Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (2024)

FAQs

How much honey is needed for a gallon of mead? ›

The average mead recipe calls for 3 to 3.5 pounds of honey per gallon of finished mead, depending on the sugar content of the honey. This makes strong mead in the range of 14 percent alcohol.

So, out of the 300 types, what is the best honey for mead? Meaderies, whether commercial or homebased, agree that honey harvested locally is the best kind. As for a specific kind of honey, orange blossom came out as a highly popular one because of its consistent flavor as well as citrusy taste.

Many manufacturers of high-quality mead prefer to use orange blossom honey because it imparts a refreshing citrus flavor to the mead. It's also a great base product which can be experimented with endlessly by adding some distinct subtle flavors to it.

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.

If you put in a bunch of honey and you get enough yeast (the right kind of yeast where it ferments all the way out) then you'll have a really dry, high alcohol champagne-like mead. You can use less honey to make a lower alcohol mead. Using less honey might make it a little bit more dry, though not necessarily.

The short answer is that for every gallon of mead that one wishes to be made, you would need anywhere from a pound and a half to five pounds of honey, then enough water to make a combined gallon. This is the 'yes' part to question above.

(Some recipes call for boiling the honey, which makes for a cleaner, quicker ferment. However, many of the aromatic oils that are characteristic of the different flower honeys are boiled off as well in this process. Either method will make you mead.)

"Can I use supermarket filtered, pasteurized, bulk honey?" Sure, but for three or four dullars more, you can use a raw, varietal honey such as sage, or raspberry, which will impart a much-more desirable flavor and aroma to your product.

Maturing mead over time enables desirable flavors to meld and evolve, allowing harsh flavors to diminish. The Mead maker can age before bottling in carboys, barrels, or bottles. Consumers may age in the bottle. Commercially made meads are generally ready to be enjoyed when released.

Lighter colored honey like clover or orange blossom honey are milder in flavor than darker varieties, making them ideal for lighter styles of mead such as melomels or pyments. They also don't overpower other flavors you might add to your mead such as fruit or spices.

Can I use wildflower honey for mead? ›

Re: Choice of honey for mead

I'll second the choice of a local wildflower if you can get it in bulk at a decent price. Otherwise, a lighter honey like orange blossom, clover, berry blossom, etc. is a good base.

The ratio of water to honey depends on the type of mead you want to make. For a dry mead, the ratio is 4 parts water to 1 part honey; a sweet mead is 2 to 1. Kluz likes his mead sweet, so he typically uses 1 3/4 gallons of honey and tops it off with 3 1/4 gallons of water.

It may also irritate the skin. People with kidney problems, gallbladder problems, or gallstones should consult their doctors before eating dandelion.

Bleeding disorders: Dandelion might slow blood clotting. In theory, taking dandelion might increase the risk for bruising and bleeding in people with bleeding disorders. Ragweed allergy: People who are allergic to ragweed and related plants (daisies, chrysanthemums, marigolds) might also be allergic to dandelion.

In the story, dandelion wine, as made by the protagonist's grandfather, serves as a metaphor for distilling all of the joys of summer. The main character of the story is Douglas Spaulding, a 12-year-old boy loosely patterned after Bradbury.

The ratio ranges from 1 lb. honey per gallon of water for a very light "soft-drink" to 5 lbs. per gallon for a sweet dessert wine. The less honey, the lighter the mead, and the quicker it can be made.

A typical mead batch consists of 15 pounds of honey for a 5 gallon mead batch. In this example, you have 3 pounds of honey per gallon of must, so your potential alcohol by volume is about 15%.