Dandelions (genus: Taraxacum) are weeds common worldwide. T. officinale and T. erythrospermum are two species wholly edible, raw or cooked.
The flowers can be used to make wine. It's easy and fun, and when prepared in the summer and left to age can result in a sweet and herbal summery beverage to sip during dark winter days. Maybe this edition of WFD should be titled "What to Drink with Dinner." Drop below the tangled petals to read more.
Winemaking is a fairly simple procedure. Wine can be made from various fruits, flowers, berries; other fundamental ingredients include water, yeast, and sugar, & temperature, as well as any flavorings such as citrus, herbs, and spices. Combinations of flavors might not be infinite, but are limited only by imagination. The most important active ingredient is yeast, which consumes various sugars and impels the fermentation of these into roughly half alcohol and half carbon dioxide (i.e., bubbles).
Fermentation occurs in two basic stages: the first happens over several days to a week following final mixing of ingredients. It can be vigorous and produce many bubbles. The frothing then slows, the wine settles, and things continue to ferment more quietly over weeks, months, or years, depending on the recipe and desired result.
Hydrometer readings of wine or beer will enable calculation of alcohol percentage in the final batch. This percentage can be controlled by using exacting measurements of sugars and yeasts, and is a needed step to ensure a consistent product. But for the simple little low-alcohol content "rustic country wine" discussed here, it is not really necessary.
Our guide today will be C J J Berry (1918 - 2002), best known as the author of First Steps in Winemaking, published in Britain in 1960 and still in print today.
Mr. Berry wrote a charming book that explains basic science and methods to make wine and brew beer at home using a wide variety of seasonal ingredients. There are many such books available, but "First Steps in Winemaking" (Holmes and Sons, Andover, UK) is accessible to a beginner, amusing to read, and arguably inspired subsequent guides. Mr. Berry included 2 recipes for dandelion wine in my 3rd edition paperback. The first includes raisins and the green parts of the dandelion flowerhead. The resulting wine can have a slight bitterness, due to this greenery. The second (page 90) is a lighter recipe, but one that requires some extra time to clean the heads. To wit:
Dandelion Wine (2)
Ingredients:
2 quarts dandelion heads
3 lbs. white sugar
1 gallon water
4 oranges
Yeast nutrient
Yeast
Method:
This recipe makes a pleasant alternative to the foregoing one. It is important that the flowers should be picked in sunshine, or at midday, when they are fully opened, and the making of the wine should be done immediately.
Measure the yellow heads, discarding as much green as possible (without being too fussy about it), bringing the water to the boil meanwhile. Pour the boiling water over the flowers and leave them to steep for two days. Again, be careful not to exceed this time or a curious odour often invades and spoils what is a most pleasant table wine, properly made. Boil the mixture for ten minutes with the orange peel (no white pith) and strain through muslin on the sugar, stirring to dissolve it. When cool add the yeast nutrient, fruit juice and yeast. Put into fermentation jar and fit trap, and siphon off into clean bottles when the wine has cleared. It will be just right for drinking with your Christmas poultry!
So, following our Virgil, an expedition to a field of dandelions is the first step. In this case, it was the back yard. After much kneeling and bending, I had collected enough flowers. As it was my yard, I was assured no pesticides or other harmful stuff was present. Be judicious in your foraging and harvesting of wild foods. If in doubt of a location's cleanliness, move on; if in doubt of the edibility of a plant, compare a sample with a reliable reference source before consuming it.
The next step was removal of the green bits (without being too fussy about it). Three bowls made a disassembly line.
After the better part of an hour I had a bowl of mostly yellow petals. I did not photograph my green stained fingers.
The next stage was to rinse and boil the flowers in the water, then leave to cool. When cool, cover to keep to curious critters out.
After 2* days (*48 hours is a guide, not a rule - a half day either way won't matter) assemble remaining ingredients and prepare to get cooking.
Add the citrus zest directly to the fragrant herbally mix of flowers and water, and boil the lot for about 10 minutes. Put the sugar in a large clean bowl. When the flower water has boiled and is still hot or warm, strain directly over the sugar in the large bowl. Mr. Berry suggests muslin cloth; I used a flour sack towel placed in a colander over the large bowl with sugar in it. Stir the sugar to dissolve it in the herbal solution, then let cool.
It is crucial to let the mixture cool - room temperature or slightly warmer (ca. 70-80 F.) is good. Temperatures much higher than the mid-90s F. will kill the yeast and the potential for fermentation. I used a small envelope of standard baker's yeast and about a half teaspoon of yeast nutrient purchased at a homebrew shop and mixed them into the brew with a clean spoon. The exact amount doesn't seem to matter too much for a simple "country wine;" in other homemade batches of beer and wine I've not been too fussy and the resulting beverage tasted fine. More sophisticated recipes will require more exacting measurements, of course.
A critical element of home fermentation of, well, anything, is cleanliness and sterilized equipment. Airborne bacteria and yeasts can contaminate a brew and turn it into vinegar, lead to incomplete fermentation, or inspire mold growth. Sterile equipment is important in all cooking, but especially important for wine fermentation. Once the sugar has been dissolved, the brew will be poured into a container for the first fermentation. Thus the container, stopper, funnel, fermentation trap, siphon hose, any spoons or other equipment must be cleaned. One method is add 2 tsp. of bleach to a gallon of water; mix; rinse container and discard; then, let container air dry. I used a product called One Step, also purchased from the homebrew shop, which works basically the same way.
The fermentation trap is fitted over the top of the fermenting container. Its purpose is to allow carbon dioxide to escape the brew via a one-way route, while keeping airborne contaminants out. The simplest trap is a balloon pricked with several pinholes and placed over the mouth of the container. I've not used that method; a simple plastic trap is available at the homebrew shop for a dollar or so.
The trap is sterilized, then the top lid is removed and water poured in until the trap pods are about half full. After the brew is poured into the fermentation container, using the clean funnel, this is capped with a stopper with a hole; the trap is fitted into the stopper hole. I used a flask I had lying around; any clean bottle or jar would work, as long as its lid can be holed and fitted with some kind of trap.
Once the brew is in the fermentin' jug and stopped up, you will see the yeast begin transforming the sugars into CO2, and, alcohol. The brew will do some mild frothing and bubbling, and bubbles will move upward through the trap and out, making a quiet "bloop bloop" sound as they emerge. I find it to be a charming sound - the sound of science in action. After a couple days, a foamy mass will accumulate at the top of the brew; this is normal and not bad, even though it can look like what Sir Francis Chichester, in a very different context, described as "a carpet of mouldy muck."
The duration of the first fermentation depends on the recipe, how exacting you wish to be, and observation. For this simple wine, the best guideline is to keep it in the stopped jug until the bubbling has ceased. This can take from a week to several weeks, depending on the amount of yeast and sugar used, and ambient temperature. Once the bubbling has ceased, remove the stopper and siphon the liquid through a clean hose into a second clean bottle. I used a 4-foot length of plastic half-inch tubing; the best way to clean it for use is simply submerge it in the sterilizing solution, then drain it and air dry.
To siphon, put fermentation Jug 1 on a table and the receiving fermentation Jug 2 (i.e. bottle) on the floor. Run the hose from Jug 1 down to Jug 2; jiggle the end in jug 1 a bit and liquid should start to flow. Or you could pretend you're stealing gas from a car and inhale a bit on the Jug 2 end of the hose... Try to avoid letting the end of the hose in Jug 1 suck up any of the frothy muck, as it will cloud your final wine. A partner helps keep the process less messy. Once all the liquid is in your bottle, stop that one with new clean cork, or other cap, and put the bottle in a cool dark place. The wine inside will continue its slow fermentation over several months; 6 months to a year is typical.
To enjoy this simple summertime brew, prepare it in the Northern Hemisphere between April-August, then put it up until late December or January. Open a bottle as the snow falls and inhale the aromas of summer. Sip it with loved ones and celebrate being alive. As Ray Bradbury put it,
The wine was summer caught and stoppered. And now that Douglas knew, he really knew he was alive, and moved turning through the world to touch and see it all, it was only right and proper that some of his new knowledge, some of this special vintage day would be sealed away for opening on a January day with snow falling fast and the sun unseen for weeks or months and perhaps some of the miracle by then forgotten and in need of renewal.
Cheers!