Time for dandelions ..

Dandelions are also a staple of spring; they’re so versatile and especially delicious in the kitchen. My favorite recipe is making honey from dandelions. I’d love to share the recipe with you. Dandelion honey is especially good as a topping for plain yogurt, as a sweetener for herbal teas, or—for a dry cough—you can take dandelion syrup or dandelion tip syrup by the spoonful. If you want to spread it on a slice of bread with butter, boil the honey a little longer, or let it sit and boil it again the next day—this will make it thicker.

Recipe:

Preparation

Pick the flowers on a dry day, ideally around noon. Use only the flowers, not the stems. Add 1 liter of water, simmer for 30 minutes, and finally add the sliced lemons. Set aside and the next day (I let it sit for 12 hours), strain the mixture through a cloth (a clean flannel diaper) or a sieve. Simmer slowly with sugar for 1–4 hours; I always use 50% fine-grain sugar and 50% jam sugar. Caution—it may boil over!!! Test for setting! When the consistency is right, pour into hot jars and seal. Gelling test: Take a flat plate, rinse it with cold water, and then spoon some dandelion honey onto it. Let it sit for a bit, and after a short time, check whether the honey runs off the plate or not.

Have fun trying this out, and enjoy these lovely, warm spring days. Our next post will be about our first hay harvest. Yours, Katharina, the farmer’s wife at Zittrauerhof.

PS: I also use this basic recipe for making spring herb honey varieties or my spruce tip honey.