Dandelion Wine

april may 2007 010
Equipment needed
Large glass or plastic bowl
Large saucepan
Plastic bucket
Fermentation jar
Plastic funnel and fine mesh sieve
Bottles

Ingredients
6 pints dandelion flowers
1 lb white grape raisins
7 pints of water
3 lbs granulated sugar
2 lemons, the juice, and peel with no pith
1 orange, the juice, and peel with no pith
One packet wine yeast and one teaspoon yeast nutrient

Recipe
Pick the flowers heads remove the stalks and discard them. Put the heads in the bowl. Bring the water to the boil, pour over the dandelion flower heads and cover over the bowl tightly with a muslin cloth. Leave for 48 hours maximum, stirring twice daily.
Pour the flowers and water into a large saucepan, bring to boiling point then simmer. Add carefully and steadily the sugar and the peels of the lemons and orange, and stir thoroughly.

Bring to the boil, boil for one hour, then pour into the plastic bucket. Now add the juice and pulp of the lemons and orange. Allow to stand until cool to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 20 degrees Centigrade, keeping covered. Add the yeast and nutrient cover with a muslin or cotton cloth, and put in a warm place for three days. Strain through a plastic sieve, and pour into a fermentation jar.
Add the raisins and fit the fermentation lock to the jar. Leave until fermentation ceases completely.

Rack and add cold water as required to top up. Refit the airlock and set aside until clear. Rack and bottle. This wine tastes best after about a year

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