Dandelion Honey: A Fabulous Vegan Alternative to Honey
This dandelion honey was originally known as poor man’s honey. It’s made from dandelion flowers and sugar rather than something that’s been produced by bees. Although it may not be true honey, however, it really does look and more importantly, taste like honey. It’s also eminently suitable for vegans.
I remember reading about dandelion honey a couple of years ago on a blog, but couldn’t remember which one. I saw it again last year on someone else’s blog but again couldn’t remember where. After enquiring via Twitter, I found out one of the blogs I’d seen it on was Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary, but by then it was too late and I’d already cobbled together a recipe from several I found online.
This mixture of dandelions, sugar and lemon juice is purportedly meant to taste like honey. Well that was a claim that had to be tried to be believed.
Foraging Dandelions
Our plot was covered in a riot of glorious yellow dandelions. They were clean, organic and I didn’t want them to seed all over the vegetable beds. I love getting these unintended additional crops from the plot. We’ve had quite a few nettles and wild garlic so far this year, but that’s as far as our foraging has gone.
When you gather dandelion flowers for this dandelion honey, make sure you pick them from a clean and unpolluted place. You don’t want to wash them before cooking or you’ll wash off most of that glorious yellow pollen. Also make sure you’re picking fresh dandelion flowers. They should be open and bright yellow.
When you’ve picked them, allow them to sit somewhere so that any insects you might also have picked can get away. Fifteen minutes should be enough time
Dandelion Honey
All of the instructions I saw said to pick out the dandelion petals and use these on their own or the green bits would turn the colour a rather mushy brown and make the dandelion honey taste bitter. There was no way I was going to spend hours doing that, so I used the whole flower head and hoped for the best.
Do make sure you store the dandelion honey in sterilised glass jars. Seal well and it will then keep in the fridge for at least a year.
Astonishingly, it worked. The result was a wonderful dandelion honey that not only had the consistency of runny honey, but really tasted like it too. Despite leaving the green bits on, the bitter notes were faint and the colour was still golden rather than muddy.
I’ve used it in several recipes already including this Figgy Bread. It’s also gone into this caramelised pear and honey carob cake and my £1 chocolate banana cake. It works a treat in my easy vegan honey almond granola too. Now I know how simple it is, I shall be making this again next year.
18 April 2015 Update – I’ve just made dandelion honey for the 3rd year running and I’m as enamoured now as I was back in 2013.
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Dandelion Honey. PIN IT.
Dandelion Honey
Ingredients
- 350 g dandelion flowers remove green parts if really keen
- 1 organic lemon thinly sliced
- 1 litre water
- 750 g golden granulated sugar or thereabouts
Instructions
- Simmer dandelion heads and lemon in water for 20 minutes in a covered pan. Pour into a glass bowl and cover. Leave to steep overnight.350 g dandelion flowers, 1 organic lemon, 1 litre water
- Pour through a sieve extracting the liquid by pressing down with a spoon to make about 750ml (3 cups).
- Discard the flowers and simmer the liquid gently in an uncovered pan with the sugar (same number of grams of sugar as ml of liquid) for about 45 minutes or until the mixture becomes syrupy and drips slowly off a spoon.750 g golden granulated sugar
- Pour into two warm sterilised glass jars and leave to cool.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
Dandelion is a wonderful herb. I often dig up the roots to make dandelion coffee. The leaves of the wild dandelion, I find too bitter, but some are happy to use them as salad leaves. There are myriad health benefits, but it is best known as a cleansing spring tonic. I am submitting my dandelion honey to Karen’s Herbs on Saturday over at Lavender and Lovage. It’s hosted this month by Anneli at Delicieux.
As this dandelion nectar is not only made from scratch, but is also picked from scratch, I am submitting it to Javelin Warrior’s Made with Love Mondays.
Dandelions are in full season this month, so I’m entering this vegan honey into Simple and in Season with Ren Behan.
can you water bath this in canning jars??
Well you could if you really want too, but it doesn’t need it if you keep it in the fridge.
Hi recipe great but I went wrong somewhere! I think that I simmered for slightly too long. I turned off the heat & moved away from the pan for about 30 seconds to get jars from dishwasher. In that time the syrup had started to harden. I could only ‘pour’ the very first bit. After that it set rock hard! I’ve got what I can out of pan. Tastes ok. But don’t think I can spread it. Ok for lemon honey tea. I’m having to soak pan now to remove rest!! I shall try again & simmer for less time.
Oh, how disappointing for you Kirstein. I hate it when recipes go wrong. I tend to get comments from people saying they can’t get it thick enough. This is a first. Did you have it on too high a heat perhaps? Or maybe you used a wide pan? If the syrup is shallow, it won’t take as long to thicken up.
If you can bring yourself to try again, just keep an eye on it and give it an occasional stir. It will thicken slightly as it cools.
Made it a few days ago, and have already gathered more petals for the next batch. Thank you for the recipe and great instructions. I’d love to add a touch of salt, has anyone tried that?
So glad you liked the recipe Katie and thanks for letting me know. I’ve not heard of adding salt, but if you’re able to make another batch, why not try it. It might make it a whole heap nicer. Let me know how it goes if you do try it.
Great recipe. Really easy to make dandelion honey. As a vegan, I think it’s the best alternative to bee honey. Dandelions are so nutritious as well.
Agree, dandelions are powerhouses of nutrition, like so many other weeds. And dandelion honey is impressively similar to honey.
Just made this with the kids – tastes absolutely incredible and was a really fun activity to do with them.
Yay, so pleased you got around to trying it Mandy. And I can see it’s a fun one to do with the kids. It’s a great recipe for vegans, I love it. As long as you can find enough dandelions, of course.
I had never heard of dandelion honey before, I only saw it at a food fair today, labled as dandelion honey – poor man’s honey..
Doing a search, I found this site, with a recipe..
This is not honey at all, but in fact a simple syrup, flavoured with dandelions. That said, when you buy honey from the shop, its watered down with cane sugar.. (bees are in decline and honey is in demand, cant have ot both ways). Basically, most honey’s are so watered down that theres little difference other than cost.. a bag of sugar is much less expensive than shop sold honey..
You’re absolutely right, this isn’t ‘real’ honey, but it does taste like it. When I buy honey, I make sure it comes from a reputable source. Many bee keepers feed their bees sugar to keep them going over the winter. I prefer it, when they leave them enough of their own honey stores.
We were so excited to try this recipe. Followed the instructions. But our honey never thickened. Any thoughts? Thank you!
Hi Andrea
Oh no! Are you cooking it with the lid off? The water needs to evaporate. The only advice I can give is to just keep simmering it. It will have to thicken at some stage.
Vegan honey for the win! I have already made dandelion jelly this year, and am waiting on my brewers yeast to arrive so i can make dandelion wine. In the meantime, I made this dandelion honey recipe (in addition to the lemon, I used half an orange). Its fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Ooh dandelion wine sounds good Jenny. As does dandelion jelly. Glad you liked the honey and now I’ve read this, I might just have to try adding orange next time I make it.
I’m not vegan/vegetarian or even pescatarian but I really wanted to have a go at making this as I do forage and make all kinds of things. I was dubious as lots of recipes don’t turn out how they are supposed to and at the minute I have it simmering and hope it gets thick enough when it cools, but the taste is amazing! It tastes like honey in fact it’s nicer than honey in my opinion. I do write a blog and will be passing the recipe on and of course mentioning your site if I can figure it out I will even create a link lol
I hope it thickened up for you Dawn. I’ve never had a problem and each time I make it I’m impressed with the flavour all over again. Would very much appreciate a link. It’s very easy to do.
I’m definitely going to make this once there are enough dandelions, they are just starting to flower now and we will soon have plenty.
Our plot is completely covered in them – don’t think I made even a tiny dent in them Janice.
This is an amazing idea, I’ve got to try it. Who would have thought I’d be out picking dandelions?! GG
Ah the fun jobs we food blogger have GG 🙂
Never heard of this before, but certainly going to give it a go because sometimes I feel honey a little too rich so this might be a good alternative.
Interesting point Rhian, I’d not thought of honey as being rich before, but now I think about it, I can see what you mean.
I’ve never heard of dandelion honey before but it sounds delicious – thanks for sharing x
Thanks Stephanie, making dandelion honey is perhaps not the most obvious thing in the world 😉
Can you use regular granulated sugar instead of golden? Assuming it’d just change the color, right?
Hi Cala. Yes of course you can use ordinary granulated sugar. It shouldn’t make much difference to the colour as it’s the dandelions that make it amber. I use golden because it’s less refined.
That does look like perfect honey! Popping over from simple and seasonal linky
Oh, I’m so glad that you used the whole heads. I picked about a kilo of flowers, thinking I was going to do wine, but my wine making kit is elsewhere. I wasn’t looking forward to picking off all of the petals from them. Thanks for the tip on Twitter. I’m already thinking about what I can make with this (mine is about to get simmered down with the sugar).
If you want to eat dandelion leaves, try forcing them by placing a teracotta pot on the young plant, and newspaper over that to block out the light. Then the leaves grow pale, like forced asparagus or chicory. Much more tender, too. Or you can cook them. I make a mess of greens with dandelions and nettles, which is good.
Or find someone with a rabbit or a guinea pig, and you’ll soon have no more dandelions 🙂
I just popped back to say this really is amazing. Bee free honey. Thank you
Fantastic…. but now I live thousands of miles away and there are no dandelions! Drat!
Ah, if only I’d seen this before all of my dandelions went to seed! When we first moved house my mum used to tell my brother and I to pick the dandelions – we got a penny for each flower and 2p for a seed head, provided we got all the seeds into the bag. There were a lot and a lot of dandelions and it was her way of bribing us to help stop them spreading!
Sounds intriguing. I use found food a lot at this time of year, with dandelions in smoothies the easiest by far, but also putting them in fritters too. I have yet to try dandelion honey but it may need to be made, what with the wet weather supplying so many!
A toast with honey. That’s a perfect way to start your day. Apart from its great taste, honey has lots of health and nutrition benefits.
I have never cooked with dandelions. They’re in short supply here in Dubai! Must be adventurous this summer in the UK.
Wow – now that is something new. Who knew?
Gosh, I have never heard of this before! It does look like honey, too. Really interesting post! 🙂
Huh, I’ve never heard anything like that before. Good on you for giving it a go. You always manage to surprise me.
Wow – Dandelion Honey – how cool is that??!! I am super impressed. What a great thing to make from some foraged stuff. I never knew you could do that so I am so happy to be enlightened! Thanks so much for entering this very cool honey into Herbs On Saturday 🙂
what a simply glorious idea!… I love the idea of this so utterly that I MUST make this when I get home, if i’m not too late! Alys Fowler swears by her dandelion fritters which I think sound wonderful too. Maybe it’s time for a dandelion revolution!
Oh wow. The dandelions have fared marvellously in this crazy weather here in Scotland and are by far the most vibrant flower just now. Whilst very pretty, I am dreading all those tap roots that are going to have to be pulled out! I have never heard of dandelion honey before. I find the leaves too bitter too and don’t enjoy dandelion root coffee but this “honey” is definitely going to have to be made! Thanks for the recipe. Vohn x
Well, I’ve eaten the leaves before but this is definitely an intriguing variation. It seems to have been a remarkably good year for dandelions and usually that’s not a good thing.
This is amazing! I hate the dandelions that grow in my lawn, but to think I could pull them up and make them into yummy honey! Inspired!
Now if I can just find organic dandelions! I don’t think I should probably use the ones growing around our apartment complex – something tells me they’d be filled with all kinds of toxins :/ But I love the look of this and such a cool use of this common plant…
I have been weeding it mercilessly this year, so don’t have enough for any cooking. Looks fab!
Darn! The dandelions in my garden have already seeded so I shall wait for the next crop of flower to try this recipe because I am intrigued!
Aw, thanks for the link back 🙂 I’m so glad you’ve made, tried and enjoyed this! I really ought to get more organized and make some again this year. I have a recipe for dandelion honey parfait I’m just dying to try!
What a great idea. I’ve tried dandelion coffee but not honey. I’ll have to give this a go!
How interesting. I suppose that’s a vegan way of making honey. Also, having just read this post, I clicked through a coupld of links from another page and ended up at this post on Lilac Honey . I know it uses actual honey, but I wonder if you could use Lilac in the same way as the Dandelion? I had no idea that Lilacs were edible anyway. It seems I have stumbled across a whole new world. Thanks!
Lilic must be the flower of the moment. I had no idea about using lilac in cooking either until recently, but I’ve just seen a whole spate of lilac syrup and lilac sugar posts – now I just need to find a lilac! Will check out the lilac honey post first though.
I have seen this same honey trick done with Lavender, Chamomile, Calendula, and many herbs like Rosemary, Mint, etc. You can also use flowers and herbs in a conserve, which is taking regular granulated sugar and adding flowers/herbs and allowing it to sit for a while until the sugar carries the scent and flavor.
Ah, that’s interesting Karantha, I’ve not heard of other herbs creating a honey like substance. Dandelions have a lot of yellow pollen, so they’re particularly good for it. The flowers are also big so it doesn’t take too long to pick them. I’ve used your sugar trick with roses and lavender flowers to good effect.
What a brilliant way to get rid of the dandelions before they seed. I am intrigued by the dandelion coffee. What does it taste like, and more importantly does it make you wet the bed? 😉
Wow I have never thought about making honey before but it looks great!
Wow I have never thought about making honey before but it looks great!
amazing – I am surprised I don’t see vegans using this as a substitute for honey – I guess dandelions aren’t a commercial crop but I now wish I had a backyard knee deep in them so I could have a go at this
This is amazing!
I’m making this for the second year. I have an alottment which is organic and there are riots of dandelions. The bees won’t miss one jar. It was delicious on home made bread, toasted. I’m going to use it in recipes requiring honey this year.
It’s brilliant stuff and great for cooking too. We moved last year and consequently lost our plot on a field which was totally organic. That’s where I used to get all of my dandelions. Feeling a bit stumped now.
I’d never heard of dandelion honey before but it sounds quite tasty. I don’t have a garden or any outside space to call my own. But this is something I’ll remember to try in the future when we do get a place with a garden.
great blogs,nice recipes. I am vegetarian not vegan but i will try this recipe for sure. thanks for share 🙂 and good luck with your blog, hun.. looking forward to discover more
Thanks very much Alexa. Making dandelion honey is worth making at least once, just for the fun of it.
Hi there no need to wait until you have a garden, a visit to the country side during the flowering season you can collect plenty of heads for as many jars as you wish to produce. At the same time enjoy nature at it best.
Exactly Roger. Foraging in the countryside is a real pleasure.
Made it for the first time today and it turned out great, just like honey. I’ll be making more throughout the next few months. I cut off the green bits with a pair of scissors just letting the petals fall into the saucepan. It’s really quick to do and ensures a rich golden colour and no bitterness.
Fabulous Philip, I’m glad you’re a convert. Thanks for the scissors tip too. I bet the resulting colour is lovely.