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Dandelion Wine

A sweet wine made by simmering dandelion blossoms with water, sugar, citrus rinds, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Dandelion Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brew

  1. Combine dandelion blossoms, water, and brown sugar in a porcelain kettle.

  2. Add the grated rind and skins of the lemons and oranges.

  3. Simmer on the stove for 8 to 10 hours.

  4. Bring to a sharp boil for 1.5 minutes.

  5. Strain through a colander into an earthen crock.

Ferment and bottle

  1. When lukewarm, add the yeast.

  2. Let stand for a few days before bottling, skimming daily.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Dandelion + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together57 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Dandelion + orangetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dandelion blossoms
Provide the floral flavour and aroma that define the wine.
Brown sugar
Supplies the sugar that yeast ferments into alcohol and carbonation.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars into alcohol, turning the liquid into wine.
Lemons and oranges
Add acidity and citrus aroma that balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Adding the yeast while lukewarm. Yeast is killed by high heat, so the liquid must have cooled to lukewarm before the yeast goes in. Adding it too hot can stop fermentation before it starts.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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