Dandelion greens: Do any of you eat them?

[Aemma]

Ok weird question I know but they are quite edible but I've yet to try them but not for a lack of having any in my backyard. :P I just can't come to make myself pick them, wash them and then chuck them in my salad since they are weeds I step on usually. I need a horticultural paradigm shift here! Help!!

So, those of you who have or do eat them regularly, when's the best time to pick them, what size, and how best to serve them?

Thanks!...Aemma

[Rainraven]

While I haven't grown them I have bought them from the supermarket in a mesclun salad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesclun) mix. Very tasty if you're growing any other specialty lettuces etc. and can be a nice change to a plain lettuce salad. Chuck in the dandelion leaves and other greens you fancy, bit of feta or parmesan or feta cheese, some tomatoes and a nice balsamic dressing, tasty! :hungry:

[Angantyr]

Ok weird question I know but they are quite edible but I've yet to try them but not for a lack of having any in my backyard. :P I just can't come to make myself pick them, wash them and then chuck them in my salad since they are weeds I step on usually. I need a horticultural paradigm shift here! Help!!

So, those of you who have or do eat them regularly, when's the best time to pick them, what size, and how best to serve them?

Thanks!...Aemma

They are best to pick while young and smaller. They are tender and less bitter. The whole plant is edible, including the flower, but most people restrict themselves to the leaves. In any event, it is better to tear them up into bite size pieces or smaller.

However, you should be aware of their notable diuretic properties. They are not called pissenlit for nothing, because tu vas pisser en lit. :eek:

[Loddfafner]

Eat the leaves when they are young before they even think about blooming. As for the flowers, you can make wine out of them and raise a glass for Ray Bradbury.

[Treffie]

However, you should be aware of their notable diuretic properties. They are not called pissenlit for nothing, because tu vas pisser en lit. :eek:

Funny that you should say that, but there's an old wives' tale that if you sniff a dandelion, you'll pee the bed in your sleep!

[Angantyr]

Funny that you should say that, but there's an old wives' tale that if you sniff a dandelion, you'll pee the bed in your sleep!

It is not only an old wives' tale. It is a known and very effective diuretic that our ancestors used in their arsenal of natural plant medicines. However, I doubt that sniffing it would be sufficient. It requires consumption. I am uncertain, but I believe that the diuretic properties are destroyed when the dandylions are fermented into wine.

I only mention this because I would not want Aemma to have a delightful salad only to have the experience ruined by her waking up in a puddle of her own urine. :(

[Tolleson]

I only mention this because I would not want Aemma to have a delightful salad only to have the experience ruined by her waking up in a puddle of her own urine. :(

Ya sure, be concerned only about Aemma. :mad:

:wavey001: Hello....I'm in the room too. :)

[Absinthe]

In Greece we eat a great variety of greens, boiled, and served with olive oil and lemon. It is delicious!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zSSwZZJWJeo/Scz9io7GwHI/AAAAAAAAAJs/99w1uzl4oTo/s400/xorta+030.jpga.jpg

Not sure if dandelion greens are among these varieties, though. :)

[lei.talk]

http://i30.tinypic.com/33kyf05.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion_coffee#Chemistry)
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[Ulf]

Every year my grandfather picks dandelions and eats them with hot bacon dressing.

http://recipes.prevention.com/Recipe/marias-pennsylvania-dutch-dandelion-salad-with-hot-bacon-dressing.aspx

[Birka]

Never ate them, but my mom used to make a very potent dandelion wine. Also it was very tasty.

[Skandi]

If they are "your" dandelions go out pull all the leaves off and cover the root with a flowerpot or bucket, the white leaves that grow in the dark are much less bitter and make very nice sandwiches with the addition of some Worcestershire sauce.

[Angantyr]

If they are "your" dandelions go out pull all the leaves off and cover the root with a flowerpot or bucket, the white leaves that grow in the dark are much less bitter and make very nice sandwiches with the addition of some Worcestershire sauce.

That is the same idea with white asparagus. But, do not pull out the leaves or cover all the leaves with a bucket. The dandelion will simply die. Simply, cover the innermost leaves and allow the outer leaves to continue photosynthesis...they will feed the entire plant even though the inner leaves lose their chlorophyll through non-use. (With asparagus, they gradually heap the earth up the sides of the plant as the plant grows. with only the tip showing.)

[Skandi]

That is the same idea with white asparagus. But, do not pull out the leaves or cover all the leaves with a bucket. The dandelion will simply die. Simply, cover the innermost leaves and allow the outer leaves to continue photosynthesis...they will feed the entire plant even though the inner leaves lose their chlorophyll through non-use. (With asparagus, they gradually heap the earth up the sides of the plant as the plant grows. with only the tip showing.)

I just let them die...well I tried but the darn things survive this for a long time!

[Angantyr]

I just let them die...well I tried but the darn things survive this for a long time!

See, it depends on your purpose. If you are trying to kill dandelions as weeds, then they will survive darkness. If you are trying to grow dandelions to consume them, they will surely die.

[larali]

I have seen them sold at the co-op but never tried them.

[Queen B]

Ι don't. But I use them as a nickname:p

[AussieScott]

I ate them as a kid, for something to do, like all bush tucker.

I use to cook up and eat the roots.

I liked sour grass to.

[morski]

I do. They fit perfectly in a green salad:)

[Daos]

It's supposedly good for the liver and bile so, around here, people roll the leaves up and swallow them - in order to avoid the bitter taste - or make tea out of them, but no one eats them as a salad. I did however make dandelion wine - it was quite appreciated by my friends.:)

[Aemma]

I ate them as a kid, for something to do, like all bush tucker.

I use to cook up and eat the roots.

I liked sour grass to.

As a kid, you ate them for something to do. Yikes! I hope you didn't have the same method with mushrooms growing wild in the forest or in the grass! :D

Sour grass? I have never heard of it! Is it native to where you live?

[Daos]

@Aemma: Dandelion wine isn't bitter because only the flowers are used, so there's barely any sap, and is as sweet as much as the quantity of honey/sugar you use - essential for fermentation.

[AussieScott]

As a kid, you ate them for something to do. Yikes! I hope you didn't have the same method with mushrooms growing wild in the forest or in the grass! :D

Sour grass? I have never heard of it! Is it native to where you live?



Oxalis pes-caprae

Oxalis pes-caprae (Bermuda buttercup, African wood-sorrel, Bermuda sorrel, Buttercup oxalis, Cape sorrel, English weed, Goat's-foot, Sourgrass, Soursob and Soursop; (Afrikaans: Suring) [1]) is a species of tristylous flowering plant in the wood sorrel family Oxalidaceae. Oxalis cernua is a less common synonym for this species.

The Oxalis pes-caprae flower is actinomorphic, with a calyx composed of five free or slightly fused sepals, a sympetalous corolla composed of five fused petals, an apoandrous androecium composed of ten free stamens in two ranks, and a compound pistil. Like most African Oxalis species, it produces adventitious subterranean propagules. These take the form of true bulbs in botanical terms, which is unusual among dicotyledons. In fact, Oxalis pes-caprae produces small bulbs copiously, whereas most other African species produce fewer, larger bulbs. New world Oxalis, such as Oxalis corniculata, apparently do not generally produce bulbs.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Oxalis-pes-caprae0016.jpg/220px-Oxalis-pes-caprae0016.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_pes-caprae

I think Sour grass was an introduced species to Australia, it grows great in Mediterranean and slightly colder climates. I use to eat the sour grass fresh, very tart, but I like that taste. Then if you cook it up with sugar it's just like stewed Rhubarb :thumb001::). The specie of sour grass I use to collect once it died from severe frost or just after the winter season, I would dig up and cook the bulbs, they taste just like potato.:) My Italian step father taught me that one.

Lots of police look out for these shroom hunters.:D:D:D I never did try many mushrooms as most are poisonous or psychedelic. :D:D:D

Beware shrooms growing in pine forests with ruminant manure. :thumb001::D:D:D

[Magister Eckhart]

I've had them; we used them in a Wilderness Survival workshop I took part in when I was in the Scouts. We tried them raw and boiled them; I wasn't terribly impressed either way, to be honest. The Black Birch tea we made came out much better.

[Albion]

Never tried them, too chicken but I've heard about the wine and eating them as a salad.

Some people also make a coffee substitute from dried, baked and finally, grinded roots of them.
The French have a few varieties that they grow for the salad leaves, but as of yet I don't think there's any grown for large roots.

I don't think they contain caffeine which is the main draw of coffee (caffeine addiction in 80% of the population), so I don't know whether something which merely tastes like coffee is any good.
I suppose if you mixed it with normal coffee you could make a cheap de-caf (de-caf still contains small amounts of caffeine) by adding more of the substitute to a small part real coffee.

Think about it though - if we cultivated dandelions as a crop and bred them for size - imagine those escaping from cultivation, dandelions the size of lettuces replacing the wee little weeds you once had with humongous ones. :eek:

It seems to be quite good for you though, maybe it's a shame it never caught on as a cultivated crop like lettuces or cabbages, probably because those were already in use.


The leaves are highly nutritious, containing large amounts of vitamin A, calcium, potassium, and many more vitamins and minerals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion_coffee

A recipe... (http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/dandelion-root-coffee-recipe)

Or you can buy it ready made and over priced... (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Symingtons-Dandelion-Coffee-Size-500g/dp/B003VU04AC)


Never tried any of this myself. I probably will sometime next year when the dandelions return.

[Scrapple]

I eat them occasionally, a local supermarket has them for sale during the summer. They are popular with Italian Americans and we have a large population here.

Cook them with a little olive oil and garlic and they are quite tasty.

But genetically I have about an 80% chance of not being able to taste certain bitter flavors so YRMV.

[Albion]

I tried hawthorn leaves the other day. Whoever said they tasted like lettuce is a lier, they tasted like ink and got spat back out pretty fast.

[Corraidh]

Yep! I love them. Harvest them early though. Later in Spring, they get really bitter.