Wildfowl recipe dandelion syrup
Dandelions a weed? Well no, it is a beautiful native flower that is edible. You can make insanely delicious syrup from it. This recipe is for 1 litre of syrup. This homemade recipe is also great fun and easy to do with kids.
Kitchenware
- (fabric) bag
- scissors
- 2 pans
- sieve
- tea towel
- empty bottle
- funnel
Ingredients
- 30 dandelions (Pick flowers in secluded spots to minimise the chances of visits from dogs and cats).
- 1 litres water
- 500 g sugar
- 2 el (vegan) honey (I used vegan nettle honey.)
- 1 lemon
- 1 cinnamon stick
- spices to taste (I added liquorice plant from my own garden).
Instructions
Day 1: making syrup
- On a sunny day, pick or cut the dandelions in a quiet place, one where there are no/few dogs, cats and cars. On a sunny morning or afternoon, the flowers are open and full of pollen. This is a great time to pick! Put the horse flowers in your bag.
- At home, separate the yellow flowers from the green and put the yellow flowers in a sieve. Wash the flowers. It is best to pick or cut off as much green as possible. A little green is not bad, but it has a slightly bitter taste.
- Wash the flowers well.
- Cut the lemon into wedges.
- Put the flowers, lemon, cinnamon, spices in a pan with one litre of water and put it on a fire.
- Add the sugar and (vegan) honey while stirring. Keep stirring until the sugar and honey have dissolved. Turn off the heat.
- Leave the pan for a day.
Day 2: bottling syrup
- Hang a clean tea towel in a sieve and pour the syrup through the tea towel and sieve. Collect the syrup in a second pan under the sieve. What remains in the tea towel and sieve, throw away.
- Sterilise a bottle (and don't forget the cap). Sterilise: pour boiling water over the bottle and then put the bottle in an oven at 100°C for 10 minutes.
- Using a funnel, pour the syrup into a bottle.
- You can store the syrup for at least a month. Add citric acid to the syrup if you want to keep it longer.