Dandelion Diaries

Spring is here (or so I thought, although everything outside is covered by a couples of inches of snow again) and as usual, those resilient little yellow flowers are poking their heads through our lawn.  I'm talking about Dandelions, of course, with their cheerful, bright blooms and their 'powderball' puffs that you can blow on to scatter their seeds.  Really, they are a remarkable plant, but under 
appreciated.  Like good renters, Nathan and I were doing some work on our big 'ol lawn, and he decided to be ambitious and start digging up all the dandelions.  He actually had the lawn clean by the end of that first night, at least of the plants that were blooming.  Unfortunately they multiply and bloom too quickly for us to keep up, so once again we have a carpet of yellow.  As he was digging, however, Nate decided to investigate some of the claims he had heard about dandelions.  So instead of tossing them in the yard waste pile, he brought sacks of dandelion blooms, roots, and leaves into the house.  Then we set about the adventure of finding ways to eat, drink, and preserve our dandelions.

There is a definite lack of good scientific studies on the value of dandelions.  However, they are popular with herbalists as both a food and as herbal remedies.  According to a University of Maryland Medical Center website (link found at the end of this paragraph), dandelions are a good source of vitamins A, B Complex, C, and D, as well as minerals Zinc, Potassium, and Iron.  Historically the dandelion has been used for to treat liver ailments, as well as other issues.  The leaves when consumed are believed to act as a diuretic, stimulating appetite and aiding digestion.  The flowers are often attributed with antioxidant properties.  The roots are used to cleanse the liver, gall-bladder, and kidney.  http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/dandelion-000236.htm#axzz2SFBijkzS

So that's the basic scoop.  Now what did we do with these pretty little plants?  Well, one evening I blanched (to remove the bitter taste) then sauted the greens with garlic and onion (much like spinach) to make a side dish.  It really was pretty good.  I didn't notice much bitterness.  We haven't used them raw in a salad yet, but when the snow melts and I have time to go hunt down some more good greens, perhaps we will.  If you want to eat the leaves, look for the plants that haven't started to bloom yet.  The ones that are the least mature will have the least bitter flavor.  I also used some of the chopped greens in a soup with wild rice.  It was really good.  I found another recipe for "Cream of Dandelion Soup", as well as one that used all parts of the dandelion plant.  We haven't tried those yet. 

Nathan dried the roots, then ground them and brewed them into Dandelion Root tea.  The "tea" tasted a lot like coffee, which of course was good for him since he loves coffee.  He also dried some of the leaves and blooms.  I think he plans on combining these with ground root and a few other things to make another kind of Dandelion Tea.

As for the blooms...since we aren't wine drinkers we probably won't attempt to make Dandelion wine.  We did, however, make an attempt at Dandelion Jelly.  Picking all the fluffy little yellow flower petals out to use for the jelly is the most time consuming part.  You soak the petals overnight in boiling water, then strain off the fluff.  Stir in some pectin, add sugar, bring to a boil, then seal into jelly jars.  We didn't have much luck getting the jelly to set on the first batch.  It turned out to be a lovely yellow color, but closer to the consistency of honey then of jelly.  It still tastes good, and so we have been using it like honey.  We will, however, be making it again to try to get the jelly to set the next time around. 

So those are our Dandelion adventures.  If you're interested in recipes let me know.  Nathan wants to try out eating some other wild plants that grow in Kansas, so stay tuned for future food adventures!