Dandelicious!

There’s a very big strawberry field at this farm. At the moment it looks more like a dandelion field, however:

Dandelions are, to most of us, a weed and a nuisance and a bully of more sophisticated greens. They are stronger than many cultivated plants and with little or no competition they will grow very big very fast. They are however very pretty, and more useful than you might think! When eaten fresh the dandelion is of benefit to your intestines, namely your kidneys and as follows the urinary organs. There are many concocts using various parts of the plant which will help more serious issues such as liver disease and eczema. As a sufferer of psoriasis I know the link between these organs and your skin.

The dandelion leaves are amongst the first to shoot in spring. In other words your first seasonal green salad leaves of the year. Pick the smallest shoots and avoid reddish stems, and you have a lovely salad that reminds of rocket (that’s ruccola if you’re Swedish). I take my dandelion leaves with a dash of cider vinegar, a drop of rapeseed oil, some pepper and a sprinkle of sesame seeds, for an esthetic effect.

Does this sound like I’m a dandelion connoisseur yet? I am very much not. The habit of eating dandelion coincided with my arrival at the farm.

As well as eating dandelion leaves I have decided to make dandelion wine. I like the idea of making my own wine, I just haven’t had the chance to yet. I’ve always thought that this requires a) loads of space and b) a kit that you buy from a shop. This turns out to be wrong and wrong again; this wine only requires the storage space of a bucket, and the ingredients are simple baking ones, with the addition of Time of course. A quick google search tells me that dandelion wine most probably originated in the North of England. What a coincidence!

Here’s how you do it:
Pick 3 litres of dandelion flowers. Pull the petals out, you only want the yellow stuff. Put them in a bucket.
Pour 4 litres of boiling water over the petals. Cover and leave for 48 hours.
Strain the petals off. Give them a gentle squeeze with the hand as they absorb a lot of fluid. Fluid that will turn into wine!
Add 2 kilos of brown sugar and 50 grams of fresh yeast. Stir until dissolved.
Peel two oranges and wash two lemons. Slice them all and remove the pips. Add to your bucket and cover with a cloth and a lid.
Leave this for three weeks in order for it all to start fermenting. Keep the bucket slightly cool and stir the mixture every now and again.
Pour into bottles and leave for 8 weeks at the very least.

I’m told that this wine is just like any other wine and will only improve in taste the longer you leave it. Well, let’s hope so as at the moment it looks everything but tasty!

I imagine that dandelion wine, if nicely made, is as surprisingly tasty as geranium chocolate.

The strawberry field, I should mention, is being prepared for the growing season of course.

Update 21 June:
Advised by Marina I also tried picking the most tender buds and frying them in butter. I live by “everything tastes nice with sufficient amount of sugar and/or butter”. They taste… flowery! Not the most amazing flavour I must say, but a fun and quirky extra. I’ll try it on pizza next!

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