Dandelion Wine : An Ancient Recipe Revived

Vince Crotta
May 8, 2024
5 min read

Updated: Dec 14, 2024

Dandelion wine is believed to have been invented by the Ancient Celts; if my memory of the origins of the Celts is correct they as a people started out in the steppes of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the area the dandelion is believed to be originally from. They fled from either a famine or a war with a neighboring tribe and wandered West until they ended up in northern France, Ireland and Britain. The Celts are also thought to be the first people to brew this wine and the recipe I used is based on the traditional Celtic one.

As the dandelion would've been known to them not only as a food plant but also a medicinal one; it would make sense that they would bring it with them to their new home. I was out on a very early spring day and saw a huge field of dandelions and stopped to admire them. Having already decided that it was too hot in the deep forest for a long hike today I was on my way back to my car and then I stopped again. The dandelions were calling and telling me to use them for wine. Who was I to ignore them; so I did a little research and found some recipes and began the harvest.

I picked a large mesh bag full of dandelions on one of the nicest early spring days I can remember and made sure to feel the warm sun on my face and the earth under my bare feet as a gentle spring breeze whispered softly jingling my dangling earrings. I am saving this memory for the winter when I open the wine to transport me back to the sunshine and away from the cold wet gray winter.

When I got home I put the dandelions on the floor and began the meditative process of peeling the green part at the base of the flower away from the yellow. As peeling enough dandelions for about 3 quarts of petals is a rather herculean task I asked the dandelions and our ancestors who once made this wine for help in peeling them faster. I found that by peeling back a little of the green and twisting the yellow away from it the flowers could be separated quite quickly and it took only about 6 hours of sitting on the floor with a good series of movies to help this task fly by.

Wooden floor with a glass jug of tea on it. — Dandelions steeping on the floor

Once the yellow had been separated from the green, it was time to boil a gallon of water and pour it over the petals. Once this was done I covered the vessel, and placed it on a sunny window sill for 3 days; please use glass as it will allow the sunshine in and help the infusion of flavor.

Once the 3 days have elapsed, you will need to prepare your fruit. I used a couple of oranges, a lemon and a pomelo; I had this in my apartment as an offering fruit all winter and this seemed like the perfect use for it.

I used all of the rind of the citrus as I like the strong floral flavor it imparts but you also need to make sure to add as little pith(the white part as possible as that is quite bitter). You should chop this quite finely.

Then boil the water with the petals and add in the citrus zest and fruit, cut up small with as little pith on it as possible,10 oz of raisins and 6 oz of dried apricots. You can use all the raisins but I had run out and the apricots were the only other dried fruit I had and I thought that they would add a nice flavor. Then add 3 lbs of sugar to the mixture and stir until it dissolves. Cover and wait for the mixture to cool. It is very important that the mixture is room temperature before you add the yeast; I used wine yeast but you can try wild yeast if you are so inclined. If the liquid is too hot it will kill the yeast. You might even consider waiting a full day before putting in the yeast and letting the fruit and flowers and sugar marry in the liquid for a day.

Pour the entire mixture into a fermentation vessel, ideally with several inches of room above the level of the mixture so that there is room to stir and for fermentation. Cover the brew with a tea towel and rubber band, or something else breathable and easy to remove. Each day for about 1 to 2 weeks you will need to take the top off and give it a vigorous stir so that the fruit which ends up on the top each day gets resubmerged and you see bubbles float to the top.

Once the bubbles stop the primary fermentation has ceased. You will now need to squeeze out the fruit and flowers and filter the wine through several layers of cheesecloth or tea towels. You can either let the wine finish in bottles or in a carboy with an airlock. To finish in bottles, put a balloon with a rubber band around the neck of each bottle and prick the balloon with a pin. When it is no longer inflating, cork the bottles and let it finish for at least 6 months or more in a cool dark place.

Here's a video I made this year to document the brewing of the dandelion wine.

If you are looking for a creative way to use the leftover fruit and flowers from the wine, here's a recipe for dandelion wine pie.

A pie with a dandelion on the crust — Dandelion Pie

I realize this seems like quite a lot of sugar, remember that the yeast has fermented all the sugars out of the fruits at this point and so you will need to add quite a bit or it will taste very much of wine. You also want to have your crust ready to go as soon as you mix the filling or any residual yeast may begin to eat the newly added sugar and continue the fermentation process.

Pie Crust recipe(please do not use store bought this isn't terribly hard to make):

3 Cups of flour (360g)

2 cups of butter (240g)

1 cup of water (120g)

Add all ingredients to the bowl and squeeze with your hands until a dough forms, scrape off your hands and fridge for about 30 mins until firm and cool to the touch. Roll out the bottom crust and line the plate. Fill the pie with a mixture of

The completely squeezed out fruit,

1 lb. of ricotta,

2 T of Molasses

6 T of Honey

A generous cup and a half of white sugar. (350-375g)

2 T of cardamom

1 T of vanilla extract.

1 T Milk