Yesterday my husband brought me a glass of the dandelion wine we made last April. It’s a lovely brew, gently aromatic from the citrus and ginger, and sweet with residual sugar. I think I now know what the dandelions are for: They give the wine its pale golden color, to imitate white wine or, perhaps, mead.
The only way I can imagine improving the recipe would be to substitute honey for the refined sugar. But then I would have mead, and the dandelions might be superfluous.
As it is, our sweet, spicy, slightly bitter dandelion wine makes an excellent low-budget treat for the bleak mid-winter. I recommend drinking it cold, preferably by a warm fire.
My (step) grandfather was an Englishman. He liked to make wine, including dandelion wine. He let me taste it once and I thought it was the most horrible, bitter concoction I’d ever tasted. Of course I was only eight or nine at the time, so what did I know about wine? His blackberry wine was good. One summer, he commissioned me to pick five gallons of wild blackberries for that year’s batch. I enjoyed your April post on making the wine. Whoosh!
To pick five gallons of wild blackberries, you must have been a hardworking kid, Danita!
I know I’ve cultivated a taste for bitterness, but our dandelion wine truly has only the slightest touch (our quince wine is much more bitter). I wonder if your grandfather used the green parts of the flowers, or if he added a whole lot of citrus rind?
Cold wine, warm fire, sounds like a wonderful idea!
My dad told me dandelion wine many years ago and I always thought it sounded so interesting. And I also wondered also what the point of the dandelions was when so many other flavors were added. I don’t drink much but I have have an abundance of dandelions and hate to see anything go to waste. I’ve been interested in trying home brewing in general just because I think it’s an interesting process. I may give it a try this year. Thanks for posting about your results!
I hope the recipe will be in the libations
book I am crossing my fingers that you will write.