Spring is finally upon us! And the dandelions are on the move, taking over lawns, one sunny flower at a time. My partner Christopher fondly remembers his family’s tradition of making Dandelion Wine, so last year we convinced (bribed) our neighborhood kids to pick as many of the bright yellow flowers as they could find.
Why make Dandelion wine, you ask?
Weeds + Sugar = Boozy Sunshine in a Bottle
The recipe is simple. All it takes is a ton of foraged dandelion petals, sugar, water, lemons and some yellow raisins. The only special ingredient you need is a packet of champaign or mead yeast, which you can find online at a company like Northern Brewer. The petals are steeped in water, strained and mixed with the remaining ingredients. Ferment it out the wine, pour off the clear liquid leaving the yeast behind (called racking) and leave it to age for at least a year, maybe more.
The wine definitely takes it’s own sweet time to age. We just tried ours and it still has some volatile ester alcohols that go right up your nose. We’ve put it back in the basement for another couple months. But don’t despair! Check the wine in a few months and you could have Spring in a bottle. Serve chilled. It tastes similar to mead, has overtones of honey and the smell of dandelions.
If you don’t have the patience for Dandelion Wine, try a Dandelion Shrub. It only takes a week and mixes beautifully with sparking wine or gin.
By By Christopher Wlaschin & Tammy Kimbler, adapted from Terry Garey
Ingredients:
16 c dandelion flowers petals, loosely packed
5 3/4 c granulated white sugar
1 c honey
5 quarts water
1 lemon, juiced and rind removed
1/4 c yellow raisins, chopped finely
1 pkg dry champagne yeast
Instructions:
Trim flower petals from the dandelion heads, avoiding as much green leafy material as possible (it makes the wine bitter.)
In a sauce pan, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add the dandelions and simmer on low for 10 minutes. Leave the petals in the pot and steep the flowers overnight at room temp.
The next day, bring the remaining 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice, zest and raisins. Cool to room temperature.
Strain the dandelion petal mixture through a fine dish towel or jelly bag, squeezing out all the liquid. Combine petal liquid with the sugar mixture and pour into a primary fermentation vessel, something you can cover and add an airlock to (like a gallon jug with a balloon or a cork/airlock combo.)
Add the package of yeast and swirl the contents for several minutes to aerate, which will give the yeast a boost. Add the airlock and place in a dark space at room temp. Fermentation should begin in 24 hours.
Ferment for up to two weeks, then “rack” (pour off the clear liquid from the yeast solids at the bottom) the wine into another clean container and top with an airlock. Re-rack the wine a couple more times when you see sediment at the bottom, then bottle.
Bottle the wine in a clean wine bottle with a bail-top lid (or fancy wine corker.) Age the wine at least a year. If it doesn’t taste good, age it longer! Dandelion wine often takes several years to taste good.
