Yesterday I was dragging the fruit
tree branches from the late winter pruning out to the street so that the good
men employed by our Town could pick them up and take them to the landfill. As I was tugging the branches through our
shin-high grass, I made a mental note to give Charming the o.k. to cut the
grass so that I could put the clippings around the snow peas, cabbage, and
onions in our garden. (As I’ve said
before, this goes a long way to keeping the weeding to a minimum.) Anyhow, as I walked across the lawn, I couldn’t
help but notice the smiling faces of hundreds of sunny yellow dandelions that
were scattered across our garden.
Now that I’m older and my Momma
and Daddy are both gone, my mind will often connect the dots between some
ordinary item that I happen to see and immediately bring back memories of my
childhood. Dandelions are one of those
things. So when I saw those sunny yellow
faces looking up at me from the lawn, my mind went back to the times that my
Daddy would make “dandelion wine”. Well,
I guess I should specify that Momma was the one who actually made the
wine. Since she was the undeniable “Chief
Cook” in the family, Daddy would tell her how to make it and she would carry
out the process. I guess it was a joint
family effort. I remember us kids
picking the dandelions and a vague recipe that called for dandelions, water,
sugar, and yeast. There may have been
more than that, but I vividly recall that it all got put into a big 5-gallon
crock that would sit in the corner behind the wood stove until it was finished “working”.
So this morning, I’m looking
at a small brown and cream colored crock that has been sitting overnight on my
stove. The crock is covered with
make-shift cheesecloth (a laundry bag that is typically used to wash delicate
clothes in…this is a great substitute for cheesecloth and it can be washed and
re-used many times). Inside the crock
are the dandelions and water. I did look
up some recipes on the internet and am going to improvise and deviate a bit
from Daddy’s recipe. As Daddy would
often say to me, “Nothing beats a try, but a failure.” So here are some fast and loose directions
that I’m going to follow for my brew.
- Pick about a gallon of
dandelion blooms.
- Put the blooms in the
crock.
- Boil a gallon or so of
water and pour over dandelion blooms.
- Cover with cheesecloth (or
delicate laundry bag) and let sit for 3 days.
After the 3 days, strain the
liquid into a large cooking pot.
(Squeeze as much liquid out of the dandelions as possible.)
- Add 2 pounds sugar, 2 entire
chopped lemons, and 2 entire chopped oranges to the pot. (“Entire” means seeds,
pulp, and peelings of the lemons and oranges.)
Boil for half an hour, with the top on the pot.
- Cool mixture to lukewarm
and pour back into the crock.
- Add 1 Tablespoon of yeast
(can be either champagne yeast, if you’re already into making wine or regular
yeast if you’re like me and just like to throw things together and see what
happens).
- Cover with cheesecloth and
let sit for 3 weeks until the bubbling stops.
- Filter through cheesecloth
to strain out solids, and then bottle.
I’ve read several recipes and
it seems you can add just about anything to dandelion wine to add flavor and/or
color…this includes things like raisins or ginger root. I would imagine that you could throw a few
berries or other fruit into the mixture as well. I also read that when you bottle the wine,
you should poke a few pin holes into a balloon and put the balloon over the
mouth of the bottle. If you don’t have
corks, this would keep out any unwanted pests and the bottle wouldn’t explode
due to any remaining fermenting gases from the yeast. Most recipes suggest that you let the wine
sit for several months before drinking it.
That would be perfect timing for Charming and I to sit around the wood
stove in the winter while sipping a taste of summer. (I can envision it now…Vitameatavegamin,
anyone?)
 |
| Everyone should have at least one of these crocks for making wine, sauerkraut or other fermented foods. I have several that I bought at yard sales and thrift shops. |
 |
| Close up of dandelions already covered in (boiling) water. |
 |
| The dandelions and water will sit for three days before I strain the mixture and then add more ingredients. |
No comments:
Post a Comment