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The famous American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury probably did not even suspect that not only wine, but also liqueurs and tinctures, could be made from dandelions.
Dandelion Wine: An Anglo-Saxon Classic
Attention! All the spices listed below are added to the drink selectively; Moreover, this is done only at will.
Ingredients
Dandelion flowers – liter jar
Granulated sugar – 1,5 kg
Water – 4 L
Raisins – 100 g
Lemons – 2 large or 3 medium
Oranges (optional) – 2 pcs
Fresh herbs (mint, thyme, oregano, snakehead, lemon balm or monarda) – 2-3 pcs.
Method of preparation
Collect a liter jar of yellow dandelion inflorescences (tear fully opened flowers, easily separated from the green receptacle; this should be done away from dusty roads, in the first half of the day and not earlier than a day after the rain).
Put the dandelions in a clean saucepan, pour 4 liters of boiling water, mix and leave for a day under the lid.
Then strain the liquid into a wide-mouthed container and squeeze the inflorescences into it, after which the latter can be thrown away.
Carefully remove the yellow zest from the lemons and squeeze the juice out of them into the future must. If you want to enhance the citrus effect, add lemon zest to the liquid. If you want to diversify it, squeeze the juice from peeled oranges.
Next, you should add unwashed raisins, 500 g of sugar and your favorite herbs, tie the neck of the vessel with gauze and leave the vessel in a dark, warm place until fermentation begins.
If signs of fermentation appear (foam, hiss, sour smell), the wort should be filtered through gauze, poured into a clean container, add another 500 g of sugar, tightly close the lid with a water seal and return to a dark, dry place.
On the fifth and tenth day of fermentation, another 250 g of granulated sugar should be added to the substance. It is best to first dissolve it in a small amount of future wine (proportion 1: 1), drained for this purpose through a straw. As a result, the container should be filled no more than three-quarters.
After about 30-60 days, the fermentation process should be completed; which means that the future drink should be filtered or drained from the sediment, after which it should be bottled (at the same time, if fermentation does not stop by the specified maximum period, the substance should be removed from the sediment and poured into a clean tank to complete the process). At this stage, you can make final changes to the composition of the wine. For example, add sugar to taste. In the latter case, in order to avoid unpleasant surprises associated with fermentation, the drink should be kept under a water seal for another week.
The final ripening of bottled wine is carried out in a dark cool room with a temperature of 6-16 ° C for six months.
Dandelion liqueur: European fantasy
The alcoholic base for this drink can be good vodka or diluted edible alcohol. It is not recommended to use moonshine: it will completely kill the honey taste and floral aroma of the drink.
Ingredients
Dandelion flowers – 250 g
Vodka (45-degree water-alcohol solution) – 500 ml
Granulated sugar – 250 g
Method of preparation
Collect dandelions, guided by the advice from the previous recipe.
Place them in a glass jar, alternating two-centimeter layers of unwashed flowers with two-centimeter layers of sugar (at the same time, granulated sugar should be both at the bottom of the jar and on top of the last layer of dandelions).
A hermetically sealed container should be kept on the windowsill for three to four weeks, shaking it every five days. If the contents of the jar begin to ferment, add another 40 g of sugar to it.
Strain the resulting syrup through cheesecloth, squeezing the petals into it.
In a clean glass container, mix the dandelion syrup with the alcohol base. The vessel is hermetically sealed and placed in a dark place for 3 months. Then remove the liquor from the sediment, bottle and hold in a dark room at room temperature for about the same amount.
Dandelion tincture: Slavic version
A rich, fragrant and strong drink that fully meets the incomprehensible needs of the mysterious Slavic soul.
Ingredients
Dandelion flowers – 200 g
Vodka – 500 ml
Fresh mint – 2 leaves
Fresh melissa – 2 leaves
Grated young ginger root – 3 g
Method of preparation
Collect dandelion flowers, guided by the first recipe.
Add mint and lemon balm to them. Rinse all plants thoroughly, place in a glass jar, pour vodka and close with a tight lid.
Keep the container for three weeks in a warm, dark place.
Then, add ginger to the tincture, wait another day, after which the liquid is carefully filtered several times and finally bottled.
Relevance: 27.04.2017
Tags: Liqueurs, Pourings, Liqueurs, Wine Recipes, Liquor Recipes, Liqueur Recipes