Marigold Wine from the Chrysanthemum segetum: As a healing herbal medicine, Culpeper says of the Marigold that it is “good in all kinds of fevers; it promotes sweat, and is frequently used to drive out the small-pox and measles; it also helps the jaundice.”
Herbs For Healing: Photo taken at Dunedin Botanical Gardens by Merrilyn on Holly’s camera, December 2012.
Marigold Flower Wine is a herbal wine which can be used as a medicinal agent to treat the conditions which Culpeper mentions, as well for culinary purposes. It can provide a unique and aromatic quality to a meal.
Marigolds, which are also called Calendula, have many healing properties. The leaves and the flowers of the Calendua plant can be used in herbal medicine, but in making Marigold flower wine, we only use the fresh orange-yellow petals of the flower.
To Prepare The Marigold Wine:
Simmer 3 lb of white sugar in 8 pints (4 litres) of water for five minutes.
When the syrup has cooled, pour it into a glass or china, or plastic container and add 8 pints (4 litres) of freshly picked marigold petals.
Add the juice of 2 large lemons. With a vegetable peeler, strip off some of the yellow lemon peel and add this to your wine mixture. Do not use any of the white pith in your wine, as it will make it bitter. Use fresh lemons from your garden, and not commercial fruit which has a wax sprayed onto the fruit to preserve it. Bought organic lemons should be OK, as this wax shouldn’t be used on organic fruit.
Crumble in 1 oz of fresh wine yeast. You can use baking yeast, but wine yeast should give a better result.
Leave for four days, stirring twice daily with a sterilized wooden or plastic spoon. Make sure that your wine is covered and that no ants or sand flies can get into your wine mixture. Sandflies will cause it to turn to vinegar. It really is best to apply a fermentation lock right from the word go, as this prevents insects and vinegar bugs from attacking your wine. Another tip – Best not to use metal utensils in wine making, except for the initial simmering of the sugar and water. Use glass, china, plastic or wood for the spoon. It is essential to use sterilized equipment, as this helps prevent your wine from becoming vinegar.
After four days, strain off the liquid and put into another clean glass or stone-china vessel. Put on the fermentation lock, put the wine vessel in a cool spot, and leave it to work until fermentation has ceased. Leave to settle for another 14 days after fermentation has stopped.
Now-Put 1/4 lb of sugar in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 pint of boiling water (about 1 and a half cups). Stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved and the syrup has reached simmering point. Allow this to cool completely, then stir into the marigold flower wine.
Bottle in clean, dry, sterilized bottles. These can be heated up gently in the oven for half an hour, on a low temperature of around 100 C. This will sterilize the bottles and dry them. Let the bottles cool before bottling the wine.
Cork with new, clean corks and leave your marigold wine to mature for 6 months before using. This should produce a light sparkling cider coloured herbal wine which has all the medicinal qualities, and the delicate flavour of marigold.