Recipe for Dandelion Wine

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In one of the posts in the archives from last year I mentioned making dandelion wine. I've gotten so many e-mails asking for my great-grandmother's recipe, I decided to post it here so that I don't get flooded again next spring with requests for it. Keep in mind that this recipe is over 100 years old and I haven't changed it (ingredients) too much. There arn't any of those strange additives that wine book recipes call for.

DANDELION WINE

5 gallon bucket filled with dandelion heads (no stems or leaves...this takes about 2 hours for 3 people)

10 gallons of water

25 pounds of sugar

24 lemons

24 oranges

2 oz. of ginger root fresh

12 cups of raisins

8 packs of wine yeast (bread yeast will work but the wine won't keep well for more than a couple of years)

Put the dandelions in a large unchipped enamel canning pot. (You might have to break it down into smaller batches, but do it the day of picking to keep the heads from closing up). Pour in enough water to cover and add the sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 minutes. Strain and return the liquid to the pot. Wash and thinly peel the oranges and lemons (no white part) and add the peelings to the pot. Slice the ginger really thin and add also. Let simmer for another 30 minutes. Proof the yeast in a glass bowl of warm sugar water. Pour the contents of the pot into a crock (or 5 gallon buckets) and add the juice of the lenoms and oranges. Cut up the raisins and add them and any water that didn't get used to make the liquid. (The brew should now be about room temp.) Add the proofed yeast and stir. Keep it lightly covered at about 70 degrees or so and stir every day for the first 7 days. Let it alone for 14 days more. Rack it into an oak barrel with an air lock and let it sit until it clears. Bottle and let it sit a couple of months. It should be ready about christmas. Enjoy! (This should over fill a 10 gallon oak barrel.)

Peggy Adkins 11986 Armstrong Rd. South Rockwood, MI 48179

adkinsonthefarm@hotmail.com

-- Peggy Adkins (adkinsonthefarm@hotmail.com), May 24, 2001

Answers

There were a few other recipes in a thread a couple of weeks ago. It's a great wine, well worth the trouble.

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), May 25, 2001.

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