The Guardian's Dandelion and Burdock Beer Recipe is a traditional British homebrew guide featuring foraged roots, sugar, blackstrap molasses, lemon juice, and beer yeast. The flavor is mildly bitter and aromatic with a pleasant hint of vegetable stew.
Yields about 5 quarts of earthy fermented root beer. You will need a clean fermenting bucket.
A couple of large burdock roots (about 1 cup)
A handful of dandelion roots (about 1/2 cup)
1 pound of sugar
2 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses
Juice of one lemon
Optional: 1 teaspoon of carrageen to help clarify the beer
Beer yeast
Scrub and finely slice the burdock and dandelion roots.
Boil the roots with about one gallon of water (and the carragheen if using) for half an hour. (Experience the aroma of an unpromising vegetable stew.)
Take off the heat, add another gallon of cold water, sugar, molasses, and lemon.
Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Strain the liquid into a clean fermenting or bottling bucket and cover.
When the brew reaches room temperature, add the yeast and keep covered for up to a week.
Bottle in strong swing top bottles. Another week and it will be ready to drink, though it is well worth easing the top off of a bottle every now and then to check for potentially explosive levels of fizziness.
Once ready it is a good idea to keep the bottles in the fridge to prevent further fermentation.
