DANDELION WINE #1

Ingredients: for 1 gallon

6 quarts dandelion blossoms (no stems or greens)
1 gallon boiling water

Method:

Let stand for 3 days and nights in a warm place, stirring often. Strain and
add the juice of 1 lemon and 3 oranges, and 3 lbs sugar. Let ferment until it
stops working (2-3 weeks), stir often. Strain again and bottle. This is
reputed to be a potent wine.

FAST DANDELION WINE

This isn't really a modern recipe either ... no cultured yeast recommendation, no specific gravity and acid levels, not even air locks. The author says it's mellow and potent, and adds "I call it a sippin' wine as its comparison to store wine is similar to that of white lightning to store whiskey."

One gallon of freshly picked, stemless flowers to one gallon of water. Pour boiling water over unwashed blossoms. Allow to steep 1 to 4 days, until blooms_begin_ to float again. Strain water off, warm it to 90 degrees, add 4 lemonsand 4 oranges (the whole fruit with juice), then 3 and 2/3 cup sugar. Stir todissolve and _then_ add yeast. If it doesn't begin to work within 30-60 minutes, try a little more sugar. If you _want_ a sweet wine, it's better to add sugar to taste _after_ it's finished working. Stir it once or twice daily until it calms down. Then strain into bottles and cover loosely until settling is over. It's usually ready to taste 5-7 days after blossom picking. Fast!

If you keep a towel over it during soaking and fermenting times, it will keep fruit flies out of _it_ but not out of the winemaking room. Keep it cool both before and after fermentation times. If blossom soak gets too warm, it will sour for yet another unique flavor to the finished product. Keep it warm, at least 80 degrees, during fermentation for speed.

You may want to use one or the other of these recipes as a starting point only. They seem to share a couple of things in common: 1 to 1-1/2 gallons of flowers to a gallon of water, added lemons and oranges. If I were to try this, I'd shoot for a semi-sweet wine. Starting S.G. a little higher than for a drytable wine. Acid level ... ? But I'd definately use Campden tablets to eliminate wild yeasts and innoculate with a cultured white wine yeast likePasteur White. And I'd ferment it (after the foaming subsides) in a glass carboy with an air lock.