I searched and found a handful of references to Dopers making it or liking it, but not much description. My husband is interested in trying to make some. We’ve never made wine at all, though I used to ferment hard cider with a carboy and airlock and all that (though I lost most of the equipment in a move).
What does dandelion wine taste like?
Is it easier or harder to make than grape wine? How similar is the process?
Any online how-to reference recommendations?
Thanks!
I’ve never had it myself, but when family members have made it, they didn’t use any fancy equipment, just a balloon stretched over the opening of a bottle.
It tastes like the milky fluid from the hollow stems of dandelions, which most of us sampled when we were kids.
Great book.
It’s a long time since I made any but I do remember it needed a relatively long period of maturing for a country wine. we opened a bottle too soon and it tasted like bad whiskey. As far as I remember it took a year to become palatable and then it was very nice indeed. The actual flavour was quite subtle, mellow and not really comparable to anything else.
Really?
I recall that was the one book our entire 8th grade class unanimously voted as the worst of the summer reading books. It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but I do recall just not enjoying it then because it was too fractured and confusing…
Was it really a good book? O_0
I’ve never read it, but my impression of it from others’ comments is that it’s a good book that’s being wasted on school children unappreciative of what it offers, assigned to read it because they happen to be the same age as the protagonists.
I made it once. Tasted like perfume.
I used the first recipe from here. I’ve made it a couple of times and it turned out quite nicely. Of course I’m not a wine aficionado or anything. It’s a nice, light wine, lovely golden color. Unfortunately I’m not very good at describing taste, sorry about that. The wine definitely benefits from aging a bit. And I didn’t have the patience to pull the petals off the dandelions. I used the whole heads but did pull off all of the green stuff. (Make sure your dandelions haven’t been sprayed of course or are growing too near a busy roadway.)
What book are you guys referencing?
Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury. It’s a science fiction classic.
:smack:
Thanks!
Is it Science Fiction? I thought it wasn’t… but I haven’t read it.
Well… sorta kinda. Arguably not. It usually gets shelved with sci fi, anyway.
End self-hijack! I wanna hear about the liquid stuff!
Huh, my cultural reference for it is the song, not the book.
Dandelion wine will make you remember
The first days of Spring in the middle of December
When I was a kid dandelions were one of the things that made you piss the bed. I suppose that they’re a kind of diuretic, but still heh.