It’s that time of year again where bright yellow flowers burst forth from the fields and garden edges. Dandelions are some of the first wildflowers up in Spring here at EEC Forest Stewardship, and we took an afternoon to harvest a few pounds of these delicious flower heads for another round of fermentation fun with local flora and made a batch of dandelion wine. This is a fun, easy way to appreciate the weed flowers and make good use of floral essences. Dandelion wine is mild and refreshing on ice at summer picnics and porch dinners with friends. The following recipe is a rustic mixology, there are many recipes to choose from but this one has remained our most easy to enjoy.
RECIPE-
Forage 3 lb dandelion heads and take the time to pull off green base, saving petals for best flavor. The picture above shows the heads in the brown bag, then separate petals from green base and stem.
Bring 1 gallon of water to boil, remove from heat and stir in flowers- cover and steep 4 hrs.
Strain flowers from the tea, then pour in 10 lb sugar and put tea back on low heat and stir till sugar is dissolved. When sugar is gone, take off heat and let cool into 80s (a safe temp for yeast).
While tea is cooling, take your yeast (I use white wine yeast) and bloom in a cup of very warm water (I use just hot tap in kitchen sink) activating for 20 mins.
Take a 5 gallon carboy and fill with 3 gallons of warm water, then add tea and yeast mixture, stir till things are well integrated.
Put on air lock and store in a warm, dark place. Allow fermentation until airlock slows percolation to a “burp” a minute. If your air lock is slow, put the brew in a warmer place to help encourage yeast.
EEC Forest Stewardship 