So I looked out the window yesterday morning and spring smacked me right in the face.
The sun was shining and the grass was growing and it looked like time to mow the lawn.
The amount of weeds that had popped up over the past few days was amazing. In particular, Dandelion.
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/eoinlayton/spam/23042013451_zps109113c5.jpg)
I had hear of Dandelion being used in some other things like dandelion and burdock (whatever that is) soda, and then I got to thinking (conveniently avoiding starting work cutting the grass) that that it must have other uses i could find with a bit of pro googling... And it does, by the boatload:
"used for loss of appetite, upset stomach, intestinal gas, gallstones, joint pain, muscle aches, eczema, and bruises...to increase urine production and as a laxative to increase bowel movements. It is also used as skin toner, blood tonic, and digestive tonic... to treat infection, especially viral infections, and cancer" source (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-706-DANDELION.aspx?activeIngredientId=706&activeIngredientName=DANDELION)
And more importantly, it can also be made into wine!
Here's the ingredients for this batch:
250g dandelion petals
150g raisins (no oil)
2 oranges
1 lemon
half teaspoon ground ginger
wine yeast
Armed with this new knowledge, thought it would be a shame to mow them all down, so I went out on a 'Dandelion Harvest' which gave me even more thinking time...
Although the plant didn't change, what were prevously weeds were now herbs and I concluded that 'Weeds are a frame of mind'.
But I digress, anything to avoid cutting the grass...
I found that an empty, clean 2liter milk bottle was the best thing for collection because of it's handle, size and widemouth.
Picking just the flower and no stalk, it took about 30 minutes to fill the bottle.
Then off to the kitchen to check it out.
I had read that the greens can be quite bitter so I started munching in and decided that the petals were much nicer without the hard green base.
So I got to work pinching the bases off the flowers.
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/eoinlayton/spam/23042013455_zps33dd7738.jpg)
Next, put them in a big bowl, add the raisins and pour 4 liters of boiling water over it all.
I allowed it to cool, then poured the lot into an empty 5liter tesco water bottle (€1.29, bargain).
It will be left there for 2 days to steep, shaking twice daily.
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/eoinlayton/spam/23042013457_zpsdd3adbe7.jpg)
I'll continue this thread after it is gone to primary, but for now I suppose I should stop slacking and go cut the fecking grass...
edit a few days later...
Anyway, due to a brainfart and oversight I completely forgot to buy oranges and lemons so the recipe got changed up a little bit to 2 old lemons and 1 skanky skinless fridge orange.
The steep smelled quite nice, a bit like artichoke, and the petals started floating more to take up the top half of the bottle.
I put the whole lot into a large saucepan, added 1200g table sugar, half tsp ginger, rinds of 2 lemons and 3 whole cloves, brought it to the boil and simmered it for an hour, smelled lovely!
Then i put the in the juice and pulp of the orange and lemons (discarding all the pith) and strained the whole lot into a big bowl.
An hour(ish) in the freezer and it was cool enough to go into a demijohn and sealed, but still too warm for yeast.
I have a batch of beer going at the moment, so I plugged a second brew belt into the STC1000 and left it around the demijohn for the temperature to stabilize overnight.
Yeast in the morning and robert's your mother's brother.
Because It's still at around 4 liters for now to give a bit of room for frothing, I had to make a guesstimate at the OG but it seems to be around the 1.085 mark which isn't too far off Beersmith so I'm happy with it :)
Now the waiting game...
Don't cut them they are the best source of balanced nectar and pollen for Irish bees there is!
Never considered that the bee's would be interested in them. My wife is a gardener and when I asked her what's a weed and what's a flower,she said that a weed is a flower growing in the wrong place. ;D
Indeedy, just a frame of mind ;)
I'm sure the bees will find plenty more dandelions in the neighbouring fields, and I'm even more sure that my garden will be covered in dandelions again after a few days ;D
Always a nice wine - I make it every year, but never bother removing the green base of the flower. I simply remove every bit of stalk. Gorse is another nice one available at the moment...painful bloody job, but a nice wine with a lovely colour.
Yeah, I wan't going to remove the base but after eating a few with and without I decided it might be worth the effort. Probably not, but it kept me off the streets for a while.
Gorse is next on my list. I've never had it but saw it on river cottage at some stage and wanted it since ;D
And nettle wine at some stage. I should get on top of that while we have the nice young nettles...
update, added to main post:
Anyway, due to a brainfart and oversight I completely forgot to buy oranges and lemons so the recipe got changed up a little bit to 2 old lemons and 1 skanky skinless fridge orange.
The steep smelled quite nice, a bit like artichoke, and the petals started floating more to take up the top half of the bottle.
I put the whole lot into a large saucepan, added 1200g table sugar, half tsp ginger, rinds of 2 lemons and 3 whole cloves, brought it to the boil and simmered it for an hour.
Then i put the in juice and pulp of the orange and lemons (discarding all the pith) and strained the whole lot into a big bowl.
An hour(ish) in the freezer and it was cool enough to go into a demijohn and sealed, but still too warm for yeast.
I have a batch of beer going at the moment, so I plugged a second brew belt into the STC1000 and left it around the demijohn for the temperature to stabilize overnight.
Yeast in the morning and robert's your mother's brother.
Because It's still at around 4 liters for now to give a bit of room for frothing, I had to make a guesstimate at the OG but it seems to be around the 1.085 mark which isn't too far off Beersmith so I'm happy with it :)
Hi there. I'm new to the forum and by coincidence am also in the middle of putting on a batch of dandelion wine. It's the first time I've tried it. It doesn't half stink when you boil it up - my wife wasn't at all happy. ::)
theres about 6 million dandalions in my field if anyone wants them....or maybe Ill try a wine myself.....
Jaysus G, could you pick a shorter username?!
Get your bits in the introductions section and Welcome on board!
Next project sorted.
Quote from: G on May 10, 2013, 01:07:01 PMIt doesn't half stink when you boil it up - my wife wasn't at all happy. ::)
I liked the smell, it was quite pleasant :)
It's still bubbling away, but slowing down now.
Should be ready to rack off the lees pretty soon.
Quote from: johnrm on May 10, 2013, 02:24:21 PM
Jaysus G, could you pick a shorter username?!
Get your bits in the introductions section and Welcome on board!
It's not the size that counts. It's the way you hop!
Have done so now and Thank You
I decided to sample a bottle of this tonight, and I'm so happy that I did.
It was in demijohn from april to august, and in bottle august to now.
4 months in the bottle is a bit short, but I was curious.
IT'S AMAZEBALLS!
When I opened it, the first thing I noticed was the lovely sweet smell, kinda like those 5p chewing gums you used to get with the transfer tattoos.
Then the clarity! I could use this wineglass as a magnifying lense.
Finally, the taste... It's perfectly sweet, and the bubblegum carries into the taste.
The orange and lemon are barely noticable but present, and the raisins give a great smooth body round the whole lot up.
This is dan(delion)gerous. I could easily drink this bottle in a sitting before looking for more. (sounds like a plan)
Will I brew it again? God yes! Abundant ingredients that give me an excuse not to cut the grass in spring, and fantastic wine. one thousand times yes.
I can't wait to see how this ages.
Here's an mage for the clarity/colour nerds:
(http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/eoinlayton/06122013847_zpse54a1bea.jpg)
Is that the wine from last night? Mighty tack!
Yes, same one. It went down a treat alright :)
I'm seeing seas of dandelions appearing everywhere again.
Come on garden, do your stuff! ;D
Just reread your posts on this and I think I might just have a go at this this year :). I had to use a knife yesterday to root 40 or 50 Dandelion plants in the front garden to prevent them regrowing but since my neighbour is useless at maintaining his own garden I am losing the war :(. Are you happy with what you did last year and would you change anything. :)
I did this last year also but didn't use raisins used 2 litres if lidl grape juice it turned out fantastic. Used champagne yeast and made half of it sparkling. Have 2 bottles left. Also did a gorse and dandelion version.
I'm happy with it the way it is, but little tweaks like chris mentions will get it to our own taste ;)
plan on brewing this over the next few days plenty of them about atm.
@Lord Eoin, when did you top up the Demi John? Or did you leave it at 4 litres?
once the fermentation has slowed a little and there's only a light head of bubbles
Planning on racking this and my gorse wine tomorrow, when I rack into the new demi is it ok to use a solid bung instead of a drilled one with an airlock to let it clear?
At this stage yes no problem I would say.
For wine storage I prefer corks to rubber as sometimes the red rubber sticks to the neck and gets a bit smelly 9of rubber)!
Of course silicon bungs are available! No experience with the grey rubber ones tho'
Just steep the corks in hot campden tab solution for 5 mins (weighthm down tho' ;) )
That's something I must get to also, but my dandelion is not clearing at all.
make sure to boil a kettle in advance and let it cool, then top up to avoid headspace.
The less headspace and surface area the better
might give this another go tomorrow, bit later in the year than i planned. At Vantastival i gave the lads from the Wee county 3 different btls of hedge grow wine.
think this one was the poorest of the 3 but i had a brain fart and added some green cardamon pods instead of the ginger.
going to stick to LE recipe this time.
^ darn tasty wines at that. It went down very well with the other festival-goers
So many danedlions this year.
Time for another batch!