Dandelion Wine Food

DANDELION WINE

Steps:

• 1. Place dandelion flowers in a large heatproof container. Pour boiling water over top. Cover and let steep for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours. When making dandelion wine, cleanliness is key. Make sure your kitchen counters, hands, and all utensils are sterile.
• 2. Pour the resulting tea through a fine-mesh strainer into a large pot or saucepan, pressing the petals to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard blossoms and bring tea to a boil.
• 3. Place sugar in a heatproof 1-gallon jar. Pour boiling dandelion tea into jar and stir to dissolve. Add lemon and orange slices. Cover jar and let liquid stand for 2 weeks at room temperature, shaking every couple days.
• 4. Pour dandelion wine through a fine-mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter into a clean container. Serve or cover and store refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.

DANDELION WINE

Steps:

• Place dandelion blossoms in the boiling water, and allow to stand for 4 minutes. Remove and discard the blossoms, and let the water cool to 90 degrees F (32 degrees C).
• Stir in the yeast, sugar, orange slices, and lemon slice; pour into a plastic fermentor, and attach a fermentation lock. Let the wine ferment in a cool area until the bubbles stop, 10 to 14 days. Siphon the wine off of the lees, and strain through cheesecloth before bottling in quart-sized, sterilized canning jars with lids and rings. Age the wine at least a week for best flavor.

DANDELION WINE

Steps:

• Pour the boiling water over the dandelion blooms and let stand for 3 days and 2 nights. Strain. To the liquid add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Let the mixture stand for 3 weeks then bottle.

DANDELION WINE

Steps:

• Wash the dandelion blossoms well in a colander. Place in a large pot with the orange and lemon juice and peels. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool and sit for 24-48 hours.
• Once ready to continue, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Add the sugar to the dandelion liquid and stir. Next, add the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
• Fit a large jug with a funnel and place a small fine mesh strainer in the funnel. Ladle in the liquid one spoonful at a time, pressing down onto the dandelions to ensure all of the liquid is extracted. Dump the dandelions and peels into an empty bowl to allow each new batch of liquid to strain easily.
• Add the cloves and ginger to the jug.
• Place an airlock on the jug. This can be done with a deflated balloon - poke holes into the latex, then fasten the balloon around the neck of the jug. Alternatively, you could use plastic. Shake well and let it rest for one week in a cool dark place as the fermentation begins.
• Once rested for a week, using a funnel strain the liquid into bottles. Allow the uncorked bottles to sit in a dark cool place for 3 to 6 weeks. Then cork the bottles, or use bottles with screw on tops, and store them in a cool place for at least 2 months and up to a year. This kind of wine is best consumed while it is young.
• Note #1: Some recipes call for just petals not whole buds. My friend Ron, the mastermind behind Herb Farm informed me that fermentation can sometimes stop before it is complete, meaning it's "stuck." This can happen when there aren't enough micronutrients for the yeast. You increase the chance of success by using whole buds because it adds more micronutrients, but you will have a slightly more bitter wine. I'm okay with that, I like a little bitter. But if you're not, try the petals only. This will require more picking and separating.
• Note #2: Pick dandelions from an open field far from any insecticide spraying, and if you can, pick early in the season when the leaves of the plant are still tender. Newly opened flowers are also ideal.

MAKE YOUR OWN DANDELION WINE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Snip off most of the calyxes (green parts) from the base of flowers and all of the stems. It's OK if a little of the green goes in, but too much will result in a bitter wine.
• Compost or discard the calyxes and stems. Put trimmed petals in a nonreactive vessel (no aluminum, copper, or iron).
• Bring water to a boil and pour over flower petals. Let mixture sit for 2 hours.
• Place a colander lined with cheesecloth or butter muslin over a large, nonreactive pot and strain dandelions, pressing gently on the flowers to extract as much of the liquid as possible. Compost or discard dandelion petals.
• Place pot over high heat and bring strained dandelion infusion to a boil.
• Stir in citrus juices and sugar, mixing to dissolve sugar.
• Add lemon and orange zest and chopped raisins. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
• When mixture has cooled to room temperature, stir in yeast nutrient or cornmeal and wine or baking yeast.
• Cover and leave at room temperature for 10 to 14 days, stirring 3 times each day.
• Strain into a sanitized 1-gallon jug and seal with either a fermentation lock (available from online homebrewing and winemaking supplies) or a balloon with a single pinprick in it. The pinprick allows gasses to escape during active fermentation, but the balloon still keeps detrimental bacteria out.
• After 3 weeks, siphon or carefully pour the liquid into another sanitized jug, leaving behind any yeasty sediment.
• If there is more than 2 inches between the top of the wine and the rim of the bottle, top off with a simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water.
• When wine is clear, rather than cloudy, wait 30 more days and then siphon or carefully pour it into another jug, leaving behind any yeasty sediment on the bottom.
• Refit with an airlock or pricked balloon.
• Repeat this procedure every 3 months for 9 total months until almost no sediment is forming on the bottom of the jug anymore.
• Funnel into sanitized bottles and cork bottles.
• Age for another year before drinking.