5 Beverages Made from Dandelions

While most of us may tend to view dandelions as a troublesome lawn weed, the plant has a long history of use by man and a wide variety of medicinal and culinary uses. Various parts of the dandelion plant have been used for centuries to create bitter tasting beverages that are both satisfying and nutritious.

Dandelion Tea

A tea infusion made by adding fresh dandelion leaves to boiling water is an exceptionally strong beverage. Dandelion tea brings with it all of the health benefits of dandelion leaves, including a kidney tonic, digestive aid and a diuretic that is helpful with bloating and water retention. The leaves are also host to many essential vitamins and minerals. Because dandelion tea tends to be quite bitter, most people find it necessary to add a sweetener of some sort in order to make the drink palatable. Use roughly six dandelion leaves per serving.

Dandelion Coffee

When dandelions are grown commercially, as they are in Canada, Belgium and other countries, the crop is generally produced for roots that are used to make a tasty, caffeine-free substitute for coffee. After dandelions roots are roasted, ground and brewed just like coffee grounds, they produce a very pleasant chicory flavored beverage that offers the many nutritious and medicinal properties of dandelions without the caffeine jitters of coffee. Although commercially produced roasted dandelion roots can be quite expensive (over $30 a pound), gathering and roasting your own dandelion roots is an easy and fun way to give this beverage a try for free.

Dandelion and Burdock

In the United Kingdom, dandelions are used as an ingredient in the soft drink dandelion and burdock. This non alcoholic beverage was traditionally made by fermenting dandelion and burdock roots. Although dandelion and burdocks have been made since the 13th Century, the beverage made today has more in common with other commercial soft drinks in that it is mostly carbonated sugar water with the extracts of dandelion and burdock roots added for natural flavoring. The beverage itself is said to taste similar to the root beer made from sarsaparilla roots.

Dandelion Beer

Dandelions are also used as a traditional ingredient to herbal beers. The bitter taste of older dandelion leaves functions as a replacement for hops, while the roots bring other flavors to the profile. Some brewers use other local herbs to give the beer more flavor. This is a very easy beverage to make and does not necessarily require any ingredients or equipment that are not available in a common kitchen. After following one of the many recipes available online, the beer is typically ready for drinking within ten days. The result is a very rustic beer that is an example of the many bounties of spring.

Dandelion Wine

Dandelion wine is "summer on the tongue," as Ray Bradbury put it, and the common man has been making the mildly alcoholic beverage for generations. In the early spring, children and grand children are sent out to gather buckets brimming with dandelion flowers, which the head of the house then proceeds the first stages of turning the cheerful little flowers into bottled sunshine. Although the recipes for dandelion wine differ greatly, they generally include the addition of some form of citrus to give the light bodied wine a larger flavor profile. Once the production process of the wine is complete, it is typically allowed to age for at least six months and provides a great reminder of the lost spring and summer once the household begins to settle in for the winter months.

Sources:

http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r1934.html
http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Dandelion_and_burdock_beer
http://www.teainfusion.com/types/dandelion-tea.html
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/dandelion%20coffee.htm
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/dandelio.asp