make dandelion wine

With weather and work, I missed the flush of blooms this year: one day, there were billions of them; the next day, just a few dozen. I tried this weekend to put together enough from the few scattered dandelions that were around, but I couldn’t even come up with a half liter of blooms. This goal will have to wait until next spring.

I’m not a lawn de-weeder, so I’m blessed with an ocean of yellow blooms every spring. It’s a shame to let all these go to waste when so many speak favorably of dandelion wine.

I don’t even like wine! But this sounds like fun! :O)

My wine is currently fermenting in its carboy- my new yeast babies are busy bubbling! I picked only the heads and let the flowers sit for a couple days in 2.5 gallons of water. Then I boiled it all with some raisins, orange & lemon juice and peels. I added a few pounds of sugar and let it cool. I pitched wine yeast and let it sit for a few days before transferring the wine to a glass carboy with an airlock. This is my first batch of wine and hope it will taste allright. I haven’t added any campden tablets, which I hope is not a mistake. We’ll see in almost a year!!

As soon as I get a house and plant my garden, I am going to plant dandelions to have a pesticide free source to use. My neighbors will probably think I am crazy, but oh well.
I wonder how you plant dandelions? Its not like they sell the seeds at the store.
Well, when I’m ready, I think I’ll use one of these recipes.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/dandelio.asp

One of our first dates was berry picking, and we picked dandelions (flowers) too, for the wine we were making. The dandelion wine was magnificent, we used honey, and it turned into an amazing carbonated mead. We drank all the bottles slowly over the ensuing years. Was an amazing treat we shared with friends and family during holidays or special celebrations. And the dandelion flowers added a beautiful yellow color to the wine.

We used a recipe from some old ear-worn 1950s copy of a little how-to manual. Think it’s in one of my unpacked boxes. We pretty much stopped brewing beer, making wine, or roasting coffee beans when we had kids. Don’t think we have it in us yet to start up again. Maybe next year? I should add, my dh is really the impetus for these things, I just help.

Here’s a couple of sites i found:
http://www.winepros.org/wine101/enology.htm
http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/content.php?category=Winemaking

I have a friend who makes this, and it’s delicious. Unfortunately she lives across the country, so I don’t get it often. And it just sounds so warm and homey.

First, I need to find a good source of non-chemically treated dandelions.

I bottled my first batch last week, and others are lurking around the house in various stages of fermentation, so I consider this goal successfully met, although the wine won’t be ready for drinking until winter.

The liquor is pale golden yellow, sweet and sort of buttery/nutty tasting.

Another batch started yesterday. This one will ferment until around April 4.

Some of the yeast bubbled up onto the cloth covering the bowl, and was stuck to it, so I’m going to add a tiny bit more.

We picked dandelions from the backyard and made the original mixture. It needs to ferment until the 20th.