Dandelion wine

Where has the time gone
it seems to fly so fast
One moment your having fun
The next it’s come to pass
Days turning to yesteryear
Old friends find their own way
Until the moment you leave
I wish that you would stay

* So here’s to you
All our friends
Surely we will meet again
Don’t stay away too long this time
We’ll raise a glass, maybe two
And we’ll thinking of you
Until our paths cross again maybe next time…

Let’s laugh at the memories
And talk all afternoon
Let’s remember the moments
That leave us all too soon
We’ll smile at the pictures
Still lingering in our minds
When you’re reminiscing
Then all you need is time

Tracing faded Photographs
A scrapbook lonely charm
Pressed flowers and dreams we had
Our fingerprint of time
The first moment we ever met
When your eyes met mine
I remember the summer
Of Dandelion wine
 

”Dandelion wine” is a novel by Ray Bradbury written in 1957. The storie of all the wondrous and magical events in the life of a 12-year-old Midwestern boy named Douglas Spaulding.
It's the summer of 1928 in a small town in Illinois. And for the first time in his life he realizes that he is alive, truly alive. He begins keeping a list of all the "firsts" of the summer - first new pair of sneakers, first batch of dandelion wine bottled for the winter months, putting up the porch swing, etc. But with this new awarness of being alive comes the realization that he also will one day die.

- The name of a lunar crater labelled on this novel from Bradbury.
- A folkband from the UK is also called “Dandelion wine”.

Recipes of dandelion wine

From Texas:

Ingredients:
2 qts. Dandelion blossoms
4 qts. Water
8 Whole cloves
½ t Powdered ginger
1 C Orange juice
3 T Lemon juice
3 T Coarsely chopped orange peel
1 T Coarsely chopped lemon peel
3 T Lime juice
6 C Sugar
1 pkg. Dried yeast
¼ C Warm water

Directions:
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside.

Wash the dandelion blossoms well. Put them in the water with the orange, lemon and lime juices. Add the rinds, cloves, ginger and sugar. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for an hour. Strain through filter paper (coffee filters work great). Cool. While still warm (but not hot), stir in the yeast.

Let stand overnight and pour into bottles. Allow uncorked bottles to set in a darkened place for three weeks. Then cork and store bottles in a cool place. Makes about 4 quarts

Notes:
Choose dandelions from an open field far from any insecticide spraying. Pick early in the season when the leaves of the plant are still tender. Flowers that have just opened are best.

Another one:

3 litres Dandelions
1,5 kilo Sugar
2 Lemons
1 Orange
0,5 kilo Raisins
1 teasp. Grape tannin
4,5 litres Water
Yeast & nutrient

The flowers must be freshly gathered (traditionally St. George's Day, April 22rd, is the correct occasion). Pour boiling water on flower heads. Leave for two days stirring each day. Keep covered. On Third day add citrus rinds and sugar and boil for one hour. Add juice and pulp of citrus fruit. Cool and add yeast, tannin and yeast nutrient. Keep well covered for these days in warm place. strain into fermenting bottles and add raisins equally. Fit trap. Leave till fermentation stops and wine clears. Drink in nine months or better still fifteen months.