MAE JULIAN
The Dandelion Issue
Dear Readers,
Wow!‑ Sometimes you are downright surprised at the mail you get. After writing about dandelions, I thought I was sure to get a bunch of mail telling me I didn’t know a weed when I saw one. Pleasantly, the mail I got was all in favor of the beautiful dandelion. I got a request for the dandelion wine my father-in law made every year, and one reader referred me to a very upscale restaurant that uses dandelion leaves in its’ salads. I have since heard of several people who look forward to spring and its abundant gift of our beautiful dandelions.
So, here goes, as requested: To use dandelion leaves in a salad, pick the leaves when they are the earliest. Clean thoroughly and tear into pieces and add them to your salad. (I would make sure you are using dandelions that have not been sprayed with pesticides.)
Now..for the biggest request…the dandelion wine recipe!
DANDELION WINE
For one gallon:
One quart dandelion blossoms
3 quarts boiling water
5 pounds of sugar (or , one recipe called for 2 1/2 pounds—-personal preference on sweetness)
One lemon and one orange, peeled and sliced thin, with all seeds removed
One cake of yeast
One way air locks (purchase at wine-products store)
Bottles
Corks
One Crock
Cheesecloth
Pick one packed quart of heads (flower only) of the dandelions. Squish the blossoms in the quart containers you are using, and pack them in tightly.‑ Make them very compact. Transfer blossoms to a large container such as a 5-gallon crock.
Pour 2 gallons of boiling water over the blossoms. Cover with cheesecloth. Set aside for 24 hours. After this, strain off liquid, squeezing blossoms in cheesecloth to extract all liquid, and discard the used blossoms. Put liquid aside.
In a separate bowl, combine 5 (or 2 1/2) pounds of sugar in a portion of the above liquid until dissolved. This may require heating or boiling to dissolve sugar. Add one cake of yeast dissolved in a small amount of the reserved blossom water. Mix everything together. Put in crock. Float one peeled and sliced lemon and one‑peeled and sliced orange in the mixture.‑ Cover the crock with cheesecloth and let sit, uncovering only twice a day for two weeks, to stir mixture (you will be stirring in the lemon and orange slices).
Strain again, and put in large containers that can be fitted with one-way air locks (check with your local winemaking store).
Cork tightly using air locks until it stops bubbling (possibly weeks).‑ Once the wine stops “working”, filter wine (through cheesecloth) and put in bottles. (MAKE SURE WINE HAS STOPPED WORKING PRIOR TO BOTTLING AND CORKING.) Let wine age at least two months. And then…when the remaining dandelions in the yard turn to white fluff, let the kids have fun blowing them in the air. Dandelions are wonderful!
Have fun!
Mae Julian
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