How To Make Dandelion Wine

If you know how to make dandelion wine, then you have learned how to make a very tasty treat for drinking as well as cooking and marinating. The dandelion has many useful properties, some of which are used to make dandelion wine. If you use the rest of the dandelion for medicinal purposes and you use the blooms to make wine, you will find that you can literally use every part of the dandelion! Though the wine itself is not proven to have medicinal properties, the rest of the dandelion (including the root) can be used to aid in digestion, detoxification and even menstrual symptoms such as bloating. This particular recipe uses all of the bloom for making the wine, but a sweeter wine can be made by using only the petals. Use the ingredients listed below to make dandelion wine.

• One gallon of water
• One Gallon of dandelion blooms
• Four lemons
• Four Oranges
• Two cups of raisins
• Eight cups of sugar
• One package yeast

1. Prepare the dandelions. To make dandelion wine, you want to get the dandelions with the fullest flavor. This can be done by picking the dandelions in the early morning hours. Once you pick the dandelions, remove the blooms from them. Please note that you should only use dandelions that are in full bloom and are far from pollutants such as pesticides. Gently rinse the dandelion blooms clean and gently press dry with a paper towel.
2. Prepare the citrus fruits. Wash fruits thoroughly. Cut and squeeze fruits so that the juice goes into a bowl or large pot with no heat added. Save the rinds. You will be using them to make dandelion wine.
3. Mix ingredients. In a large pot, mix the water, dandelions, fruit juice, rinds and raisins.
4. Boil ingredients. Boil the ingredients together for about five minutes. This is the only heating process you will use as you how to make dandelion wine.
5. Package the wine. Strain the ingredients, then add the sugar and yeast. Mix well and pour into quart jars. Seal the jars.
6. Shake the wine. Be sure to shake the dandelion wine gently once a day for about 10 days.
7. Serve the dandelion wine. While some people drink the dandelion wine as soon as two weeks after it is made, most people will want it to ferment a bit longer than that. The general rule of thumb is to allow the wine to sit for six months to get a quality flavor.