Northwest Recipes; Dandelion Syrup

Recently I published an article about Dandelions, in which we looked at the roles this wildflower plays in nature and its general, all-round usefulness.

Included in the article were several of the plant’s medicinal and culinary uses and a promise to publish a recipe for Dandelion Syrup, here it is!

Dandelion Syrup

This is a very easy recipe and sure to be a hit with anyone who’s got a sweet tooth, for those that have to avoid sugar, the recipe will work with honey instead but you need to be very careful not to scorch it.

Ingredients

• Around 50 to 60 Dandelion flowers, depending on size, use only the yellow petals and use scissors to cut the green bits off

• 3 chopped Green apples

• 1 chopped Rhubarb stalk

• 1 liter of water

• 500 grams of sugar

• The freshly squeezed juice of one lemon

Equipment

• 2 large pans

• Muslin cloth or coffee filter paper

• Weighing scales

• Sterilised jam-jars

Method

First place the Apples, Dandelion flowers, Rhubarb, Lemon juice and water in a pan and let it simmer for about half an hour.

Next, pour the resulting mixture through the cloth or filter paper into the second pan to strain out all of the bits, the juice should be clear with a lovely yellow colour to it.

Weigh this juice and then weigh out the same amount of sugar, or honey, and add this to the pan.

Bring this mixture to the boil until it thickens, being very careful not to let it boil for long enough to scald, if it starts to turn dark it’s time to take it off the job straight away as this is the sugar burning!

What to do with it

That’s it, you’ve made Dandelion Syrup, told you it was easy! If the measurements are right you should have enough to fill 4 or 5 jars and once it’s cooled down it can be used for anything really.

It goes really well on porridge or even just toast and for a different take on a roast dinner you can drizzle some over the veg, this works particularly well with Parsnips or just on the potatoes.

You’ll probably go through it very quickly, we do in our household, but luckily Dandelions are very common and grow back quickly so there’s not exactly a shortage of them, just please remember to leave some for the bees to take home for their dinner!

A B-H