Eating Weeds: Dandelions

I was just asked on Facebook about eating dandelions.

The answer deserves it's own blog post, not just a reply to a comment.

Dandelions are one of those superfoods in every way. Every part of a dandelion is edible. My family doesn't eat the stems, because they take some preparation and can cause stomach upset. But the rest of it we do. Fortunately, when my children were little they blew lots of dandelions and my lawn is not chemically treated.

First thing: Make sure your dandelions come from places that are not treated with chemicals or close to busier roads with exhaust particulates that will fall on the dandelion. You don't want to eat those things.

Okay, have a safe place to harvest?

In the spring, young green leaf rosettes can be pulled up or cut off at the base. Rinse them, pat them dry, and fry them in a tempura batter for a nice treat.

Later in spring, start looking for buds close to the ground, the buds should be tightly closed and sort of squared off at the top. A tapering bud like formation is after blooming but before going to seed. A new bud tapers down to a rounded end at the stem and has a flat wide top in comparison to the base. (I'll post a picture here later). The buds can fermented like pickles to use as a substitute for capers. I have some fermenting now! You'll use a basic salt brine, plus seasonings you like. Mine have garlic, red pepper, onions and peppercorns in them. A basic salt brine is 2 Tablespoons of salt to 1 qt of water. Clean all your ingredients, chop your onions if you're using them, and put them in the brine. Weight it down using either specially made weights, a smaller jar full of brine or a small zip bag full of brine. Make sure all your vegetables are completely submerged. Put the top on the jar finger tip tight and put it in a warm but not too warm part of your house. Check every day to make sure that it's not building up too much pressure. You'll see bubbles forming, that's normal. If the button on the top of the jar won't press down, relieve the pressure by carefully opening it just a little. After two weeks, check the tartness and if it's where you want it, put it in the fridge to slow (not stop) the fermenting. Eat within a couple months. If you want it more sour, let it ferment longer. Watch for mold, but as long as everything is properly submerged, there shouldn't be any.

Also in spring, young leaves can be used in salads. They are delicious, and considered a bitter.

Dandelion blossoms can also be fried, made into jelly or made into wine. A quick internet search will turn up a lot of recipes for dandelion wine.
My Dandelion Jelly Recipe
My Fried Dandelion Recipe 

You can rinse and freeze dandelion blossoms for later use in wines or jellies. Rinse, use a salad spinner to extract excess water or even squeeze it dry, freeze in single layers, then put in a labelled bag in your freezer to make the jelly when you have time.

For fried dandelion blossoms, any basic tempura batter works just fine though.

Older but not huge leaves can be boiled as any other vegetable, then used in soup. Discard the boiling water. Boiling helps get rid of some of the oxalates.

The bigger they get, the more bitter they get, so there is a point where you won't want to eat them.

The seeds can be collected, and threshing them lightly in a paper bag then using a fan to blow away the fluffs makes for a free seed that you can use to grow microgreens in the winter. Just sow as you would any other seed. They can also be sprouted, but I find microgreens a more effective use of time, plus if you miss some fluff, it won't matter with microgreens which you are cropping.

Dandelions are high in vitamins A, C, K and a good source of dietary fiber.

In the late fall, you can dig up the roots, cut them up and let them dry to hard, roast them either in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or toast them in a cast iron skillet. Store in an airtight jar. A decoction made by simmering the root in water makes a tasty non-caffeine coffee substitute.

More dandelions on this site include:

Dandelion Printable Recipe page

Dandelion and Bee coloring page

Dandelion Lined Paper Printable

Dandelion Jelly!!

Most of the time, we have enough dandelions in our yard for fried dandelions but not much past that because we really love fried dandelions. This year though has been a banner year for those happy sunshine flowers.

I know my yard has not been touched with weed killers or dangerous chemicals in the 16 years we've lived here, so I don't have any problems with harvesting from my yard.

My daughter is the jelly and jam maker in our home. She was enthused about trying this recipe from her grandmother.

Well, until I told her we had to pick about 11 cups of dandelions.

But picking the petals off of them went a lot faster with 3 of us. We just pinched the green ends off, then peeled off the green to get all the petals. It wound up being 8 cups of petals total.

So this is a recipe we don't double- but we do make enough tea to make 2 batches back to back.

We used pint jars because well, we do use pint jars usually for personal use jellies and jams. If you're going to gift it, use half pints.

This recipe makes about 2 pints or 4 half pints.

You will need:

5 cups of blossoms- cut and pick the green parts off, use only the white and yellow parts
4 cups of boiling water
3 Tbs. lemon juice
6 Tbs of powdered pectin
4 1/2 cups of sugar

First you'll make a dandelion tea. Pour the boiling water over the petals in a non-reactive bowl cover, and let steep at least until room temperature. We let it go overnight which made an orange-y yellow tea.

Strain the blossoms out of the tea, and press lightly. Pre-measure your sugar.

Measure 3 cups of dandelion tea into a pan, add the lemon juice and pectin and bring to a boil.

Add the sugar, bring back to a boil and let it boil for 2 or 3 minutes.

Put in jars leaving 1/4 inch head space and water bath process for 10 minutes.

It tastes like a honey jelly, bright and sunshine-y. It's delicious with Brie on crackers, which is how we have it served in the photo above.

It's absolutely a new family favorite, and despite the time it took to get just the petals, TG plans to make it again!