Small Batch Dandelion Mead Recipe (2024)

Mead has been around for centuries, and dandelions have long been foraged by man. Dandelion Mead is one of the 'old school' Meads which had such a romantic feel to it for me. So it is the one I wanted to make, above all others. The first time I made it, I was not disappointed. It is gorgeous.

Small Batch Dandelion Mead Recipe (1)

Dandelions - not only in Spring

The Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)grows freely around the apiary where we keep our bees, and their beautiful yellow heads pop up every Spring. Dandelions aretreated as herbs by many, whouse the leaf, stem, flower and root of the dandelion for medicinal purposes.

We try not to pick too many dandelion flowers in one area, as dandelions are one of the first foods for foraging bees. They arerich in both nectar and pollen and provide food for pollinators when there isn't a lot of choice for them out there. As well as bees, butterflies also flock to flower heads to feast on dandelions early in the year.

However what you may not have noticed is that dandelions actually flower from Spring right through to October. They may not be as profuse in October as they are in May, but they're definitely there. Later in the year I pick them as I find them, prepare them as below and freeze them in batches until I have enough to make Mead.

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Picking Dandelions

The ideal time to pick dandelion flowers is first thing in the morning, when they are still damp with dew. Wherever you choose to pick your dandelions for mead making, be sure they haven't been sprayed with pesticides, and are out of range of dog walks and busy roads, so far as possible. And because they provide a food for so many foraging insects, do make sure you leave plenty of flowers behind for them.

It is best to prepare your dandelions as soon as possible after they are picked, whilst they are fresh.

Preparing Dandelions for Mead

I remove the petals from the dandelion flowers for mead. You can use the whole flower head, but the green on the stems and headsbrings bitterness to your brew which tends to be inconsistent, and difficult to get right. So I choose to leave the green out altogether.

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If you have never removed petals from dandelions on this scale before, you will be surprised at how rich in yellow pollen they are - your finger tips will quickly become covered! No wonder the foragers flock to dandelions when they come into flower. When you start you will think 'this is going to take forever'. But you will soon master the art of whipping all the petals out of a stem in one go, and then it doesn't take long at all.

Freezing Dandelion Petals

At this point I am not usually ready to make Dandelion Mead right away. So I pop a takeaway food box of dandelion petals in the freezer until I am. You don't need to freeze the petals on baking trays to avoid them sticking together, as they're all just going to go straight in the demijohn together anyway. So long as you freeze them the day you pick them, they'll be almost as good and fresh when they're defrosted as they were at the point you froze them.

Guidelines for Making Mead

I outline the important points to remember in our Beginner's Guide to Making Mead, such as sterilising everything before you start. If you haven't made Mead before, please read the guide.

Leaving your Mead to Mature

You can drink meads quite young. Or you can age them. Leaving your mead to mature is the only difficult part of this process, but it is most definitely worth the wait. If you make the quantity in this recipe, it will produce the equivalent of 3 wine bottles of Mead. Do yourself a favour, if you can't wait. Drink one young, leave the second for 6 months, leave the third for a year. You won't believe the difference.

Yes I know12 months is a long time. All the more reason to make lots of mead on a rolling basis. In afew months, your mead stash will be beautiful to drink. Then you'll be more inclined to leave your newer meads for long enough to mature to perfection!

Small BatchMead (2.4 litres, 4 pints)

I make small batch mead in half demijohns, and this recipe is for a small batch. Half demijohns are not made anymore unfortunately, which is a shame because I love them and use them all the time. There must be millions of them in people's lofts because they regularly turn up in charity shops and at the dump. Because half size demijohns are no longer produced, the corks/bungs for them aren't made anymore either so, if you have one, you may need to cut a bung/cork to size to fit the airlock. More about that in my post Glass Demijohns and Where to find them.

You can make this in any vessel which allows you to fit an airlock in the top. If all else fails, double the recipe and make it in a full size demijohn - you won't have difficulty drinking it all. It's beautiful!

This recipe is designed to make a small batch, approximately 2.4 litres which is 4 pints or about 3 standard wine bottles. If you want to make a full demijohn of dandelion mead, simply double the recipe.

Ingredients

and you will also need equipment as outlined in my Mead Making Guide.

Method

1. Clean and sterilise your demijohn and the funnel you will be using to put liquid into it, together with your bung and airlock.

2. Juice the lemon with a lemon squeezer/juicer.

3. Put 1 litre of the bottled water into a saucepan, together with the dandelion petals. Bring to the boil, then turn off immediately and allow the petals to steep in the water for 30 minutes.

4. Once the water is still warm but not hot,add the raw honey and lemon juice and mix together. Leave for another 20 minutes, until the mixture is just above blood temperature, and certainly well below 30 degrees C.

5. Pour the mixture (known as must) into your sterilised demijohn, through a sterilised funnel. Top up with bottled water to just below the shoulders of the demijohn, to allow for fermentation.

6. Sprinkle yeast on thesurface of the liquid.

7. Push the sterilised bung in to the neck of the demijohn. Put your (washed) thumb over the top of the hole in the bung and swirl the yeast into the liquid.

8. Then put water in your airlock and fit it in to the bung.

9. Leavesomewhere safe (where it won't be knocked over) at room temperature to ferment. Fermentation may start within 2 hours or take a bit longer, depending on the yeast and/or the temperature in the room.

10. After 2-3 days when the fermentation has slowed down and you're confident it won't overflow, you can top up with a little more bottled water if you wish.

11. Leave until fermentation has completely finished, which could be 3 weeks or longer. When you're almost at this point you may have some interesting shapes in your demijohn, as the petals slowly fall to the bottom.

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Rack off after the first fermentation

12. Once fermentation has finished and there is no sign of activity in your airlock or demijohn (could be 3 weeks or considerably longer), siphon the mead into a second, sterile half demijohn. Be careful not to get dandelion petals in the syphon. We usually wait until all the petals have fallen to the bottom of the demijohn before werack off.

13. Put a bung and airlock back in the neck of the second demijohn, just in case there's any brief, residual fermentation.We always carry out this second stage to know for sure that there is no activity, to avoid exploding bottles. We prefer to do this, rather than adding chemicals to stop fermentation. But if you can't wait, you can use fermentation stopper to be sure it has definitely finished.

14. Once you are confident fermentation has completely stopped, you can bottle your Dandelion Mead. Or if you prefer, you can switch the bung for a sterile one without a hole in it. The mead can thenage in the demijohn to be bottled later - whichever is easiest for you.

15. Leave to mature. This mead is beautiful to drink, and lovely to give away as gifts.

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OTHER ALMOST OFF GRID FAVOURITES

Beginner's Guide to Making Mead

https://www.almostoffgrid.com/blogs/almost-off-grid/beginners-guide-to-making-mead

Elderflower and Lemon Mead

https://www.almostoffgrid.com/blogs/almost-off-grid/elderflower-and-lemon-mead-recipe

Blackcurrant Wine Recipe

https://www.almostoffgrid.com/blogs/almost-off-grid/blackcurrant-wine-recipe

Small Batch Dandelion Mead Recipe (5)

Small Batch Dandelion Mead Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How much alcohol is in dandelion wine? ›

Dandelion wine is made by fermentation of natural sugars in dandelion flowers into alcohol by yeast. The resulting beverage has alcoholic content ranging from 8% to 14% by volume.

Is dandelion wine healthy? ›

For centuries, dandelions have been prized for their medicinal qualities, often consumed in the form of dandelion wine or tea to aid in digestion. In New England, there's a long tradition of drinking dandelion wine as an early-spring medicinal tonic.

Can I freeze dandelions for wine? ›

You can also freeze petals in between picking sessions. Ingredients (makes 3 gallons): 6 quarts dandelion flower petals, loosely packed. 3 gallons water.

How long does a short mead take? ›

If you want to bottle your semi-sweet mead, which is about that two and a half to three pounds per gallon of water, it will take maybe a month or two to really ferment to the full amount of alcohol, but it's going to take another month or two to really fully ferment to where you can feel safe bottling it, because if ...

Is dandelion wine good for the liver? ›

Dandelion wine is a medicinal drink. Dandelion flowers are beneficial to digestive health because they aid in the cleansing of the kidneys and liver, and the blossoms include vitamins A, B, C, and D, and also a considerable quantity of potassium.

Is 7.5% alcohol a lot in wine? ›

The alcohol content of wine ranges from 5.5-15.5% on average. Higher-alcohol wines beyond that are typically fortified wines. That broad range is a result of differences in fermentation, the wine's sugar content, and even the grapes used with any given varietal.

Who should not drink dandelion? ›

People with kidney problems, gallbladder problems, or gallstones should consult their doctors before eating dandelion.

What are the cons of dandelion? ›

Dandelion might cause allergic reactions, stomach discomfort, diarrhea, or heartburn in some people. Pregnancy and breast-feeding: There isn't enough reliable information to know if dandelion is safe to use when pregnant or breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.

Why is dandelion good for your liver? ›

Dandelion tea is an excellent source of potassium, a mineral and electrolyte that stimulates the heartbeat. Potassium may help the kidney filter toxins more effectively and improve blood flow. The polysaccharides in dandelion are known to reduce stress on the liver and support its ability to produce bile.

What does dandelion wine taste like? ›

Dandelion wine tastes like slightly sweet champagne and is almost alcohol-free. This wine takes about six months to mature. During this time, it becomes light and transparent.

Can you keep dandelions in mason jar? ›

But if you want to preserve the beautiful fluffy white seed head, you can keep them in a jar so that the wind doesn't blow the seeds away.

What will choke out dandelions? ›

Consider using a broadleaf herbicide like 2,4-D, dicamba, or MCPP to target the whole dandelion. The herbicide will kill the entire taproot, thus eliminating the dandelion from your lawn.

Why does no one drink mead anymore? ›

Why did it fall out of favor? There were some new tax laws, as well as an increased availability of West Indian sugar in the 17th century that made honey harder and less necessary to obtain. But it was also the rise of other alcohols—namely beer and wine—that really did it in.

Can you age mead too long? ›

Personal preference- Individual taste is essential in deciding a mead's aging time. Some enthusiasts prefer young meads' bright, fresh flavors, enjoying them without lengthy aging. Others prefer the depth and complexity achieved through extended aging, often waiting several years for flavors to mature and meld fully.

Do smaller batches of mead ferment faster? ›

Keep in mind that a one-gallon batch will almost always ferment faster than a five-gallon batch, but there are a few techniques for speeding up both. To put it simply, mead has a lot of sugars. These sugars need to fully ferment, releasing carbon dioxide while doing so, before they can be bottled.

What wine has the highest alcohol content? ›

Port Wine can end up with percentages as high as 20%, making them the seemingly most potent wine out there. It is said that some wines can go up to 21%, depending upon the individual bottle of wine.

What wine is 20% alcohol? ›

List of Highest Alcohol Content Wine
California Zinfandel15-16% ABV
Sherry15-20% ABV
Port16-20% ABV
Madeira~20% ABV
Marsala~20% ABV

What is the highest alcohol content in wine? ›

Alcohol content in wine ranges from as low as 5.5% to 25% ABV, with fortified wines typically containing 15.5% to 25% ABV, with an average of 18%, and unfortified wines containing anywhere from 5.5% to 16% ABV, with an average of 11.6%. Why is it important to know a wine's ABV before consuming it?

Does flower wine have alcohol? ›

Flowers contain a starch that can be fermented into alcohol, but there's not enough fermentable material to result in a wine of, say, 11% to 14% alcohol, the range of most grape wines. So she needs to add another fermentable sugar source.

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