The Green Dish: Dandelion Syrup
posted by Melissa Breyer
I’ve been wild about dandelions lately. Dandelion greens proffer their
fleeting sweetness at the first nod of spring and inspired me to write about
harvesting and eating them a few weeks ago, immediately followed by a recipe for
Cream of Dandelion Soup. So next up, I thought, I just have to make dandelion
wine. I’ve tackled homemade paper and found making butter to be effortless, how
hard can dandelion wine be?
Well, after reading about secondary fermentation vessels and yeast varieties
and fermentation traps, I thought, uhmm, actually, I think it was dandelion
syrup that I wanted to make.
Dandelion syrup can be used in many ways, on top of pancakes or plain yogurt,
you name it. I started imagining dandelion margaritas come summer. Or even
homemade dandelion ice cream sweetened with dandelion syrup and speckled with
dandelion petals.
In this country, dandelions abound. I will spare you my conspiracy theories
about the defamation of the dandelion; this rant includes evil genius chemical
companies, the accidental discovery of phenoxy type herbicides in the 1940s and
the need to find a public enemy (that would be the dandelion) to ensure a long
and profitable demand for the new herbicidal product.
Anyhow, the Roundup parade isn’t marching around my neck of the woods in
Brooklyn. Here, the dandelions earnestly shimmy up through sidewalk cracks and
inhabit even the most desolate patches of soil, which is really so heartening.
This would all seem a great harbinger for my dandelion syrup endeavor. However,
urban foraging has its own set of considerations, which include dogs and their
lifted legs, roadside exhaust and the possibility of rodent poison. (I know, not
very charming.) As chance would have it though, there is a large lawn at a
nearby high school that is wonderfully unruly and thankfully untreated with
chemicals. It is being organically planted with vegetable beds by the students,
and the grass was rampant with dandelions. I asked, they said, “uhmm yeah, sure
lady, take ‘em.” And take I did, 100 of them in fact.
Once at home, my daughters and I, hands sticky with bright golden pollen,
plucked off the petals and had a bowl of the loveliest plant matter: Soft, downy
almost, and redolent with the scent of asparagus and carnations. What an oddly
endearing base for a syrup.
So, dandelion syrup. I have long been intrigued by it—it’s at once kind of
down-home American as well as very cool French granny. It is a basic herbal
infusion made into a simple syrup. I felt like I didn’t want to boil the
bejeezus out of the blossoms, so I just brought them to a simmer and let them
soak overnight. The puzzle for me was what sweetener to use. Traditionally white
sugar is used, but white sugar lands last on my list of happy sweeteners. So, I
played around with some other alternatives as well, all with quite different
results.
• White sugar made a syrup with a faint taste of vanilla and very slightly
nutty, it was really just mostly sweet and somewhat plain.
• Sucanat, one of my favorite sweeteners, was, as I expected, too heavy in
flavor to let the subtle dandelion taste shine through. That said, it was very
interesting; like an herbaceous molasses.
• Honey has that smooth edge that became more pronounced after simmering. I
used a mild clover honey and the result was like a somewhat spicy and grassy
honey.
• Agave syrup worked beautifully because it is such a clean-tasting
sweetener—the syrup made with agave was sweet and clean, with bright green
undertones.
So pick your dandelions, pick your sweetener and make some syrup. Many recipes
call for lemon, which gives it a little kick of citrus. Suit yourself.
Ingredients
100 dandelion flowers, or 1 and 1/2 cups petals
1 cup sweetener (see above)
3 cups water
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
1. Remove the petals from the sepal (the sepal consists of the small tight
leaves that extend from the stem and grasp the flower). This takes a while to
get the hang of, but gets much quicker as you go along. Be sure to not allow any
green into the petals, it will add bitterness to the syrup.
2. Place the petals in a medium pot and cover with 3 cups water and bring to a
simmer. Turn off the heat, cover and let sit overnight.
3. Strain dandelion water into a bowl, pressing on the flowers with the back
of a spoon to extract all the liquid.
4. Return water to pot and add sweetener, and lemon juice if using, and simmer
over low heat until thickened.
5. Allow to cool, and pour into a clean jar or bottle. Store covered in
refrigerator.
Makes about 2 cups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverythingHomemade/messages/9816
http://tipnut.com/homemade-bath-jelly-recipe/ Homemade Bath Jelly Recipe
Bath jellies can be made as luxurious home spa goodies or they can be packaged for the kids (set with toys inside). Great to give as gifts.
They may not bubble up as nicely as some liquid bubble baths, but definitely a nice bath treat.
3/4 cup water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup liquid soap (unscented–use shower gel, hand soap or bubble bath)
*Essential oil (choose your favorite–a few drops)
Bring water to a boil, remove from heat then slowly stir in and dissolve the gelatin. Slowly add liquid soap and stir to mix. Add essential oil, stir well.
Pour liquid into a clean clear jar or container, seal and refrigerate overnight.
Once the mix gels, it’s ready to use. Just add a spoonful under running water in the bath for a bubbling treat (a tablespoon or two will do).
*If you wish, you can skip the essential oil and use liquid soaps that have a fragrance.
Notes: Use within a few weeks. Keep refrigerated and airtight to avoid mold.
Optional: Add a couple drops of food coloring when first mixing bath jelly to give it some color, don’t use too much though since it can stain tubs.
Gift Ideas: Package in small jars, add a decorative label and embellish with ribbons or trims. You can put a small toy or object in the jelly when first poured, it will set inside. Make in small batches at a time so it can be used within weeks.
More Tips You May Like:
Homemade Smelly Jelly Recipes [http://tipnut.com/homemade-smelly-jelly-recipes/]
Homemade Honey Bath Recipes [http://tipnut.com/homemade-honey-bath-recipes/]
Bath Cookies Recipe [http://tipnut.com/bath-cookies-recipe/]
Homemade Rose Bath Oil [http://tipnut.com/homemade-rose-bath-oil/]
Homemade Herbal Cleaner Recipes [http://tipnut.com/homemade-herbal-cleaner-recipes/]