I grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch (no, I'm not and never have been Amish--although it's a common question when you say "PA Dutch") area where you heard of eating dandelion greens with ham every Spring and where the words "dandelion" and "wine" went together relatively well. My father home "brewed" (maybe not quite the proper term) cherry wine for several years, but it met with mixed results (possibly because the family's never been big on booze of any sort). So, when I started seeing the adorable heads of sunshiny dandelions poking up through the slowly greening New York grass I thought--Hmm, a new crop to add to our ever abundant rocks and milkweed?
Milkweed's deadly and rocks are quite hard on dental work, so I thought it was time to look into the one other thing that shows up here in abundance. Several sites showed me recipes for dandelion-related things.
My 3 year old son and I got to picking :-) I washed off the flowers, trimmed off the greens with old scissors and made dandelion fritters first.
My son especially loved them. Me? Well, they're more "savory" than "sweet" and perhaps a little too plain, but there are surely ways to "dress them up." My hubby wasn't offended by them either (and he's the pickiest of our lot). Braver as a result, I sent some back with our visiting landlord (along with some freshly baked country white rolls). He tried a roll while with us and seemed to approve (he's the next level of "picky" up from my husband ;-). I still have yet to hear back about the fritters... Ah well.
Emboldened, I read several recipes for "Dandelion Wine." I settled on one (I'd provide the link when I find it again--good thing I copied and pasted into Word...) and my son and I again braved the large backyard in search of nice-looking blossoms.
We (really I) used the easiest recipe, even cheating and using a relatively regular type of Red Star yeast (not the wine or champagne yeasts many suggest--maybe next year). I know not all yeasts are created equal, but I'm just screwing around at this point--it takes my mind off bleaker topics and forces me to move around. It started fermenting beautifully--tiny bubbles rushing to the golden surface. We followed our directions and bottled it. It's currently resting in a dark part of the basement.
I was so excited, I made a second batch (my hubby's family liking wines and strange things --yep, they even like me--the strangest thing of all ;-). I even picked younger dandelions (supposed to be slightly sweeter and better). That batch is sitting on my counter as I type, waiting for sterile bottles. It will be like my "control," trying to prove or disprove that I can be competent with making a primitive form of wine...
My husband wants me to also try another recipe (the first one had cloves and ginger and smells like a mild mulled cider as it's boiling before being strained--holiday wine, I think). I think I will, but we need more bottles...
I've moved on (for now at least) to Dandelion Jelly. I've found about a half-dozen recipes online and I've chosen two that sound the most promising to me. I want to start with one today (but the dandelion blossoms are being sluggish due to last night's FROST--argh). I guess I'll mist my mushrooms and plants before my son gets up to help pick flowers (he'll probably just play on his swingset while I pick nearby anyhow). Jelly Link 1, Jelly Link 2, Jelly Recipe that shows up almost everywhere...Jelly Link 3.
Over the weekened the hubby, son and I also tried a dandelion "greens" dish that included sausage, potatoes and vinegar (I used balsamic since that's all I had handy--discolored my potatoes, but oh well)--actually pretty tasty (especially if you like collard greens). I wasn't picky about the age of the greens I grabbed, so a milder flavor can supposedly be obtained by picking the younger leaves (and supposedly earlier in the season, too). But the hubby liked it (me, too) and the son ate some of it before truly questioning its genesis and focusing on devouring his roll.
Try the links--fun stuff!
Shannon
Milkweed's deadly and rocks are quite hard on dental work, so I thought it was time to look into the one other thing that shows up here in abundance. Several sites showed me recipes for dandelion-related things.
My 3 year old son and I got to picking :-) I washed off the flowers, trimmed off the greens with old scissors and made dandelion fritters first.
My son especially loved them. Me? Well, they're more "savory" than "sweet" and perhaps a little too plain, but there are surely ways to "dress them up." My hubby wasn't offended by them either (and he's the pickiest of our lot). Braver as a result, I sent some back with our visiting landlord (along with some freshly baked country white rolls). He tried a roll while with us and seemed to approve (he's the next level of "picky" up from my husband ;-). I still have yet to hear back about the fritters... Ah well.
Emboldened, I read several recipes for "Dandelion Wine." I settled on one (I'd provide the link when I find it again--good thing I copied and pasted into Word...) and my son and I again braved the large backyard in search of nice-looking blossoms.
We (really I) used the easiest recipe, even cheating and using a relatively regular type of Red Star yeast (not the wine or champagne yeasts many suggest--maybe next year). I know not all yeasts are created equal, but I'm just screwing around at this point--it takes my mind off bleaker topics and forces me to move around. It started fermenting beautifully--tiny bubbles rushing to the golden surface. We followed our directions and bottled it. It's currently resting in a dark part of the basement.
I was so excited, I made a second batch (my hubby's family liking wines and strange things --yep, they even like me--the strangest thing of all ;-). I even picked younger dandelions (supposed to be slightly sweeter and better). That batch is sitting on my counter as I type, waiting for sterile bottles. It will be like my "control," trying to prove or disprove that I can be competent with making a primitive form of wine...
My husband wants me to also try another recipe (the first one had cloves and ginger and smells like a mild mulled cider as it's boiling before being strained--holiday wine, I think). I think I will, but we need more bottles...
I've moved on (for now at least) to Dandelion Jelly. I've found about a half-dozen recipes online and I've chosen two that sound the most promising to me. I want to start with one today (but the dandelion blossoms are being sluggish due to last night's FROST--argh). I guess I'll mist my mushrooms and plants before my son gets up to help pick flowers (he'll probably just play on his swingset while I pick nearby anyhow). Jelly Link 1, Jelly Link 2, Jelly Recipe that shows up almost everywhere...Jelly Link 3.
Over the weekened the hubby, son and I also tried a dandelion "greens" dish that included sausage, potatoes and vinegar (I used balsamic since that's all I had handy--discolored my potatoes, but oh well)--actually pretty tasty (especially if you like collard greens). I wasn't picky about the age of the greens I grabbed, so a milder flavor can supposedly be obtained by picking the younger leaves (and supposedly earlier in the season, too). But the hubby liked it (me, too) and the son ate some of it before truly questioning its genesis and focusing on devouring his roll.
Try the links--fun stuff!
Shannon
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