Tuesday 5 May 2009

Dandelion Syrup continued

It's been a busy Bank Holiday weekend here (more of that in another post), so haven't had chance to update on the Dandelion syrup until today. I think the you can guess how it came out from my husbands comments on first tasting it -
"I could drink that every day and never buy any cordial again"

It's prompted us to make some more, as the amount I did isn't going to last for too long. I think we are going to be making our own cordials in the future. It's a bit like growing your own vegetables, once you make your own cordials, they taste far superior to shop bought ones (even the expensive ones).

So to continue the process, the dandelion steeped water was filtered through a fine sieve, pressed to ensure all the juice was extracted and weighed, it was then returned to the pot and brought to the boil. For each gram of dandelion juice I added 0.95 gram of sugar, as per a recipe I found here.
I used some raw cane sugar for this one as I had a bag in the cupboard that hadn't been used in other cooking yet. I also added some lemon juice. Mixed well until all the sugar had dissolved, and once it was the consistency I wanted, it was taken off the heat, sieved and allowed to cool and then bottled. If you added some pectin you could make it into a jam. The syrup I made has come out a lovely dark amber colour as I used the raw whole cane sugar.

Dilute to taste in water or sparkling water, add a slice of lemon and enjoy. Mmmmm ... delicious. It has a slightly nutty taste, with a hint of vanilla.

So the weekend included picking more dandelions that are currently in the pot for another batch of dandelion syrup. We also picked lots of hawthorn flowers and another syrup/cordial is on the horizon.

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