The bumper crop of dandelions on the farm has inspired me to look for new ways to use these delicious and nutritious gems. My most recent find was a recipe from Mother Earth News (by Roger Phillips, April 2015) for dandelion beer. In his article, the author provides some interesting history behind the drink: it was apparently a very popular brew among iron foundry and pottery workers in England. No tiny paper umbrella with this one!

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This herbal beer doesn’t require any grain or hops, is very easy to make, and is ready to drink in less than two weeks. Find the recipe here: Homemade Dandelion Beer.

The recipe requires a quart of young dandelions with intact taproots. I started digging up dandelions with my hand weeder, only to have several roots break off because the clay soil was so hard and dry. Recommendation: dig up the dandelions after a rain or early in the morning when the ground is still moist and tease those roots out of the ground gently. After a bit of effort (and some cursing), I managed to procure a quart’s worth, with some intact roots.

After washing the dandelion plants well, with special focus on the very dirty roots, I put them into a stockpot, along with chopped ginger, lemon rind, and a gallon of water. This boiled for 10 minutes, then the solids were strained out. I then poured the liquid over the sugar and cream of tartar in the fermenting bucket, stirring to ensure the sugar was dissolved. I set the bucket, loosely covered, aside to cool.

When the liquid was tepid, I added yeast and the fresh lemon juice. The recipe called for “brewer’s yeast”, but I substituted half the amount of baking yeast, instead. Before proceeding, I read about the pros and cons of using baking yeast in beer recipes, and understood the risks inherent in using a yeast not specifically intended for beer (like “off” flavors due to wild yeast contaminants, for example) and forged ahead, anyway. Worst case scenario: the beer was so bad it wouldn’t be drinkable. Ok, risk accepted.

The mixture worked its magic – the fermentation was surprisingly active, and the brewing beer smelled great. An early sample revealed it to be very tasty. After 5 days had elapsed, I strained the beer into screw-top bottles and put them in the refrigerator to chill.

Final verdict: seriously tasty! It’s reminiscent of beer in that it’s carbonated, but the similarity pretty much ends there. It’s light and refreshing without the malt or hops flavors typical of grain-based beers, with complex herbal notes – like a suggestion of the dandelion’s golden blooms. Would I make this dandelion beer again? Definitely…though next time, I’ll try using Lalvin EC-1118 yeast; in a pinch, though, bread yeast still creates a lovely finished product.