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Dandelions, the unsung hero

 

When you think of the most useful vegetables what comes to your mind? Tomatoes? Potatoes? The almighty onion? Sure, they’re all great but they don’t hold a candle to our good old friend the dandelion.  For years upon years, generations of dads in dirty old sneakers have wages war against these pleasant yellow “weeds”, paying good money and time to rid their immaculate *boring* lawns of their presence. The brainwashing of the American lawn is one of my soapboxes…maybe I’ll make that another blog later on. Today though, today is for the dandelion.

 

With over 250 identified species in every continent except Antarctica, the dandelion is set to survive no matter how hard people try. If you ever want to learn about how dandelions have lived and adapted to this, I highly recommend the book Frogs, Flies, and Dandelions- The Making of Species.  Even up until relatively recently they were cultivated in gardens.  How did we stray so far? Why have we brought such a hell-fire against a beautiful flower that has more purpose than the entire Kardashian family combined? Who knows. One thing is certain: we need to stop.

 

Dandelions… man. They’re a whole grocery store that just won’t stop giving.  To begin with, the entire pant is edible from flower, to stalk, to leaves, to root. The uses are myriad.

 

Flowers: the soft yellow flowers can be battered and fried for dandelion fritters.  They can also be used to make teas, wine, mead, syrup, “vegan honey”, and jelly!

The greens: The greens can be eaten raw in salads, on sandwiches, and in smoothies, or sauteed as a side item.  They can also be dried and used for tea.

The roots: can be roasted and eaten similar to asparagus, or dried and ground and used in tea and even as a substitute for coffee.

 

That right. That weed that your dad yelled at you for blowing on and making wishes can be used to make coffee, tea, wine, salad, jelly, and much more! And their benefits? They’re full of vitamins A, B, C, E, and K- remember vitamins A, C, and E are your antioxidant vitamins; and might help such things as blood pressure, sugar management, blood pressure, liver health, etc. Take that potatoes! And not to mention they are early food for pollinators, and with no pollinators we have no other foods.

 

So leave a patch in your yard of those sunshiney yellow flowers, and when the wind starts blowing the seeds be happy that they’ll sprout a patch of useful and happy little plants. Stop the war against “weeds”. Like my grandmother said “Just because you don’t put it in a garden doesn’t mean it’s a weed.” For this, and for her, I even have a dandelion tattoo. My personal homage to these heroes of food, wine, health, and the environment.

 

Looking for recipes? Google it. The internet is full of dandelion recipes! Recently I even made a calzone that contained dandelion greens! Always makes sure you’re taking your foraged foods from areas that you know have not been poisoned, places away from roadsides, and always leave some for the bees. Worried about confusing them with something else? No need to worry- everything you could possibly confuse a dandelion with is also edible!

BE well. Eat weeds. Grow food not lawns.