dandelion honey.

[locum76]

this is an idea i got from a volunteer at my work who comes from the Czech republic. Given their abundance right now, its great to have something to use them for other than just salad.

* 200 large dandelion heads (or 300 smaller ones)
* 1 liter / 2.1 pints distilled water
* 4 cups sugar
* 1 whole lemon


METHOD
It's important that these are not dandelions that grow on the side of the road or whatnot or they will be contaminated.

Rinse them and then soak in boiling distilled water and let stand for a minimum of 12 hours. Using a cheesecloth or sieve, reserve the water and make sure to squeeze all the dandelion heads to get all the soaked up water. Throw away the flowers.

Add sugar to the water and lemon. On a low heat, slowly bring mixture to boil stirring gently from time to time with a wooden spoon. Apparently, the wooden spoon thing is important. When the spoon starts "pulling strings" and the mixture gets slightly tacky, take pot off of burner. Transfer to glass jars and voila... you now have dandelion honey.

 

[chickenofthewoods]

There's a similar thing made in Alaska from 'Fireweed' (willowherb) flowers.

 

[John Fenna]

I will have a try of this and let you know my results - sounds realy good!

 

[CLEM]

Sounds interesting! I'll give this a try I reckon!

 

[cattyman]

this is an idea i got from a volunteer at my work who comes from the Czech republic. Given their abundance right now, its great to have something to use them for other than just salad.

* 200 large dandelion heads (or 300 smaller ones)
* 1 liter / 2.1 pints distilled water
* 4 cups sugar
* 1 whole lemon


METHOD
It's important that these are not dandelions that grow on the side of the road or whatnot or they will be contaminated.

Rinse them and then soak in boiling distilled water and let stand for a minimum of 12 hours. Using a cheesecloth or sieve, reserve the water and make sure to squeeze all the dandelion heads to get all the soaked up water. Throw away the flowers.

Add sugar to the water and lemon. On a low heat, slowly bring mixture to boil stirring gently from time to time with a wooden spoon. Apparently, the wooden spoon thing is important. When the spoon starts "pulling strings" and the mixture gets slightly tacky, take pot off of burner. Transfer to glass jars and voila... you now have dandelion honey.

do you add the whole lemon or just the juice???

 

[locum76]

you chop the lemon up and bung it in at the start.

 

[John Fenna]

OK - I have followed the recipe so far...
It has given me about 3/4 pound of amber jelly that tastes predominantly of lemon....not much Dandelion flavour there at all. Nice enough though!
It only took me about half an hour in the fields to pick the flowers and it was a nice day so no loss there...I steeped the flowers for about 36 hours and cooked as directed which from start to finish took about 2 hours of a night when there was nothing worth watching on the box - so no loss there either!
The real test comes when I find out what this "honey" tastes like on my breakfast toast, and what effect it has on a middle aged man's bladder - does the Dandelion lose it's dieuretic effect in the cooking?...!:umbrella:

 

[chickenofthewoods]

I suspect you're about to find out.

 

[John Fenna]

Well - it tastes fine for breakfast...now I wait and see.....

 

[locum76]

maybe the dandelion just gives it a bit of colour...

 

[mick miller]

Fairplay for giving it a go John, given that there's no discernible dandelion taste and that your results produce something resembling jelly, could the dandelions be providing a natural source of gelatin-like material rather than taste I wonder?

 

[John Fenna]

More like fruit jelly as in seedless jam... I think that the lemon is there to help it set - a kind of pectin source
There is a flavour there, behind the lemon flavour but it is subtle.
Perhaps my lemon was too big.
I will enjoy the eating of the Dandelion Honey, but I do not think I will bother with making much more.

 

[locum76]

From what I gather its a bit of a peasant food from the eastern block communist era (or at least it was fairly common there and then). i think its a good example of hard up folk making the most of whats around.

I haven't tried it myself yet. I'm waiting for said Czech volunteer to bring some in thats made by her Gran's recipe.

 

[John Fenna]

Sounds like a plan Locum!

 

[Tony]

Heck, my kids have picked over 3000 dandelions over the last couple of weeks, could have put them to use (the dandelions that is, the kids are very useful )

 

[Celt_Ginger]

Must give it a go. I know the leaves are quite bitter to my taste, and the flowers are just about ok. Now the roots, they are actually quite nice.

 

[fred gordon]

From what I gather its a bit of a peasant food from the eastern block communist era (or at least it was fairly common there and then). i think its a good example of hard up folk making the most of whats around.

I haven't tried it myself yet. I'm waiting for said Czech volunteer to bring some in thats made by her Gran's recipe.

I would grab a look at this recipe book if I were you. Looks as if there might be quite a few good recipes in there for all of us.

 

[Globetrotter.uk]

distilled water is that safe? I have heard that drinking to much can affect the bodies own minerals. would the honey work using bottled water?

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Distilled water does seem a bit excessive. I'dve thought plain old tap water would do as well.

Judging by my researches into the very similar Alaskan recipe for fireweed honey I'd say your observation about a lack of resources & making do with whatever is to hand is spot on. Peasant food, famine food - call it what you will - probably something rustled up to seem more exotic and special when people had very little. That said, sugar would have been a very precious and pricy commodity.

 

[Voivode]

Distilled water isn't good for you in the long term. A little here and there isn't a problem, but drinking it exclusively will promote leaching of minerals and salts from your body. I have no doubt that your Czech peasants didn't use distilled water in their traditional recipe, and neither do you need to.

How do you like that grammar?