INGREDIENTS
- 1 gal water
- 3 lbs Wildflower Honey (4 cups)
- 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
- 1 g Red Star Cote des Blancs
- 1 cup golden raisins (golden raisins will better keep the yellow color of the mead)
- 1.5 pints dandelion petals
- 1 medium-sized orange
DIRECTIONS
- Collect 3 quarts of Dandelion flower heads in full bloom. Rinse any debris off the flower heads.
- Separate the flower petals from the base of the blossoms. Remove as much green flower parts as possible from the petals. These add significant bitterness to the tea.
- In a medium pot, boil 1 gal of water. Add one quart to a mason jar with the petals, and put in the refrigerator to steep for 1 day.
- Remove the rest of the water from heat, wait until the bubbles stop, add honey. Stir until the honey is fully dissolved.
- Add the must, raisins, and yeast nutrient to a sanitized 2 gallon primary fermenter.
- Seal fermentor with airlock and store for a day, until the must cools to about 70 degrees.
- After a day of steeping, strain petals from the dandelion tea and add to fermentor.
- Add the juice and zest of one orange.
- Aerate the liquid in the fermentor, and add the rehydrated yeast.
- Put the fermentor in a dark place at a temperature of around 70 degrees.
- After 2 weeks, with a siphon, re-rack the mead into a sanitized 1 gallon carboy.
- After 4 weeks, re-rack, then let age for 6 months.
- Fill sanitized bottles and let age for at least 5 more months.
- Drink with friends after the last snow melts to celebrate the beginning of spring!
