Dandelion Wine Time?
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Bryan L Bennett

In case any of you have not noticed we've had a long, cool spring. This
has resulted in a fantastic dandelion crop, especially in the Jemez
Mountains. There are meadows just covered with flowers. I imagine the same is
true over in the Sangre de Cristo's. So if you've ever thought about making
any dandelion wine, this is the year to try.

Lara and I went up into the Jemez yesterday and gathered 3 gallons of flowers
in about an hour. We're making three 1-gallon batches using variations of
recipes I found on the web; one traditional with citrus and grapes, one
spiced, and one dandelion mead.

There are a lot of different methods described in the various recipes that
I found, but we'll be using the following:

Boil the clean flowers (with as little green as possible) in enough water
to cover. Cool and let steep for a couple of days in a sanitized bucket to
make a tea.

Strain the flowers from the tea and bring to 155F. Add fruits, spices, and
sugars. Hold at 155F for 15 - 20 minutes.

Cool, pitch yeast and nutrient,  ferment.

We're making 3 gallons of the tea. We'll then split this up for the different
recipes.

Maybe we'll bring some to the Holiday Bash for tasting.