Traditional Scandinavian Dandelion Syrup Recipe

dandelion & green apple syrup

This delicious way to use dandelions was sent to me by a reader in Denmark! She was kind enough to translate and share a few traditional Scandinavian foraging recipes with me, including this one for Dandelion Syrup that she makes each summer.

Thank you Tina! :)

Dandelion Syrup Ingredients

Below, you’ll find the recipe as translated. The only thing I did differently was to use 75 dandelions, since mine were small, end-of-the-season ones.

This syrup was a hit with everyone in my family and I will definitely make it again!

For those that avoid sugar, I believe the recipe will do well with honey instead, though you’d want to be careful not to scorch it. I plan on experimenting, if not this year, then next – depending on how my dandelion supply holds up.

Dandelions and apples for syrup

Dandelion Syrup with Green Apples:

  • about 50 dandelion flowers (only the yellow petals, use scissors to cut the green off)
  • 500 grams of chopped green apples (this equaled almost 3 apples for me)
  • optional: 1 stalk of chopped rhubarb (I didn’t have any, so left out)
  • 1 liter of water (1 quart)
  • about 500 grams of sugar*
  • juice of one lemon

If you use organic apples, you don’t have to peel them. Put the apples, dandelion flowers, rhubarb, juice of lemon and water in a pot and let it simmer for half an hour.

Pour the mass through linen (strain), so the juice is clear, it’s beautifully yellow. Weigh the juice and pour it back into the pot. Use the same amount of sugar as the juice weighs.

(*One cup of sugar is about 200 grams.)

Bring it to a boil, until it thickens. Be careful not to let it boil for too long, it must not change color. Pour the syrup into scalded glasses and voila, the syrup is done.

It’s perfect on yoghurt or pancakes. You can also use it for oven baked beetroot, carrots, potatoes or so, just pour some syrup over the vegetables and into the oven, it tastes WONDERFUL.

This recipe made enough to fill three and a half (8 oz) jelly jars.

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author, herbalist, soapmaker

Jan Berry is a writer, herbalist, soapmaker, and bestselling author of The Big Book of Homemade Products, Simple & Natural Soapmaking, and Easy Homemade Melt & Pour Soaps. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her family and a menagerie of animals, where she enjoys brainstorming creative things to make with the flowers and weeds that grow around her. You can also find her writing about gardening and foraging over at her family's website: UnrulyGardening.com!

47 Comments

  1. I can’t wait to try this on my gluten free Aebleskiver! Thank you so much for having this translated and posting this!

    1. Oh yum. I had to look up “Aebleskiver” and wow, they look delicious! Thanks for mentioning them – I will definitely have to try making some for our dandelion syrup as well! :)

      1. I wondered how someone doesn’t know what aebelskivers are. Funny how culture shapes us all.

  2. In Denmark we eat “aebleskiver” with jam and iciing sugar, that can also be recommended :-)

    And Thanks for the link and for mentioning me in the post :-)

    2. Tina: I went to your blog hoping to find further foraging posts, but searching by that word got me no where. Can you help?

  3. This is awesome! Thank you for sharing. Can’t wait to try it, though I think it may be too late for this year.

    1. Hi Paula! It’s a bit late in the year for dandelions here as well. I hope you get to try it next year though – it is delicious! :)

  4. I feel better just reading the recipe and looking at the beautiful photos! I’ve always loved dandelions and am so happy to see this *great* way to use them. I would love to try it on roasted vegetables — great suggestion!

    1. I thought it sounded yummy on roasted vegetables as well – still need to try that variation! Happy that you enjoyed the post! :)

  5. So glad I rememberd your book! My daughter was in the backyard looking at our dandelions and said she liked eating them. I was surprised until she explained a Garden Class teacher told her 2 yrs. ago about edible plants. She gathered the greens to try in salad. I’m excited to try your other recipes. Thank you for sharing it with us for FREE!!

  6. Ooooo, this looks so yummy! And then I read the comments about using it on aebleskiver and now I really, really need to get one of those pans! I’ve been wanting one ever since I married into a Danish-descended family :)

    1. Hi Amy, I’m not sure if you can can this or not. You could check with your local extension office or a canning hotline (I think Ball has one??) and see if they have expert advice for you. My thought is that it should can similar to a jelly or fruit syrup, but I’m not 100% sure in order to be confident in a safe answer.

  8. Jan, I have tons of dandelion flowers but no apples till later, from my trees (Mother Nature willing, that is). I just hate to buy apples when I might have so many later on. Been thinking about infusing the flowers in the water called for in the recipe and then freezing it till I start getting apples. Do you think that’d work ok?

    1. Hi Ilene, I think that’s a great idea! I freeze dandelion, violet, rose etc tea for use later in the year (jellies, soaps, and such) and I think it would work well in this too.

  9. Hi! I’m allergic to apples but would love to try this. What other fruit do you think might work? Pears are no good, either.

    2. Can you eat quince? They might work – very tart so you’d want to use more sweetener.

    1. Hi Kelly! Yes, I did store mine in the fridge. We used it all up within a week or so, so I’m not sure for longer storage, though with the high sugar syrup ratio, I suspect it should have a fairly good shelf life of at least several weeks.

  12. I have so many dandelion in yard, I saying to myself yesterday its gotta be something I do with all these dandelion, thank you so much for the recipe.tee

  13. Thank you for this article. I can’t wait to try this. Another great use for all the dandelions around here.

  14. No need to weigh the juice- a pint is a pound. Just measure it. Dry granulated sugar weighs the same as water, so add an equal volume of sugar, and Bob’s your uncle!

    1. PS the proportions are the same as “simple syrup” so it should keep just fine.

  16. I just made a batch. I weighed the juice and did as the recipe.says, matching the weight for the sugar. Very sweet but tasty. Thinking it will be great in ice tea. I canned some, pints at 10 min in water canner. Looks pretty…dandelions still in season so may tey again. Thanks!

  18. Hi! I’m making this right now……but realized I have nothing to weigh with. Any tricks for figuring out how much sugar to use?

  20. I made this last year and just can’t put it on enough! Great on greek yogurt, pancakes, sweet potatoes, in tea, or by the spoonful if you have a sore throat, or fighting a cough! My current batch this year is steeping overnight….thank you so much for sharing this! When I was young, my father made dandelion jelly which always amazed me because it tasted so much like honey- this is great!

  21. I’ve just been reading some of the other comments and thought that you would like to know that I had no problem canning this in a hot water bath just as I do jams. I simply do as instructed with equal amounts of liquid to sugar, reduce until it’s the desired thickness and use canning jars. Works just fine!

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