Dandelion wash - Kale alternative

[resist]

Hi all, just wanted to share an interesting recipe I've come up with.

You're probably all familiar with kale wash for making neutral. For a while now I've been using collard greens in place of kale, only because we're growing collard greens in the home garden. Free is good, especially with vegetable prices going though the roof. Collard is very closely related to kale, and virtually indistinguishable in flavour or appearance. Both kale and collard greens are very easy to grow, by the way.

After coming to the understanding that kale/collards work because their nutrient content, this got me thinking: In theory, you could use almost any edible, nutrient-dense leafy greens. Dandelion leaves came to mind, which are are extremely nutrient dense, and freely available in the garden. Flavour wise, they have a slight bitterness like many dark leafy greens do, but its not overpowering. I decided to test my theory and made a 19l batch of dandelion wash in a pressurized corny keg.

Gave it around 4 weeks fermentation time. To my surprise, the wash came out looking and tasting almost exactly like a sparkling wine. It was actually really nice to drink "as is". So good that I bottled and refrigerated some of the wash, to let my partner try it. She agreed, it could easily pass as a decent sparkling wine. I'm only a beginner distiller, but I believe making a half-decent tasting wash brings me one step closer to quality spirits. You can't polish a turd, as they say. I've also learned that reflux stills do carry a small amount of flavour through. To me, the dandelion wash tasted nicer than kale/collard wash (which was drinkable, but not so good that I bottled some!). To me, both collard and dandelion wash taste vastly better than TPW, which I probably won't make again.

The wash distilled up nicely, I got around the same yield as I would from kale wash or TPW. As a vodka, it tastes almost the same as a neutral made from kale wash, but perhaps with a very faint herbal note, rather than the floral note you get from kale.

I'm going to try plantain next, as I have that growing abundantly at home. Plantain is also rich in nutrients so I'm quite sure it'll work.

If you're into foraging, using home-grown ingredients, or cutting costs, I highly recommend giving dandelion a try. My 19 recipe is below, although keep in mind I just made this up as I went along, based on previous successful recipes and pure instinct. I don't think exact measurements really matter too much, and can be tweaked to your own preferences/habits. Its roughly based on the standard kale wash recipe, so if you're already familiar with that, just substitute dandelion 1:1 with kale. This recipe uses a hop tube to hold the greens. If you don't have a hop tube, just blend them up and filter like the standard kale wash recipe.

To ID the dandelions, look at photos on google image search. The yellow flower is the best way to find them from a distance, but keep in mind there are some lookalike species that also have yellow flowers. Dandelion is differentiated by its jagged leaves that look like teeth (the name dandelion actually means lions teeth)

19l Dandelion Wash -
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Corny keg w/ hop tube and spunding valve
2 generous handfuls dandelion leaves
2 lemons / grapefruit
4kg raw sugar
1tsp DAP
EC1118 starter
Lees from previous brew, approx 50ml

1. Invert the sugar in 5l water with citrus juice.
2. Put dandelion greens in hop tube, add this to hot sugar water. Let sit until pitching temperature reached.
3. Add 5l fresh water to keg. Add everything else, stir. Top up with fresh water until full.
4. Seal up keg, adjust spunding valve to 10PSI
5. Ferment 3-4 weeks, maybe less if in hot climate

[RC Al]

Nice man :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Can we get a grams measurement of handfull when you can :-D

Is the 50mls of lees a lack of cleaning? :teasing-neener:

Pressurized cormy? maaaayte...

Sorry trying to be funny

Im pissed cause in all the weeds i have on my 5 acres, dandelion ain't on of them lols

Have a google for dandelion wine, it is a real thing as you have discovered on your own.

Keep at it, your doing great :happy-partydance:

Next try, normal fermenter and some lowans yeast?

[Carol]

Thanks Resist.

On my list of experiments to try. At the moment I have plenty of other weeds - but no dandelions. Will start looking for potential sources when I go walking. A dandelion "champagne" sounds like fun.

Cheers
Carol