Dandelion Honey
NO BEES REQUIRED!
This is a great alternative to standard honey for vegans and those with bee allergies. Use it to sweeten your tea, drizzle over pancakes, or cook with it (check out this Honey Cakes recipe).
Flower flavored sweets and syrups were very popular from early colonial days all the way to the late 1800s. While roses, orange blossoms and violets were the most popular, dandelions were the most accessible to the average person due to the high volume of dandelions that could be found in small areas.
Please make sure that you collect your dandelions from a yard that has not been treated with chemicals and is not close to a road.
Dandelion Honey
Course: Sweets, CondimentsDifficulty: ModerateWhat You Need
350g (12-1/2 oz) dandelion flowers (picked from a safe location*)
750g (4-1/4 cups) sugar
1 liter (33-34 oz) water
1 lemon, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Collect about 350 dandelion flower heads
- Simmer dandelion flowers, lemon, and the water for 20 mins in a covered pan, then leave to steep overnight.
- The next day, strain to separate the liquid. This should make about 750ml.
- Compost or discard the flowers.
- Place liquid back into the pan and add sugar.
- Simmer for 45 mins – 2 hours depending on how think you would like it. Stir often to keep the sugar burning.
- Pour into sterilized glass jars and leave to cool
Notes
- To turn your dandelion honey into jelly, add a packet of pectin to your syrup while it is still on the stove.
