(Taraxacum officinale, Weber, T. Densleonis, Desf; Leontodon taraxacum, Linn.)
Ahhhh The “lowly” dandelion. This has to be the most common “weed” in the world. Many people spend countless hours and hundreds if not thousands of dollars trying to get rid of it and, I must confess, so did I. It’s impossible to be totally without these hardy plants when the wind will blow their seed in from neighbors and empty lots. After spending an entire Spring and Summer working to get rid of them, only to have them back the next year, I finally gave up and adopted the saying, “If you can’t beat em….eat em”.
The Dandelion is a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. Its leaves are often used to add flavor to salads, sandwiches, and teas. The roots can be found in some coffee substitutes, and the flowers are used to make certain wines.
The blooms are very sensitive to weather conditions: in good weather, all the parts are outstretched, but when rain threatens the whole head closes up at once. Dandelion flowers are a much more accurate weather forecaster than the news!! It closes against the dews of night, being prepared for its night's sleep, opening again in the morning.
The young leaves of the Dandelion make a healthy addition to spring salads and are often eaten in Europe, especially in France. The full-grown leaves should not be taken, being too bitter, but the young leaves, especially if blanched, make an excellent salad, either alone or in combination with other plants, lettuce, shallot tops or chives.
--Culinary Uses--
Young Dandelion leaves make delicious sandwiches, the tender leaves being laid between slices of bread and butter and sprinkled with salt. The addition of a little lemon-juice and pepper varies the flavour. The leaves should always be torn to pieces, rather than cut, in order to keep the flavour.
In Wales, they grate or chop Dandelion roots, two years old, and mix them with the leaves in salad. Dandelion can be blanched in the same way as endive, and is then very delicate in flavour. If the flower-buds of plants, in a corner of the garden for salad purposes, are removed at once and the leaves carefully cut, the plants will last through the whole winter.
The young leaves are less bitter and may also be boiled as a vegetable, spinach fashion, thoroughly drained, sprinkled with pepper and salt, moistened with soup or butter and served very hot. If considered a little too bitter, use half spinach, but the Dandelion must be partly cooked first in this case, as it takes longer than spinach. As a variation, some grated nutmeg or garlic, a teaspoonful of chopped onion or grated lemon peel can be added to the greens when they are cooked. A simple vegetable soup may also be made with Dandelions.
