Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) has it all! It is pretty and cheerful. It can grow just about everywhere. It is highly nutritious. It is good medicine. The bees love it and make delectable honey from it. What's not to love?
At this time of year as the flowers dot the fields the kids and I collect the flowers and gorge on them. The kids eat them raw, savouring the sweet nectar inside the flower. My personal favourite way of eating the flowers is to coat them in flour and fry them in butter. They are just the right bite size and their taste is salty and sweet, a little chewy and oddly reminiscent of mushroom. We eat this treat almost daily when they are at their peak. I have even been successful at freezing them and using them this way in the winter. It's not as good as when they are first picked but they still taste great.
I also like adding the flowers as filling to a quiche or in an omelette. When I make sweet muffins I pull the petals off the flowers and only use the yellow part. The green part of the flower can create some bitterness.
The leaves are great eaten raw or added to any meal you are making. I also dry a bunch of them to have in my larder for winter. I use them as tea or add them to baking. The leaves are an excellent diuretic. They pull water out of your body but they do not deplete you of potassium in the process, rather they replenish it. The leaves will increase your urination and can also work as a laxative.
The root is great for the liver. It helps to detoxify your body. Avoid if you have diarrhea as it is laxative. I like picking the spring root and I eat it raw or add it to casseroles. Some find it a little bitter. I find it to be a little milder in taste earlier in the year. The fall root tends to be bigger and are better to use for coffee substitute. Their bitterness is perfect for a coffee!
That today's society seems to despise dandelion is peculiar given this plant's long standing history as a remedy and food. Search the internet for the history of dandelion and its uses and you will come across it being mentioned as a remedy in ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Japanese and Chinese traditions. People have used it for food wherever it popped up. So instead of trying to rid ourselves of this gift, why not embrace it, perhaps in the process we will even see some marked improvements to our health.
I, for one, raise my glass in a salute to dandelion. One of the best plants on the planet, if you ask me.
