Dandelions

Scribbler · « **on:** April 10, 2011, 14:57 »

Anyone ever kept dandelion flower in the freezer, with a view to using them for dandelion wine?

They're out now and have such a long season it would be a good way of stopping them spreading by topping them before they go to seed.

And from memory the wine is very good.

Soilmates · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2011, 16:50 »

We are doing exactly that- picking the flowers and putting them in the freezer in order to build up sufficient quantity to make the wine. We only pick those that are fully open and dry, those that are not quite fully open will be picked the following day. Collected 3 pints of petals so far.
I know the old saying is to pick on St.George's Day but we missed that last year as well and still produced a pretty decent wine for our first attempt.
I did Google about freezing them and found others had done so.
I'd say go for it!

Scribbler · « **Reply #2 on:** April 11, 2011, 16:59 »

Hey thanks - I'll give it a go.

JohnB · « **Reply #3 on:** May 09, 2011, 12:12 »

Quote from: Soilmates on April 11, 2011, 16:50

We are doing exactly that- picking the flowers and putting them in the freezer in order to build up sufficient quantity to make the wine. We only pick those that are fully open and dry, those that are not quite fully open will be picked the following day. Collected 3 pints of petals so far.
I know the old saying is to pick on St.George's Day but we missed that last year as well and still produced a pretty decent wine for our first attempt.
I did Google about freezing them and found others had done so.
I'd say go for it!

Hi can you tell me a bit more? Do you put the whole flower in or remove the petals? I assume you wash and leave to dry before putting in? If so I was thinking of getting one of those salad spinners. Could you give me a recipe which you have tried and thought was good? What sort of flavour would you descibe it as. Thank you very much for your time JB

Kleftiwallah · « **Reply #4 on:** May 09, 2011, 21:10 »

It is a right pain in the backside.

but only use the yellow petals. Any hint of greenery will make your wine bitter. I've only made one gallon of dandylion at a time because it's so fiddly. Cheers, Tony.

Soilmates · « **Reply #5 on:** May 11, 2011, 08:23 »

Quote from: JohnB on May 09, 2011, 12:12

Hi can you tell me a bit more? Do you put the whole flower in or remove the petals? I assume you wash and leave to dry before putting in? If so I was thinking of getting one of those salad spinners. Could you give me a recipe which you have tried and thought was good? What sort of flavour would you descibe it as. Thank you very much for your time JB

Have a look at Nick Trumans flower wines recipes. I used this for the dandelion wine last year.

http://home.btconnect.com/ntruman/wine/flowerwines.htm

Dandelions

Scribbler

Dandelions

Soilmates

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Scribbler

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JohnB

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Kleftiwallah

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Soilmates

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