Dandewine--dandelion wine! with an instructional video!

[julibooli]

Spring is coming up (I swear it's true) and I'm remembering making dandelion wine in central France last year. It was such a fun project, and delicious to boot. Plus, it cost almost nothing, which is always great. There's nothing too tricky to the process; just follow the instructions and be patient, and all will be well.

Dandelion wine is incredibly sweet! It's basically a desert wine, and perfect for summer. The color is light yellow, like a lemonade, and it would be delightful served chilled.

I've written all about it on my friend's website. There's a great story to it, lots of illustrations, and an awesome stop-motion film we made about the whole process!
Here's the HD version of the film!

The measurements are metric because we made the wine in France!

The Recipe:

Dandelion wine does not require any special equipment to make. Just dandelions, some sugar and yeast, oranges and lemons, and pots to boil water in. This recipe uses cloves and ginger, which I think give it a nice touch. If you have dandelions around, give it a try! We Made 20 liters- but you may want to start with smaller amounts… the recipe below will yield about 4 liters.

* 1 package dried yeast
* 50ml cup warm water
* 2 Liters dandelion blossoms
* 4 Liters water
* 250 ml orange juice
* 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 8 whole cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
* 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped orange peel
* 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped lemon peel
* 6 cups sugar

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside.

Wash the dandelion blossoms well. Put them in the water with the orange, lemon and lime juices. Bring to a boil and continue to boil a few minutes. Let stand 24-48 hours, then strain and pour into large carboy or jug. Add the cloves, ginger, orange and lemon peel, and sugar. Shake well and then let it rest for one week while the fermentation begins. Then strain again and pour into bottles. Allow uncorked bottles to set in a darkened place for three to six weeks. Then cork and store bottles in a cool place.

Note: Choose dandelions from an open field far from any insecticide spraying. Pick early in the season when the leaves of the plant are still tender. Flowers that have just opened are best.

Enjoy your vintage and please consume reponsibly!

[Mizell]

looks wonderful! And we have a plot of land way out in the middle of nowhere..we keep llamas there, and we get lots of dandelions! can't wait to try it! looks yum!

[pinkleo]

Oh I must try this!  Thank you so much for sharing!

[LordVader]

Sounds like something I'd really like.  My parents not so much.  I'll have to remember this.

[julibooli]

Sounds like something I'd really like.  My parents not so much.  I'll have to remember this.

But I thought parents love wine!!! They need it to get through the diaper years, and puberty, and high school. At least that's what mine always said.

[edelC]

I have to try this, dandelions should be up in another few weeks here..is it very gingery? I dont really like ginger and am wondering if I can leave it out, or if it is just a kind of background flavour and not too dominant.

[javarose]

For. The. Win.    

I've wanted to do this since first reading Ray Bradbury.

[edelC]

oh and what kind of yeast? white wine yeast or regular bread yeast?

[julibooli]

oh and what kind of yeast? white wine yeast or regular bread yeast?

I'm not entirely sure, because all the packages were in French. I don't recall seeing different types of yeast at the grocery there, so I'm pretty sure it was just basic yeast. We used the same yeast for baking breads and pizza. And it's not gingery at all! I HATE ginger too and it's not a noticeable flavor in the wine; it blends really well with the other spices and gives a bit of depth to the wine.

@edelC: That's where I first heard of dandelion wine too! It's totally awesome!

Are you seeing the video too?! I can't stress it enough how awesome the video is! My friend did most of the work on it. We just used his Macbook Pro to take all the shots!

[LordVader]

Sounds like something I'd really like.  My parents not so much.  I'll have to remember this.

But I thought parents love wine!!! They need it to get through the diaper years, and puberty, and high school. At least that's what mine always said.

My parents love wine.  Just don't think they'd like this.  They aren't too fond of sweet wines.