Have you ever read the book Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury? If not, I highly recommend it. If so, you probably know what I mean.
But this post is not about the book Dandelion Wine. It’s about the WINE!
Dandelion wine can have many different characteristics, depending on what else you put in it besides dandelions. As I remember, Ray Bradbury’s wine was mostly dandelions and sunshine, summertime bottled. The fewest ingredients will make the lightest wine, but sometimes it’s fun to add other things to give your wine a more robust flavor, or a zing or a zap.
I’ve tried several different recipes, with varying success and enjoyment. I’ll give you two of my favorites here; one with a lot of ingredients and less equipment, and a more involved one with fewer ingredients but more steps.
Dandelion Wine 1 Ready to taste in about 3 months
This is a fairly simple recipe in that you just throw everything in the pot, boil it, and voila! You’re ready to start fermenting. It also calls for the primary fermentation in the bottle, so there’s a bit less fuss and bother with vapor locks and other equipment, which makes it a good recipe for beginners. The citrus fruits give it a zzing, the honey and ginger give it warmth, and the turbinado sugar, with its weight of molassas, brings a rich dark color unusual in dandelion wines. Quite delicious!
Equipment: 2 big pots (or 1 big pot and 1 clean bucket); large strainer; coffee filter or muslin cloth to fit strainer; muslin cloth and rubber bands to fit bottle tops; 5 or 6 clean wine bottles or 12 to 14 clean beer bottles or whatever bottle you want to use; clean corks and a corker (if using wine bottles); clean caps and a capper (if using beer bottles) or tight-fitting screw-lids if using other kinds of bottles.
Ingredients: 1 pkg active dry yeast (bread yeast will do), 1/4 cup warm water, 1/2 gallon fresh dandelion blossoms (de-stemmed), 1 gallon water, 1 cup orange juice, 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 10 whole cloves, 1 teaspoon powdered ginger, 3 tablespoons orange zest, 2 tablespoons lemon zest, 5 cups turbinado sugar and 1 cup honey.
For the best harvest, pick your dandelions around noon on a sunny day. Be sure the area where you are picking has not been sprayed or otherwise treated with herbicides or pesticides. Remove as much of the stem and green part of the dandelion as possible, and start your wine as soon after picking as possible.
Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Set aside. Put all the other ingredients into a large pot. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and allow to simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a coffee filter into another large pot or clean bucket. Allow to cool until it’s a bit warmer than room temperature. Stir in the yeast. Cover pot or bucket with cheesecloth or a cotton towel and let sit overnight. Pour into clean, sterilized bottles (to sterilize bottles, just boil them for about 10 minutes in a large pot or canning kettle). I use brown or green beer bottles. Ray Bradbury used old ketchup bottles. You can use any kind you like, so long as you can cork or seal them well. For now, cover each bottle top with a square of muslin cloth (or cut up a dish towel into squares) and hold it on with a rubber band around the bottle top. Allow uncorked bottles to sit quietly in a cool dark place for 3 weeks. Then cork or top your bottles. I use a beer bottle capper and caps that I got from the brewing supply store. If you’re using wine bottles, they sell corkers there too, as well as corks. Make sure you label your bottles with the date, then let them stand in a cool dark place for at least 3 months. When you pour it out, be aware that there may be some sediment on the bottom of the bottle. This will not harm you, but it can cloud the wine, so pour carefully to avoid getting it in your glass.
Dandelion Wine 2 Ready to taste in about 6 months
This wine is lovely and golden, can be slightly sparkly, and is a bit more complex to make than the first recipe. If you’ve never brewed before, I recommend you make this one with someone who has, or at least have a chat with the folks down at the brew supply store so you know what all the words mean before you get started. Have fun!
Ingredients: 3 quarts freshly picked dandelion flowers, cleaned and de-stemmed; I gallon water; 2 lemons; 1 orange; 3 lb fructose or granulated corn sugar; 1 lb golden raisins; 1 pkg champagne wine yeast (available at brewing supply stores).
Equipment: Large bowl; large pot; plastic wrap; plastic bucket; fine mesh strainer; glass or plastic wine or beer fermenting container (I used 2 1-gallon glass bottles, with rubber corks (with holes in the center) to fit the tops); bubble-locks that fit in your rubber corks (available at any brew-supply store); clear hose for decanting (you can get this at a brew-supply store or at a pet store–they’re often used in fish tanks); 12-14 beer bottles, or 6 to 8 wine bottles and of course lids or corks to match and a capper or corker (see previous recipe).
Place the dandelions in the large bowl. Bring the water to a boil and pour over the flowers. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 48 hours (no more than that), stirring occasionally. Pour into large pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar. Carefully peel only the colored part of the citrus fruit and add to the pot. Get as little of the white pith as possible. Boil one hour, then pour into the bucket. Add the juice and pulp of the fruit. Let sit until just above room temperature, then add the champagne yeast. Cover with bucket lid or with plastic wrap and allow to sit in a warm place for 3 days. Strain into fermentation container. Add the raisins and put the cork with the bubble-lock in the top of the container. When the wine clears (3 to 5 days), decant it back into your clean bucket, then clean out the sludge from your fermenting container, rinse it with boiling water and decant the wine once again back into there minus the raisins (or else you can just use a second fermenting container so you don’t have to go back and forth). Top it up with fresh cool water and replace the cork and bubble-lock. Leave alone until fermentation stops entirely (bubbles are no longer appearing in bubble-lock). Decant carefully into clean sanitized bottles making sure to avoid sediment on the bottom of the fermentation container. Cork or lid your bottles, then label them and let them age at least 6 months before tasting.
Happy wine-making everyone!
