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A meadow full of blooming dandelions looks like the sun is shining from the ground upwards. It’s such a pretty sight! Thinking about the lifeforce and vitality of dandelions, however, I have seen gardeners go crazy: no matter how often you cut them off, they’ll always get back. Even if you try to pull out their roots and not get every last bit out, they’ll be right here again. And once they start to develop those pretty little seeds, you know you’re doomed.

Instead of fighting against those little bursts of sunshine, however, we can use them for our health and palates! A wonderful way to preserve not only the taste but also the health benefits of dandelions is by making a “honey” out of the dandelion flowers.

In my garden, there are rarely any dandelions. I’ve eaten them all. It’s still lovely to watch the look of horror passing over people’s faces when they watch me eating a dandelion flower. Ah, the little pleasures in life…
Anyway, on the adjoining meadow there are numerous dandelion flowers every spring and believe it or not, I’m grateful for that. Where would I else get the flowers for a sweet and tasty dandelion honey?

Dandelion honey – Recipe

Yield:  5 to 6 glasses (ca. 120 ml)

Ingredients:

about 500 g dandelion flowers (about 4 hands full)

1,5 l water

1 kg sugar

juice of one lemon

Instructions:

1. After you’ve gathered the dandelion flowers, put them into a bowl or flatly onto a tray and put them outside for about an hour. All the insects, especially those little black beetles will go away. Wash the flowers carefully and put them into a large pot.

Freshly picked dandelion flowers. As you see, I’ve also added some daisies.

2. Fill the water into the pot and press the flowers down into the water so that they are covered by it. Let them sit for two hours.

3. Bring the water with the flowers to the boil. Boil rapidly for 20 seconds, remove the pot from the heat and let it sit overnight (12 – 24 hours).

4. The next day, remove the flowers with a slotted spoon and ladle them into a cheesecloth. Press them out thoroughly, every drop counts.

5. Add the sugar and lemon juice to the dandelion brew and bring it to a boil under constant stirring. Make sure the sugar dissolves completely, otherwise it may set at the base of the pot and burn.

6. Let the syrup simmer without a lid for about two hours. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool down for about half an hour (or completely if you have more urgent things to do.

7. Bring the syrup back to a boil and let it simmer again while stirring it from time to time. Do not leave the pot for long. When bubbles start to form that will not dissolve when you stir, the time to pour the thickened “honey” into jars has come. Even if it seems to be too liquid, don’t worry. It’ll thicken up when it has cooled down.

When the dandelion honey starts to look like that, it’s ready to be filled into jars.

Determining the right time to fill the jars can be tricky but when you’ve made some “honeys”, you’ll get the experience. If you’ve filled the honey too soon, it’ll stay a bit too liquid to spread onto your bread. In that case, just put the stuff back into a pot and let it simmer a bit longer. If you’ve waited too long, however, the honey may get a slightly burned taste and become too thick, sometimes even solid. In that case, the only thing you can do is throw off the whole batch (good luck with removing it from the jars). There is no chance of making a too-thick honey liquid again.

Dandelion honey: Tasting

Let the jars sit overnight until they’ve fully cooled down. Your sirup will now have a wonderful brown colour and a honey-like texture. Try it on some buttered bread or a braided yeast bun. It’s sweet, tastes a bit like a spring flower meadow and very similar to real honey.

This is a great way to not only get rid of unwanted weeds but also preserve them at next to no cost. Adding to that, it’s totally easy! You only have to watch out for the right time to fill the honey in jars (remember: better too soon than too late).

And when you open one of these jars next winter and thickly spread the honey onto your buttered bread, it will certainly bring back the sunshine to you.