Le Basque, Chef Malcolm loves all varieties of The Chef Garden’s edible viola flowers, including the mixed offering, and he also admits to a special fondness for blackberry sorbet. “These violas complement dark chocolate desserts at our dessert bar,” he says. Meanwhile, we use the burnt honey sorbet with fish dishes, including a pan-seared scallop, where the combination of violas’ floral flavor and sweetness works well.”
In his canapes, Chef Malcolm adds bright colors with individual viola petals, such as on a lobster roll. He also garnishes trays with an arugula-viola combination. At a recent luncheon to raise breast cancer awareness, he ordered three hundred pink-purple violas and put one in each Cosmo drink.
“I love all varieties,” he says. “They’re all beautiful whether whole or as petals.”
Chef de Cuisine Justin Gomes
At Travelle at The Langham Chicago, we bring in a mixed variety of violas as they get used in so many of our outlets. Their versatility is a big part of why we bring them in.
Our Executive Pastry Chef Walleska Cianfanelli uses blackberry sorbet, blueberry cheesecake, and banana cream violas. They provide the perfect contrast of color and elegance to our Costa Rica Reserva, a plate including Arabica coffee, cashew praline, and cafe con leche gelato.
You can also see them in a few of our cocktails; currently, they are best highlighted by one of our classics created in 2018 by Slava Borisov: the El Pajaro, featuring mezcal, Pedro Ximenez Sherry, Tawny Port, chocolate, and walnut.
More About Vibrant Violas
To use them in your own dishes, you can choose from these viola varieties:
- Banana cream violas
- Blackberry sorbet violas
- Blackberry swirl violas
- Blue raspberry sorbet violas
- Blueberry cheesecake violas
- Blueberry cream violas
- Blueberry lemon sorbet violas
- Blueberry swirl violas
- Burnt honey sorbet violas
- Lemon meringue violas
- Mixed violas
- Orange marmalade violas
- Plum sorbet violas
- Pomegranate violas
- Red raspberry sorbet violas
- Red raspberry swirl violas
- Rhubarb lemon violas
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