GARDEN FRESH : Serve Lightly Flowered
Recently I had an hour to kill, so naturally I headed for the nearest supermarket. Ambling down the produce aisles, the air sparkling from mist bursting over fruits and vegetables, I yearned to taste everything. In the luxury section I stopped to admire the skinny enoki mushrooms from Malaysia, the alligator-skinned cherimoyas from Spain, the lime-green coils of fiddleheads from a riverbank who knew where.
And, what’s this? A passel of Johnny-jump-ups! They could have come from my grandmother’s garden! The price on the small beribboned box made me laugh out loud.
Forebears of pansies and violas, Johnny-jump-ups (Viola tricolor) are as big as the tip of my little finger--although coaxed and force-fed, they can become as broad as a baby’s fist. The top half of the flower is four rounded petals, the bottom petal large and round. Johnny-jump-ups look as though they’d been drawn by a child in kindergarten. They have monkey faces that smile and wink--there’s even a dot on the lower petal for a dimpled chin. Their faces are splashed purple, yellow, blue and rust-red. And when the primary-colored paints run low, they are lavender, cream, sky-blue and pink.
The most familiar flowers are called Helen Mount, and they’re yellow and purple. King Henry is violet with a golden face and touch of blue. Cutie is mauve, gold and cream. Pretty is orangish red, yellow and gold. Yellow Charm (aka Prince John) is glowing yellow.
For centuries, potions and pastes of Johnny-jump-up flowers or leaves have been folk remedies for all sorts of ailments. (One of Johnny-jump-up’s names is “heartsease.”) But these days, the plants are prized more for the color and charm their edible flowers add to a dish. The flavor is lettuce-y but--unless you have a mouthful of them--too subtle to notice. Which means you don’t have to worry about their taste being at odds with other elements in a composition.
The delightful plants are rarely more than ankle-high, with small, oval, toothed dark-green leaves and a tufted creeping habit. In this part of the world, Johnny-jump-ups are the welcome flower that tolerates shade.
As delicate as they appear, they’re rugged. Seeing them frolic among nasturtiums beneath the live oak tree, I’ve had to apologize to them these past years. Because of drought, I could give only minimal water. I’ve never fertilized them--that wouldn’t make sense without water. But there is plenty of organic matter in their soil, which sustains them and makes the most of what water there is. And the high shade helps.
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Technically, Johnny-jump-ups are perennials, but they self-sow as eagerly as any annual flower I know. As long as the soil isn’t disturbed where the seeds land, masses will pop up--the first flowers of spring.
The flowers do pop up here and there because when the seed cases ripen, they burst and tiny seeds can be flung across the garden. I’ve just found half a dozen plants romping in the lawn, far from their parents.
You can sprinkle seeds of Johnny-jump-ups where you want them to grow in early spring and be rewarded with flowers in about three and a half months. Or sow in autumn for the following spring--but remember not to disturb that soil.
Refrigerate the seeds for 24 hours before sowing. They need dark to germinate, so cover them with fine soil and pat it down to make good connection, then cover with newspaper. Keep moist until they’ve sprouted. If you’ve sown in a flat, set it out of the sun at 65 degrees to 70 degrees.
Moisture is the key to success. Johnny-jump-ups grow best in rich moist soil. Along the coast, where summers are cool, you can give them full sun. Where it’s warm in summer, give them bright shade in the afternoon--perhaps under a tall tree. Where summers are really hot, give them bright shade all day.
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For the kitchen, pick flowers early in the morning or within a few hours of serving. Because their stems are short, place them in a plastic bag with a damp towel and refrigerate. Since they’re truly pest-free, I don’t rinse Johnny-jump-ups before using. Were they to come from a dusty part of the garden, I’d pass them through warmish water and let them dry on a towel. But too much handling and they’ll collapse.
No two faces in a crowd of Johnny-jump-ups are alike. Here are free spirits. Although the gorgeous big fat pansies we know were developed from these miniatures, somehow Johnny-jump-ups have escaped the breeders’ grasp--haven’t been captured in a test tube and recast to anyone’s taste.
Sources.
Fresh: Inquire at nursery for plants, at fancy grocers’ produce department for flowers.
Seeds: Listed as mini-violas from Stokes Seeds, Box 548, Buffalo, N.Y. 14240-0548.
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When Johnny-jump-ups aren’t available, use violas, pansies, the flowers of herbs, or scatter small bright petals of unsprayed roses.
SALAD OF ORANGES, WATERCRESS AND JOHNNY-JUMP-UPS
4 to 6 sweet oranges, preferably navel
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 bunches watercress, leaves only
28 Johnny-jump-ups or other edible flowers
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper
Peel oranges, then scrape off white pith with vegetable peeler. Slice oranges horizontally to get a total of 28 thin slices. Place slices in flat bowl with sesame oil and orange juice. Use hands to mix gently. Cover and set in cool place.
Rinse and dry watercress, then wrap in damp towel and refrigerate. Chill 4 salad plates.
To serve, make beds of cress on plates. Drain juice from oranges and spoon over leaves as dressing. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.
Overlap 7 orange slices in circle over cress on each plate (small extra pieces can be tucked here and there). Pull out cress beneath oranges to make leafy border. Set biggest flower in center, then lay 6 flowers evenly over oranges. Kept cool, plates can wait hour or so. Makes 4 servings.
Each serving contains about:
133 calories; 98 mg sodium; trace cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 28 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 1.36 grams fiber.
