Dandelion honey does indeed taste like honey. It is more of a syrup really or could be a jam if you let it thicken. It tastes delicious and is great way to weed your garden, have fun with the kids and have a tasty treat. There are so many dandelions that you don’t have to worry about taking too many as the grow back so quickly. Always amazed at how tenacious dandelions are. Especially when I see them growing through a crack in the concrete. The grow just about everywhere and are unmistakable. So easy to Identify which is why making dandelion honey is a great activity to do in with kids.
It’s quiet simple to make dandelion honey. You will need lots of dandelion heads. Make sure you collect these from a place where dogs won’t be peeing on them. The lamppost is probably not the best place to pick them from. It’s lots of fun little ones to collect lots of Dandelion flowers. It’s best to do this on a sunny day. Dandelions open up and face the sun. They taste much better on a sunny day too as their pollen and nectar and freely flowing.
I only made a small jar of dandelion honey but you can always double the recipe if you want to make more.
Ingredients
- Dandelion flowers – 2 cups
- Sugar- 1 and a half cups
- Water – 2 cups
- Vanilla extract (optional) – i tbsp
- Juice from a lemon. I only had an orange to hand so I used orange instead.
Once you have collected your dandelion flowers you need to take out all the yellow petals, leaving the green behind. You can use scissors to cut these out put I just pull them out by hand.
Put all these petals with your water, vanilla and lemon juice in a pan. Bring to the Boil and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Let it cool down for about 20 minutes.
Once it has cooled, strain the petals through a Muslim cloth (a clean tea towel would work too). Keep the flower petal water and compost the petals.
Add the dandelion flower water back into the pan and add the sugar. Heat up again and let it simmer until it gets to the desired consistency. This can take up to 2 hours but it is usually much quicker.
Once it is ready pour it into a jam jar. Your dandelion honey can be used on biscuits, cakes, toast, to sweeten a drink, on ice cream, on pancakes or as a salad dressing.
I hope you enjoy making it 😍 Let me know if you do.
Forgotten Forest 