Dandelion Syrup

One of my favorite syrups is dandelion syrup, but you cannot find in shops. My grandma, who lived all her life up the mountain in the Swiss Alps, used to make dandelion syrup and always gave me a bottle when I visited her. One summer, many years ago, she took me to gather dandelion flower and we made this syrup together. Here is how you can do it too.

Dandelion Syrup
Dandelion flowers (taraxacum)
Mineral water
Sugar
Lemon

Quantities depend on how many flowers you gather and prepare - see below for details.

By dandelion I mean the yellow flowers of taraxacum officinale, one of the most common flowers in the Western Hemisphere - they grow just about everywhere. In French they are called pissenlit - literally 'bedpissers', an homage to the plant's diuretic properties. Please make sure you identify the flower correctly (see wikipedia)and don't do this unless you are totally sure.

select a beautiful dandelion field far from the road. Everytime you'll drink the syrup you will be thinking about this field. It's like drinking a little part of the sun, wind and rain which were bestowed on this spot, so take your time until you find one field so beautiful you'd want to drink it.

Gather as many dandelion flowers as you'll have the courage to prepare, at least 100 flowers. The exact quantity is not important as you will adjust the quantity of water anyway.

Dandelion flowers were very popular that day, as you can see from this bee who was covered in dandelion pollen.

After a couple minutes my hands too were turning dandelion pollen yellow.

The syrup can be prepared in various ways, the idea being to infuse water with the flowers and to add enough sugar for the syrup to be sterile but still soluble.

Start by washing the flowers and cut their base to help detach the yellow petals from the green leaves. We only use the petals. You can also do this entirely by hand but the knife speeds it up.

In a saucepan, cover the dandelion petals with water. I use mineral water, but if you drink tap water you can use that.

Mix well until all petals are covered.

Bring to a boil, cover and let infuse in the fridge overnight. Some recipes will boil the flowers for 20 minutes - I find this quite barbaric given the delicacy of the flowers.

The next day, filter the mixture through a fine sieve and press with a spoon to extract all juice from the boiled petals. Weigh the liquid. Add a little lemon juice to the taste. Some people would boil the syrup again to make sure it is sterile, but others fear this might destroy the more volatile components of the flower's fragrance. I think dandelion is rather rustic anyway and err on the side of caution.

For each gram or pound of liquid, take 0.95 gram or pound sugar. Too much sugar will prevent the syrup from diluting properly. Too little and it might become contaminated by bacteria.

Mix well and heat slowly until all sugar is dissolved. Filter again and store in a bottle.

The pressed dandelion petals are headed for the bin but so beautiful.

The syrup is drunk diluted in cold water.

My grandma used a huge aluminum pot and prepared gallons of syrup at a time. She didn't remove the leaves - they are edible and anyway there is so much sugar this will cover any bitterness. If you don't have a grandma in the Swiss Alps you can buy this syrup from some local mama at the folkloric food market in Vevey on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Some people use more sugar, add a little pectin and cook it a bit longer to turn this syrup into a Dandelion flower jam.