Has anyone actually ever tasted Dandelion Wine? It sounds a bit disgusting.

A few years ago while teaching F-451 to a group of tenth graders, two pleasant things happened. First, I recieved a gift of a battery operated, metallic dog that perfectly fit the mechanical hound. Secondly, I assigned a paper in response to the novel. One of the girls actually burned the edges of the yellowish paper she used to make it look older and as if it were burnt in a fire and saved at the last second.. It was quite creative and I have it still today. Just a few lines to show that a lot of kids do get it!!!!

[This message has been edited by pabillsman1 (edited 08-17-2004).]

Never tasted it, but have resolved to make some next spring. Found two recipes; one from 1915 at theoldentimes.com, and the other at texascooking.com. Would post a link if I could remember how, sorry. Should've printed that info when it was originally posted.

Also, last spring, think it was fjpalumbo who posted a salad using dandelion greens. It sounded interesting, but the season passed before I could get it done.

yes, salads with dandelion greens (mostly the stems) were once common here, too. I've never tasted dandelion wine, however.

pabillsman1

I hope that you gave the young lady an "A" for her creativity. As a substitute teacher that is one thing I have found students lacking today--creativity.

Actually, she did receive an "A". In addition her creativity, the paper was also well written.

[This message has been edited by pabillsman1 (edited 08-18-2004).]

[This message has been edited by pabillsman1 (edited 08-18-2004).]

I have a bottle on my bookshelf for obvious reasons, it looks so good there next to the Bradbury collection. I just hate to open it. It is available periodically , in the summer, from Breitenbach Amish Country Wines, Dover, Ohio (330) 343-3603. The only catch is I remember having to order at least six bottles of wine to get a single bottle of Dandelion Wine. I guess we could compile a list of people who wanted a single bottle and then place an order for six or twelve and then remail the singles out the the proper people. Just a thought.

"Pour one gallon of boiling water over three quarts of dandelion flowers. Let stand twenty-four hours. Strain and add five pounds of light brown sugar, juice and rind of two lemons, juice and rind of two oranges. Let boil ten minutes and strain. When cold, add half a cake of FLEISCHMANN'S YEAST. Put in crock and let stand until it commences to work. Then bottle and put corks [sic] in loose to let it work. In each bottle put one raisin, after it stops working. Cork tight.

From Fleischmann's Recipes, 1915
(found on theoldentimes.com)

I kind of wonder about the secret ingredient, that cake of yeast. Doubtless another brand would do just as nicely?

Actually, the Fleischmann's cake yeast is probably the most readily available. Is the resulting product a little fizzy, like beer?

[This message has been edited by jfaronson (edited 08-18-2004).]

I didn't realize that you could still get cake yeast! I thought it was all granulated, now....then again, it's been a LONG time since I've needed yeast for any cooking/baking I do!
I wonder who was the first person who decided that dandelions would be good for wine-making....then again, I wonder that a lot about certain foods, like caviar or escargot - who first thought, "Hmmmmm I wonder what fish eggs/snails taste like?"

We made dandelion Wine in Poland quite often, but we also mixed it up with a bunch of other things (a sort of a galimatias wine). The few times I got to taste it, it was fine.
Cheers, Translator