The dandelions are finally in bloom, and there are thousands of them around our place.
There's plenty for the bees and for us as well. One thing I've never made before but always wanted to try is dandelion mead, also known as honey wine.
I decided to follow the recipes and directions provided in the book; The Wildcrafting Brewer by Pascal Baudar. The main ingredients are raw unprocessed honey, water and whatever herbs/fruits/flavorings you'd like to include. I chose dandelion, lemon, ginger (just a teeny bit) and a small handful of organic raisins.
Mead is really simple to make, not at all intimidating! The only reason we haven't made it before is that it cost's so much for honey. A jug of mead needs 2-3lbs of honey (depending on how dry or sweet you want it). For an enjoyable beverage with all organic ingredients, honey goodness, and no chemicals or additives, I think it's worth the extra cost so we've taken the plunge. It's really another big nudge for us to get our apiary set up.
I made two batches, slightly different ways to test things out. I'll share the process and the recipe in a few months, once we've sampled the wares and are happy with the results. The jugs are already bubbling away!
Dandelions & honey together smells just like liquid sunshine. So gorgeous!
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@walkerland,there is place dandeli in dharwad district of Karnataka in which we ll find numerous dandelion
Very nice
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I was never that big a fan of mead, but probably because it was mass produced in a factory. No telling how much processing went into it. Wish I coul try some, but oh well
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I hope you find a chance to try home-made mead someday @yestermorrow! Seems like everything tastes better when it is made with love.
O started making apple Meade last year. I have made dandelion wine. Dandelion Meade is on my bucket list.
Fresh out of honey right now though.
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How do you like the apple meade? I've never had that before. We are hoping to work our a deal to keep bees on our land in exchange for honey because it is quite an expensive ingredient especially in recipes that call for 2lb!!
Not the biggest fan of mead. It is much too sweet for my tastes. But I really like makig my own alcohol at home and dandelions seems like an interesting one. I do like the ginger, but I put in a lot.
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Have you made ginger wine? It is one of my absolute favourites!! Dandelion wine is interesting but it is one of the more labour intensive ingredients to choose so we only make small batches. You've got to remove all the bitter green bits which takes some time.
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Wow, Dandelion mead/Honey wine that also fresh and organic, sounds yum. I have never tried one, not sure if they sell it in the markets.
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Looks like your helper in the last photo, "helped" a little too much.... :))
She is such a goof ball. This is her normal comfy pose and after all these years it still cracks me up.
I'm really ITCHING to get brewing!! Thanks for the book reference - so many simple "how to" sites and such a natural evolution to move form medicinal tinctures to something that tastes much yummier. :)
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What does it taste like? How long do you have to wait? HAve you looked at keeping bees? I so want to try a mead! And why don't you drop your links in post promo so we can all see them, my dear?
Egad. Just been a week where I'm barely keeping afloat. Sorry. I am desperate to keep bees. We are working on it. I love mead but have never tasted it infused with dandelion - can't wait to write all about it while sampling it. Mead varies from maker to maker the flavour of the honey and how much they use being a big part of it (some are dry others sweet - much just like how it ranges with wine). Ours tastes like honey without the sweetness because my husband doesn't like it sweet plus a hit of something (whatever we tossed into it).
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Dandelions, one of the most misunderstood "weeds", but oh so beneficial in many different ways!
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One of the only "Weeds" that you can use every single part of from blossom to root. So cool!
yum yum yum, this looks delicious! i absolutely love pascal's work. so so inspired. i follow him on facebook too and birdsinparadise gifted us that brewing book for christmas! haven't made any wines/beers/meads this yr, but i keep thinking of it and need to get on it! this mead looks amazing. cheers <3
pascal's work is totally inspiring, I follow his FB pages as well and am just in awe of what he is doing to educate and inspire people. If I could ever spend an afternoon learning from him I'd jump on it in an instant.
Lovely to have that abundance of dandelions!
Hope all goes well with the mead making!
My son got himself one of those flow hives - real slick!
Because it was so wet last year the honey had to much moisture in it and would not keep. He froze it.and is going to make mead with it. Hopefully it goes well!
Thanks for sharing this!
I've been curious about the flow hive, not sure I like all that plastic. Was it the hive or did all types of hives get the moisture issue ? (I am fascinated with bees - desperate to keep our own but so hard to get established here).