I have given dandelion wine a four year break, in the hope that it will be better this time. And it had to be dandelion this year because I said it would be in Home Farmer Magazine. April is a difficult time for wine anyway because buying ingredients feels like cheating. So, towards noon on Sunday morning, 17th April, I put on sun cream, donned my Hat, and drove to Lawnswood Crags. I took a measuring jug with me to allow me to measure whilst I picked, rather than come home with either far too many or irritatingly too few flowers.
Getting six pints of flower-heads proved rapid work. An old man asked if I was making a potion, and a young girl with Downes Syndrome asked questions, but otherwise I was undisturbed.
Once home I put the dandelions in the bucket, picked three from our garden and also put in most from the posy of dandelions Angie and Phil brought with them last night. I rescued one ladybird and as many money spiders as I could and poured over seven pints of boiling water.
On Tuesday evening, 19th April, after a boozy lunch with Rodney and an afternoon of feeling unsteady and squishing 86 sawfly grubs, I added 3 lbs sugar and the thinly peeled rind of 2 lemons and one orange. This was then poured into a big pan, brought to the boil and kept boiling for ten minutes. It took an age to start boiling, and the floating carpet of dandelions made it difficult to tell when it was. I used the time productively to bottle my Blackcurrant Wine. The whole mix went back into the bucket over the juice from the citrus fruit. Claire dislikes the smell now permeating the house, but I think it pleasant.
I put in one litre of white grape juice, the yeast (Hock variety) and a teaspoon each of pectolase, tannin and yeast on Wednesday morning. I shall filter out the dandelions and put the liquid into a demijohn on Saturday.
I have started the process of making my own dandelion wine. I only managed to get 3 pints of dandelions from my back garden so will scale it down. I will put photos on my blog some point in the weeek (or later on today if find the time)
ReplyDeleteDo you have a half-sized demijohn to use? If you have trouble finding white grape juice (which in recent years seems to be thin on the ground) try Morrisons - which had it last time I looked. 'White Grape and Peach Juice Drink' seems to be generally available, and I have used that before to no ill effect. (Though I do wonder why a product refers to itself as a 'Juice Drink' - surely that is tautological?)
ReplyDeleteThe 3 pints of dandelions were packed down quite well,not sure what difference that makes. I have some 3 litre dilute pop bottles I have kept for smaller batches. I am mostly experimenting at the moment so like to keep the batches small. I have taken a few photos of the process so far and will post them soon. I like the idea of Elderflower and Elderberry wine as there is loads of it in my area though not sure my better half will appreciate all the bottles bubbling throughout the house
ReplyDeleteDefinitely do Elderflower - I think it is the best white. And Elderberry is always a winner too. Don't miss out on Blackberry either - which is my personal favourite. And just remind your wife/partner that a demijohn in the corner going 'bloop' means six bottles of tasty, cheap wine. I tend to keep mine in the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd let you know that I have just started drinking my batch of dandelion wine, the one where I used red grape juice, and I have to say it's lovely! Think I'll be starting foraging again soon for more dandelions! Will probably make a larger batch this time.
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