Marguerite’s Dandelion Flower Wine

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Ingredients:

• 12 Cups Dandelion Blossoms

• 12 oz Golden Raisins (optional)

• 6 Cups of Organic White Sugar

• 1/4 Cup Warm Water for mixing with Dry Yeast

• 24 Cups of Water

• 4 Lemons, Juiced (optional)

• Zest of 1 to 2 of those above Lemons (optional)

• 1 Tablespoon of Baking Yeast

Utensils:

• Clean container to collect flowers.

• 4 – 1 Qt. Canning Jars or Gallon Wine Jugs with Air Loc’s or a Balloon

• Clean and sterilize the canning jars and or Wine Jugs

Preparation

1. Harvest 12 cups of Blossoms, from an area that has not been sprayed with herbicides or other toxic chemicals.
   Before and as you are harvesting, look at the plants and leave enough blossoms for pollinating insects.
   Choose flowers that are fully developed but no browning or starting to close up to go to seed.
   As you collect the flowers, also try to avoid facing your bowl directly in to the suns direction, this will
   cause your flowers to start to wilt.

2. Shake around the flowers from time to time to allow insects that are still in flowers to leave.
   Its not that they are bad for the wine so much so that they won’t be boiled and killed.
   Visualize an intention so that they can see the flowers will be going into boiling water soon. This is helpful.

3. Next, quickly rinse flowers with water. Do not let them sit in the water at all.

4. Place flowers off to the side.

5. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then pour over flowers in a large enough container or pour flower into the boiling water pot. Either way, allow this to sit for 2 – 3 hours or as long as 8 hrs.
   Strain. Squeeze or press flowers to remove any remaining liquid.

6. Next: bring the strained Dandelion Flower infusion to a boil, reduce to a low simmer; add the lemon juice and sugar. Stir till dissolved. And add to this, the lemon zest and chopped raisins.
   Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

7. When liquid is at body temperature to room temp, stir in white wine yeast (or baking yeast).

8. Cover with cheese cloth and a rubber band to ensure no critters jump in to be part of the brew, which can ruin its taste and cause unwanted bacteria. The cheese cloth is also there to allow the mixture to breathe; do not occlude this batch with an impermeable solid lid, the container will explode in short order. Leave this off to the side of your counter, undisturbed at room temperature for 7 to  10 days or until bubbling stops. Do stir this mix a couple times each day. At end of 7 to 10 days, strain out raisins and lemons.

9. Pour strained liquid into cleaned and sanitized quart mason jars or gallon wine jugs with a one way air loc you can use a balloon over the top of the jug and put a pinprick in it. This pinprick allows the fermentation gasses to escape during active fermentation, but the balloon still keeps unwanted bacteria out. If you choose the quart Ball mason jar method as I had used for 10 yrs, do not tighten the lid completely. This will allow gases to escape.
   Store in a cool, dark location [basement].

10. After 1 month or so carefully pour the liquid into another sanitized jug (or mason jars) leaving by products of the past fermentation / sediment at the bottom of the jug. [I like to use this – diluted in water – to feed my house and garden plants, they like it].
    Again, store this in a cool and dark location.
    Note: I’ve recently heard and so am going to try this that helps further the secondary fermentation: that is there is more than a couple inches between the top of the wine and the rim of the wine bottle, top this off with a syrup of equal parts sugar and water. Again, cover either with a one way air loc or a pin pricked balloon. If there is no longer any fermentation, the balloon will deflate and you can put on a regular cap.

11. When the wine clears &/or every 1 to 3 months [remove the sediment again] carefully pour wine into another cleaned jug, leaving sediment behind. 

12. Continue this type of siphoning off for another few months or until most or no sediment is forming, then, one can funnel off into sanitized wine bottles, cork it or into sanitized Ball canning jars with tight fitting lid on and store in a laying down position if it’s a wine bottle or standing position if it’s a canning jar for at least another 6 months if not a year or two.
    My favorite is a 3 yr old wine.

The result will be sweet, mellow wine that is a pale yellow in color.