in praise of the dandelion

Well, I'm quite impressed with my dandelion syrup.  The recipe was entitled 'vegan dandelion honey' but it didn't taste like honey at all to me.  I thought it was just as nice as elderflower cordial, and am hoping to make some more whilst the flowers are plentiful.  I'm thinking of putting some flowers in a lemon drizzle cake recipe and topping with the syrup.

In dandelion territory, I bet there isn't even one kid that hasn't blown the fluff off dandelions or presented their mother or other female caregiver with bouquets of them.

We were outside a lot as kids and we used to pretend to be nomad pioneers, "building" our homes using piles of leaves or sticks for the outlines of the imaginary walls. After the walls, the very next thing we did was make a cookstove out of whatever was lying around, cause ya gotta eat, right?  Guess what our "meals" usually consisted of? Yep, dandelions. We would carefully pull the yellow petals and separate them from the greens. Sometimes we included violets and even grass. We didn't know that those actually were edible back then lol! I remember the milky white juice that was in the stems stained hands for a long time, but we still played with them, enjoying the looks of a curled stem. Poor dandelions lol!

Back then and even now, they are considered pests (and sometimes the kids are too lol) and people fight them feverishly. It's considered somewhat shameful if your yard has an overabundance of them. Consider us shameful because we have a lot of them,

Some of the variation in flowers picked yesterday to make syrup.  Flower size and petal quantity varied widely.  Not sure how much the height of the flowers is due to location (not being trodden on) and how much to inherited traits.  Taller stems make them easier to pick.
I'm thinking that humans in the 'western world' must have been selecting for low growing plants that escape the lawnmower for the last hundred yeads,  the opposite of what you want from a food plant.  Anyone interested in dandelion seed from bigger flowered plants?  Perhaps I should start a breeding line 😀

Nancy, to make the syrup do you boil the flowers and then add enough sugar to get to a syrup consistency?  You've got me very interested in trying to make some!

Hi Greg, no boiling involved (except to make my water safe)
The recipe I used first was from the Homefarmer magazine (June 2017):
Put 2 big handfuls of dandelion flowers in medium bowl (no green bits) add 1 rounded teaspoon citric acid or juice of a lemon (this alters the flavour) cover with water (mine had just been boiled so was hot, but this is not specified in the original recipe). Cover and leave over night to infuse.  Strain into a second pan.  For each 100ml of liquid add 100g of white sugar (or 1 lb per 20 floz?) Bring to boil stirring to dissolve sugar, once dissolved pour jnto warm sterilised bottles and seal.  They say if you pasteurise the syrup it will last unopened for over a year, else it keeps a few weeks in the 'fridge.
I tried a variation of the recipe the second time following the method I use for elderflower cordial.  I have read that tartaric acid helps extract from plant cells, so tried with tartaric acid and adding the sugar before infusing overnight.  The theory being that the sugar will dissolve overnight so less boiling is required.  It worked pretty well, but I prefer the flavour with the citric acid.

I made cake with the sugar soaked petals from the second batch of syrup.  This turned out pretty well for a first attempt.  I used a variation on a pear cake recipe (which also works pretty well with grated Yacon):
Put 6 tbsp dandelion syrup, 3 eggs, 6 Oz melted butter and the sugar infused dandelion petals (I had about 10--12 Oz, but it probably dosen't matter) in one bowl and mix well. Sift 8 Oz SR flour (or plain flour plus baking powder to suit) into another larger bowl with 4 Oz caster sugar and mix .  Add liquid to flour and stir till smooth.  Pour into lined 2 lb loaf tin. Bake at 'top end of hot' (probably 180deg C) for about 1 1/2 hours.
I would describe the cake as 'substantial'.  You could probably reduce the sugar a little further, and then pour over some fresh dandelion petals and dandelion syrup when still warm a la lemin drizzle cake.

Thank you Nancy!  :)
Will try soon.

I tasted some leaves from one of my dandelions today and they were not bitter.

I've nibbled them a few times previously and really couldn't see them passing the husband test ("shall we eat that again?") This time however they are mild enough that I really think I might get away with it! I guess the cool temperatures and short dark days of midwinter have in effect blanched the plant.

Midwinter-tasty-dandelion

This is one of the plants that had really large flowers, but the leaves have always been as bitter as any I've tried before, but today they were quite OK.

Nancy Reading wrote:I tasted some leaves from one of my dandelions today and they were not bitter.  I've nibbled them a few times previously and really couldn't see them passing the husband test ("shall we eat that again?")  This time however they are mild enough that I really think I might get away with it!  I guess the cool temperatures and short dark days of midwinter have in effect blanched the plant.

Very true.  I've experienced this before with both dandelion and with mustard greens, which I once seeded in my meadow for soil improvement, and now self-seed every season in wide swatches.  So long as they grow during the cold weather, they stay much milder than you'd expect.

I've been wanting to collect dandelion seeds to propagate into my natural farming area to break up the compaction. The flowers are in full spate, but the goldfinches are getting to the seedheads, breaking them open and eating them whilst they are still green...I couldn't get a picture of the birds, they're too quick!

Nancy Reading wrote:I've been wanting to collect dandelion seeds to propagate into my natural farming area to break up the compaction. The flowers are in full spate, but the goldfinches are getting to the seedheads, breaking them open and eating them whilst they are still green...I couldn't get a picture of the birds, they're too quick!

You can buy dandelion seeds at a dozen different internet sites.

When I 1st bought my house 2 decades ago I was so happy that 1 st spring to see dandelions blooming, my yard has enough sun for dandelions! It's a typical pnw yard filled mostly with Douglas fir and a couple ceder and hemlock so having dandelions grow in the deep forest shade is great!

I saw this today, and couldn't help but post it in this thread!

Dandelion defined: Dandelion is an edible plant that divides neighborhoods in ways politics can only dream of. Its long tap root is roastable into a drink resembling decaf coffee.  It's greens are not prized for flavor, but can be snuck into many dishes without "normal" people even noticing. In fact, trendy restaurants will sometimes add them to their salad mix. This is too bold for me. I prefer it snuck into pesto. Nutritional yeast seems to counter the immediate sense you have turned into a lawn mower while consuming those greens. Considering this, the average person's need or use for dandelion at about 10 plants a year. The problem is dandelion proliferates unchecked better than house mice. The work created by managing them is more than their yellow button-like flowers are beautiful, thus leading to some humans cringing at all yellow flowers. Of course, the flowers only open in the sun,  perhaps that's dandelion's revenge: you pick me I get ugly. (From my FB and Instagram feed)

If you have more dandelions than you can consume, pluck the plants and roots and let them leek the nutrients they accumulate from their deep root into plants you need more of. Always leave one dandelion (the best tasting) to reseed your supply. Here their biggest breeding period is spring, so as long as you pluck extras fully once a year (fall is a good time for roots and early spring for leaves) management is not horrendous.  In gardening,  timing is everything.

Check out "What's Cooking?" In the Cooking forum for dandelion recipes.

Dandelions are one of bees' best early sources of food in that part of the season. If I had more than I needed, I would cede the surplus to the hardest-working among us, the pollinators.

I heard that some people pick the fresh young blossoms to boil, strain, and reduce to a syrup that can easily be mistaken for really light honey.

But I would leave them for the bees, and seed them wherever I had extra bare space.

-CK

Our chooks love them, so we encourage our dandelions to proliferate.

Dandelion wine.

One year I did my winter traveling a bit later than usual, came back to a garden full of early dandelions. Pulled them up and made a farmhouse beer that was bittered with dandelion roots/crowns instead of hops, and used hoegarden spices. That beer was AMAZING.

Functionally,for me. they are better than grass, and that is enough for me to leave them be.

My son loves eating the flowers, and I like the leaves in tea. It's great for getting rid of the occasional zit I get, and it's packed full of nutrition. I encourage them as much as I can. In fact, I'm not mowing most of my lawn until they go to seed. The ducks love eating the seeds, and chopped up dandelion (though their bills can't cut the leaves like a chicken can). All in all I love my dandelions, and have to keep my son from eating the first dandelion flowers so the bees have food, too!

I don't just leave them, I spread them. We have hardpan clay, and I have tried many different tillers, but the dandelions (and their relative chicory) are AWESOME. In the yard I use them as mineral recyclers, they clearly bring up minerals from strata deeper than grass (my bluegrass will get down, but it takes a long time) and I also appreciate the early flowers for our mason bees. Generally I look at the "weeds" and try to figure out why they are preferred in that niche? If I can answer that, I can choose to let them maintain the niche or replace them with a similar niche plant (as I am doing with chicory replacing the dandelions in more fertile areas, simply by allowing higher growth the dandelions can't attain). I don't eat them, but lots of other stuff does, so I like them! Eventually they promote clover and grasses, which get thick. They seem to be a critical part of the procession from bare soil to grass, and eventually to frontier forest.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Our chooks love them, so we encourage our dandelions to proliferate.

Ours too, so much that we have none left in the lawn!  Only in the vegetable patch where the chickens aren't allowed.  I'm not bothered if the root doesn't come up when I pull one out for them--it means they'll get ito eat it again in a few more weeks.

Tj Jefferson wrote:I don't just leave them, I spread them. We have hardpan clay, and I have tried many different tillers, but the dandelions (and their relative chicory) are AWESOME. In the yard I use them as mineral recyclers, they clearly bring up minerals from strata deeper than grass (my bluegrass will get down, but it takes a long time) and I also appreciate the early flowers for our mason bees. Generally I look at the "weeds" and try to figure out why they are preferred in that niche? If I can answer that, I can choose to let them maintain the niche or replace them with a similar niche plant (as I am doing with chicory replacing the dandelions in more fertile areas, simply by allowing higher growth the dandelions can't attain). I don't eat them, but lots of other stuff does, so I like them! Eventually they promote clover and grasses, which get thick. They seem to be a critical part of the procession from bare soil to grass, and eventually to frontier forest.

I didn't realize that.  I have chicory everywhere on my new property.

I have been so relieved to see the dandelions come back to this property. The previous owners must've sprayed the hell out of them.

The comeback was seriously slowed by our 2 dogs and 8 chickens who all think the flowers are great.

I have the hardest time spreading the volunteer  "weeds" in my yard.
Plantain,  Creeping Charlie, Dandelion, are all welcome and encouraged, but I can't seem to successfully transplant,  split  or seed them.
So I have settled for preferential weeding.
Grass gets pulled/hacked back to make room for any/everything else, and slowly but surely my lovely "weeds" take over.

paul wheaton wrote:I've been out of town for a while.

During my travels, I had the opportunity to drive into some really beautiful country.  Looking for morels and a little wildcrafting ... 

We drove by a field packed with dandelions and somebody commented that that was far too many dandelions - somebody should do something.

I dunno. 

As time passes I find that I like the dandelion more and more.  I like to blow on the puff balls.  I like the look of the flower.  I like a few of the tender, young greens in my salad.   From a permaculture perspective it seems like a first class plant:  deep tap root, quick to establish and provide cover, fantastic animal feed ...  I suspect that it is a fantastic guild plant for nearly all trees.   

I wonder if a fruit tree would be happier with a bunch of dandelions under it than a bunch of grass. 

So ... back to the drive ...  I didn't say anything.  But, I thought, what if some critters were in there?  Cows or pigs or chickens ....  I bet they would gobble up the dandelions first.  And the dandelions would probably be super good for them.  And then there would be hardly any dandelions.  And you could encourage children to collect the dandelion puff balls that they do find and blow them on the pastures so there could be more dandelions .... 

Just some odd thoughts ...

100%!!!
Heartily agree with ALL. Best plant ever for so many reasons! Beautiful, delicious, medicinal, fun, hardy, functional, enjoy shade, great forage and early forage, etc etc.

And my sheep absolutely, have ALWAYS eaten dandelions and all relatives thereof FIRST, out of all other plants present, when entering a new grazing area. Salsify blossoms second. Tree and shrub leaves 3rd. Every single time 👍

How are you people pulling up dandelion roots, or otherwise harvesting them.  

This is something I have never been able to achieve.

And will the same methods work for chicory and other taprooted plants?

Thank you 😊

Thekla McDaniels wrote:How are you people pulling up dandelion roots, or otherwise harvesting them.  

My mother had a tool especially for pulling dandelions, it was sort of like a "goat foot", a blade with a V-shape in the middle where you could push it into the root and angle it upward to pull the root out. I've used a hand trowel with a notch cut into it specifically for this purpose. Otherwise, I wait for rain to soften the ground and start digging!

I wonder if a fruit tree would be happier with a bunch of dandelions under it than a bunch of grass.  

Probably and when partially shaded they make larger less bitter leaves. So if they come up in the mulch around a tree I let them grow.

Hans Quistorff wrote:

I wonder if a fruit tree would be happier with a bunch of dandelions under it than a bunch of grass.  

Probably and when partially shaded they make larger less bitter leaves. So if they come up in the mulch around a tree I let them grow.

Does it have to be either or?

Seems like grass and dandelions together would be fine, and some comfrey, and some legumes alfalfa has very deep roots, white clover stays low…..  

Thekla McDaniels wrote:How are you people pulling up dandelion roots, or otherwise harvesting them.  

This is something I have never been able to achieve.

And will the same methods work for chicory and other taprooted plants?

Thank you 😊

IF I pull up roots, it’s in the winter, which is wet here and cool. Summers are too warm for good roots and leaves.
So, in wet soil, it’s easy to get one of those Korean long pointy hand ‘hoes’ right next to the plant and get it down, then pull up without breaking the root - mostly.
I try not to pull roots though because I want them to multiply and grow more here. Everyone eats them! We pick greens and flowers.
Chicories too! Longer roots on them.
I will grow dandelions in crop beds in the next few years.