Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (2024)

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Dandelion wine is an old school recipe that has been around for centuries. The yellow petals have a honey-like flavor and they make a delicious wine! I prefer to make dandelion mead, as I feel like it is even more flavorful that way.

Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (1)

Simple Mead Making Ebook

If you want to learn more about making mead, I have a Simple Mead Making for Beginners eBook just for you!

It has ingredient and equipment checklists and detailed instructions for brewing and bottling your mead, so be sure to check that out if you’re new to the mead making process.

Harvesting Dandelions for Mead or Wine Making

The first thing you will need to do is go out and forage for some dandelions. This usually isn’t too difficult, as they are quite prolific in most areas!

When you do your spring foraging you’re almost certain to find some. Just be sure that they haven’t been sprayed with any toxic chemicals, because unfortunately many people still consider dandelions as weeds.

(If you want to learn more about edible and medicinal weeds that might be growing in your backyard, check out my Wildcrafting Weeds eBook!)

You’ll need about one cup total of the yellow petals only, with as little of the green part as possible. It’s ok to have a bit of green, but too much will make the mead or wine bitter.

This takes a bit of doing as you will need to pluck all of the petals from the flower head. Don’t worry, it’s worth it!

Related: 6 Reasons You Don’t Need to Save Dandelions for the Bees

Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (2)

Dandelion Mead Recipe

Mead is simply wine that is made with honey instead of sugar. This dandelion mead recipe is easy to make and uses the abundance of foraged dandelions to make a delicious and highly drinkable beverage!

This dandelion mead recipe is a variation of my simple one gallon mead recipe.

For more detailed directions and photos of the process, head on over to that post.

You can find all of the equipment and ingredients you need for mead making here.

This dandelion mead is technically called a metheglin, which is any mead that has herbs, spices, or flowers added.

Some other metheglin recipes I have on this blog are wildflower mead and elderflower sparkling mead. Yummy!

Related:

Dandelion Mead Tips

I prefer to leave the dandelion petals in the fermenting jug while it’s brewing so that it will continue to infuse as it ferments.

If you’d rather not leave the petals in, you can strain them out after the initial steeping, before adding the honey.

Leaving the petals in can make bottling the mead a bit tricky though, as they will want to go up the auto siphon.

If you put a small piece of cheesecloth attached with a rubber band over the end of the auto siphon that goes into the jug while bottling, it will keep the petals out.

Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (4)

This dandelion mead turned out so delicious, even after just a short amount of aging!

It will continue to clear up and develop more flavor over time.

One thing that I love about my simple mead recipes is that they are usually quite drinkable after a short amount of aging (but longer aging never hurts)!

If you want to make dandelion wine, take it one step further and make this delicious dandelion mead! You’ll be so happy that you did.

More Easy Dandelion Recipes

  • Infused Dandelion Vinegar
  • Dandelion Pesto
  • How to Make Dandelion Tea
  • Dandelion Jelly: Low-Sugar or Honey
  • Dandelion Lotion Bar Recipe
  • How to Make Dandelion Salve
  • Dandelion Soap Made With the Whole Plant
  • Dandelion and Fennel Kombucha
  • Dandelion Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
  • Dandelion Kombucha
Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (5)

More Mead Recipes

Ready to start brewing your next batch of mead? Here are 15 mead recipes for you to try including:

  • Blackberry Mead
  • Elderberry Mead
  • Elderflower Mead
  • Maple Mead
  • Wildflower Mead

Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (6)

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Dandelion Mead

This is a delicious mead made with foraged dandelion petals.

Course Drinks

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Fermenting Time 42 days days

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 32 servings

Calories 156kcal

Author Colleen @ Grow Forage Cook Ferment

Ingredients

US CustomaryMetric

  • water non-chlorinated or filtered
  • 2-3 pounds honey depending on how sweet you want the end product to be
  • 1 cup dandelion petals
  • 1/2 package champagne yeast
  • 1 lemon

Instructions

  • Sanitize everything that will be used in the brewing process.

  • Put 1/2 gallon of non-chlorinated water and the dandelion petals in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let steep for 15-20 minutes.

  • Add the honey and stir to dissolve, then add the juice of the lemon and carefully pour the honey water mixture into the jug using a funnel.

  • Top off the jug with cold non-chlorinated water, leaving at least 2 inches of head space on top. Put the lid on the jug and gently mix everything around a bit.

  • Make sure that the temperature of the must is below 90°F, then add 1/2 packet of champagne yeast. Put the lid back on tightly and this time shake the jug for a minute or two to distribute the yeast.

  • Put a little water in the airlock to the line, then put the rubber stopper end into the jug. Put the jug in a dark place. It should start bubbling within 12-24 hours.

  • After about 6 weeks of fermenting, or once the bubbling has completely stopped, the mead can be bottled and aged. When bottling, it is helpful to put a piece of cheesecloth over the end of the auto siphon that goes in the jug to keep the dandelion petals out.

Notes

If you put a small piece of cheesecloth attached with a rubber band over the end of the siphon that goes into the jug, it will keep the petals out.

Nutrition

Serving: 4ounces | Calories: 156kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g

Dandelion Mead Recipe (Dandelion Wine Made With Honey) (2024)

FAQs

How much honey is needed for 5 gallons of mead? ›

A typical mead batch consists of 15 pounds of honey for a 5 gallon mead batch. In this example, you have 3 pounds of honey per gallon of must, so your potential alcohol by volume is about 15%.

What is the ratio of honey to water for mead? ›

The ratio of water to honey depends on the type of mead you want to make. For a dry mead, the ratio is 4 parts water to 1 part honey; a sweet mead is 2 to 1. Kluz likes his mead sweet, so he typically uses 1 3/4 gallons of honey and tops it off with 3 1/4 gallons of water.

Does the quality of honey matter in mead? ›

Almost any really tasty local honey will end up producing an excellent mead. In fact, the more different and unique the local variety of honey is, the more likely it is that it will produce a mead no one has ever tasted before.

What are the health benefits of dandelion wine? ›

Dandelion wine is a medicinal drink that also helps you feel buzzed. Dandelions are excellent for digestive health since they help detoxify the lungs and heart because the dandelion petals are rich in potassium, vitamins A, B, C, and D. Perhaps this was the very first wine that was genuinely beneficial to your liver.

What happens if I add too much honey to mead? ›

If you put in a bunch of honey and you get enough yeast (the right kind of yeast where it ferments all the way out) then you'll have a really dry, high alcohol champagne-like mead. You can use less honey to make a lower alcohol mead. Using less honey might make it a little bit more dry, though not necessarily.

How much mead will 1 lb of honey make? ›

The ratio ranges from 1 lb. honey per gallon of water for a very light "soft-drink" to 5 lbs. per gallon for a sweet dessert wine. The less honey, the lighter the mead, and the quicker it can be made.

Should I boil my honey for mead? ›

(Some recipes call for boiling the honey, which makes for a cleaner, quicker ferment. However, many of the aromatic oils that are characteristic of the different flower honeys are boiled off as well in this process. Either method will make you mead.)

Why does no one drink mead anymore? ›

Why did it fall out of favor? There were some new tax laws, as well as an increased availability of West Indian sugar in the 17th century that made honey harder and less necessary to obtain. But it was also the rise of other alcohols—namely beer and wine—that really did it in.

How much honey do I add to 5 gallons of beer? ›

A good place to start experimenting is with one to two pounds of honey per 5-gallon batch (~0.5–1 kg/19 L) of mid-gravity beer. One pound (0.45 kg) will tend to impart a fairly subtle flavor, while two pounds (0.91 kg) will yield a much more pronounced and noticeable contribution.

How many pounds of fruit do I need for 5 gallons of mead? ›

A good starting point with most fruits is about 3 pounds of fruit per gallon of mead, though I have been known to use 5 or even 6 pounds of fruit. Fruit blends can produce some great-tasting meads.

How much fruit do I need for 5 gallons of mead? ›

There really isn't a rule of thumb saying, “Add 3 lbs of every type of fruit to get a light flavor and 6 lbs of any fruit to get heavier flavor”. Different fruit gives different amounts of flavor. That is why this is so helpful. All of these additions would take place in Secondary and all are for 5 gallons of mead.

How many pounds of honey are in a 5 gallon bucket? ›

Depending on the variables it should run somewhere 11.5 and 12 lbs. per gallon. Most any 5 gallon bucket should have enough headspace to hold 60 lbs.

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