There's a lot of you out there asking for the dandelion wine recipe. We found several online but made a lot of adjustments to get to this final recipe.
First let me say, you need a few things to do this.
1. You need a fermenter. We just bought a small one and it worked great.
2. You need something to siphon out the alcohol.
3. You need bottles/mason jars or jugs (it made 5 wine bottles worth)
4. You need 1 oz wine yeast pack (easy to find on Amazon)
5. You need cheese cloth
Let's get started!
INGREDIENTS:
1. 4 qts of Dandelion Blooms (just the flower not the green part)
2. 5 cups of sugar
3. 1.5 peeled and sectioned oranges
4. 1-2 slices of lemon (don't do more than this, it really comes through) I'd go with 1 SLICE
5. 1 packet of wine yeast (but only use a pinch and I really mean that, a PINCH)
PROCESS:
The fun part! Pick pick pick those dandelions. You want to pick dandelions mid morning to mid afternoon when they are WIDE open.
Remove the green. All of it. We went as far as to remove every bit of green, so we ended up with very yellow hands, and almost a pulpy like dandelion substance because we even removed the sepal (the part that holds the flower together) This is up for some debate, as some say that leaving the sepal on will give it some depth/bitterness. Up to you.
Wash the dandelions in a strainer.
Boil the dandelions in 1 gal of water for 4 minutes. Let steep (sit there in your pot) covered for 48 hours.
After the 2 days waiting period. Combine the watery dandelion mixture with the sugar and yeast (AGAIN DO NOT POUR THE PACKET IN OR YOU WILL HAVE GASOLINE!)
Pour that mixture into the fermenter and toss in your oranges and lemon slices (again don't overdue the lemon...it's really potent)
Put the airlock in place (the top of the fermenter) and let it sit in a cool place for 2 weeks. Don't rush it.
BOTTLING PROCESS:
After 2 weeks siphon the wine into your bottles/jugs/mason jars THROUGH a piece of cheese cloth. This will catch pulp, sediment etc. There's no need for a water bath like in canning etc.
Put the lids on and let it sit for another two weeks!
Then you're all set! It's summer in a glass.
***This recipe is intended for those of legal drinking age only. We do not and will not advocate underage drinking of any kind***
