The other day, Larry and I picked two quarts of flowers, I trimmed them of stems and as much of the green as a scissors could remove, and began the process. After pouring boiling water over the flowers and several sliced lemons, I let them sit three days. Today I made the "infusion," adding 4 cups of sugar sugar, a cup of orange juice, a 1/2 teaspoon of ginger and a cup of cut up dried apricots to give it a little more body. (I sound like I know what I'm doing, right?)
Then I boiled the ingredients for an hour, strained the result into a container, added yeast when it cooled off a bit, and now it will sit until tomorrow when I will pour it into bottles, attach a pricked balloon to let out the air as it ferments, and put the bottles in a cool dark place for three weeks. Then it's cap and store for 6 months to a year.
What a lesson in patience!
The instructions say you can drink it after six months but it will be better after a year. So next Easter we can celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord with (dandelion) water turned into wine. No miracle, just a blessing from the Lord.
But we may cheat and open a bottle for our anniversary in October. I have a feeling waiting even that long will strain my patience.
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