# Eating dendelions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000 "2006-06-01T12:57:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/21 "2006-06-02T05:34:47Z")
I wouldn’t do it if I were you, unless you WANT to experience a sudden physical transformation into the very essence of your inner being. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/22 "2006-06-02T06:21:18Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I wouldn’t do it if I were you, unless you WANT to experience a sudden physical transformation into the very essence of your inner being. POOF! **Leaper** becomes a can of SPAM. Haven’t eaten them, personally; but I knew you could. I grabbed a book on edible wild plants of North America a few decades ago, and dandelions were prominently mentioned (not as prominently as cattails, but still). My brother bought me a bottle of Dandelion Wine from the Amanas about 25 years ago because I liked the Bradbury book: interesting, but not something I’d make a constant beverage out of. But, sure, they can be eaten. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/23 "2006-06-02T09:21:36Z")
I eat them regularly every spring. Fortunately, my local grocer sells them. It does seem kind of crazy to buy what grows wild, but then, a little extra is worth it to have enough on hand for a recipe. Not to mention that I don’t want to have to worry what sort of weed-killer or drunken-patrons-of-the-bar-next-door have left on the ones in my backyard. Also, the grocer version does taste less bitter. I treat them just like spinach or turnip greens. The do have a stronger flavor, so you might want to cut them 50/50 with something milder. They go into salads, soups, and stir-fries at my house. When cooking “just until wilting” is the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![Whifton\_Polekitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/97f17d/32.png) [@Whifton\_Polekitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whifton_Polekitty)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/24 "2006-06-02T09:36:31Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Just don’t snort them, or you may well find the walls covered with giant, fanged, Funky Winkerbeans. Milo! Milo! ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/25 "2006-06-02T13:35:39Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Consuming dandelions will make you wee a lot though; they contain diuretic compounds; that’s why one of their archaic common names is ‘piss-a-bed’ Interesting, they’re called pissenlits in French as well. Pissing in one’s bed after eating large dandelion salads must be some sort of shared cultural experience :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/26 "2006-06-02T13:52:47Z")
I think it’s just the case that the diuretic effect is quite a marked one. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/27 "2006-06-02T20:24:37Z")
Every Easter of my life, I’ve had dandelion salad. Past few years, I haven’t been able to make it to Gramma’s for the holidays, so I’ve made it myself. Usually, I’d harvest my own, but Montana springtimes aren’t always amenable to that, so the past two years, I’ve bought it (this also saves most of the cleaning, which is otherwise a real chore). If you’re going to eat them raw, then as mentioned, you want to get them before blooming, but this isn’t such a big deal if you’re cooking them (but why would you cook them?). To make the salad, I clean the leaves and chop them into bite-sized pieces, and add onion, hardboiled eggs, and diced boiled potatoes. I then fry up a bunch of bacon, and mix in with the grease apple cider vinegar and sugar for the dressing. Pour the still-hot dressing over the salad just before serving, and stir it all together. It’s not as good leftover, but still decent, if you zap it for 10-15 seconds in the microwave first. And I’ve never noticed the diuretic effect, but this is the first I’d heard of it, and I typically only eat dandelion once a year. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/28 "2006-06-09T05:55:39Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Every Easter of my life, I’ve had dandelion salad. Past few years, I haven’t been able to make it to Gramma’s for the holidays, so I’ve made it myself.\ To make the salad, I clean the leaves and chop them into bite-sized pieces, and add onion, hardboiled eggs, and diced boiled potatoes. I then fry up a bunch of bacon, and mix in with the grease apple cider vinegar and sugar for the dressing.\ [/QUOTE] Isn’t everything better with bacon and especially, bacon grease? This reminds me of many, many salads mom used to make, minus the boiled potatoes. I’m making some dandelion salad tonight, more or less following your recipe. Dandelion, onion, bacon, egg, vinegar… Yum. I’m going to cut it with some regular leaf lettuce & tomato & probably add lemon. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/29 "2006-06-09T06:51:53Z")
The other say I saw a big fat groundhog casually chomping off the heads. It was hilarious to see the yellow heads being systematically harvested. I wish I’d had a camera. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/30 "2006-06-09T08:50:34Z")
Oh, I remember dandelions from my childhood! This was the period when money was tight and my mother was going through her earth-mother phase. We had dandelion soup (I think it was made like watercress soup), salads and she also made wine- like everyone else, it was my sisters and I who did all the picking. I always liked dandelions better than nettles, which was mum’s other “eating weeds to economise” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/31 "2006-06-09T08:53:39Z")
Traditionally, “mole salad” is a delicacy. Dandelions in a meadow can be easily covered with earth from a mole-heap. The lack of light makes the leaves white, and apparently that removes the bitterness. It’s the same idea as with [Chicory witloof, aka Belgian endive, really.]([Witloof Chicory: A New Vegetable Crop in the United States](http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/v1-414.html#Fig). 1). Same botanical family, also grown in the dark to prevent a bitter taste. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/32 "2006-06-09T13:15:28Z")
I’ve always felt that the dandelion flower ( in poof form and yellow form) are some of the most visiually appealing flowers to gaze upon. Even the word is just so…nice. Every part of the dandelion is edible but the stem. One of these years I am going to make dandelion wine. I’ve had the supplies since about 1997… ---
**Author:** ![BlackHeart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c77e96/32.png) [@BlackHeart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackHeart)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/33 "2006-06-09T15:50:21Z")
I wouldn’t pick em off my lawn anywhere in the city. I buy them bagged and toss em in a salad. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000/34 "2006-06-10T01:28:10Z")
Thought I’d add in what info I’ve got (in the spirit of fair use): From _A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America_ by Lee Allen Peterson (son of the famous Roger Tory Peterson), Copyright 1977 and published by Houghton Mifflen Company, Boston: (Excluding description of the plant, which we all presumably know) > [@](#): > > **Use:** salad, cooked green, cooked vegetable, fritters, coffee. The _young leaves_, gathered before the flowers appear, can be added to salads or boiled for 5-10 min. Although the entire leaf can be used, the blanched part just below soil level is best. Gathered when they are still tucked down in the rosette of leaves, the young _flowebuds_ can either be boiled for several minutes and served with butter, or pickled. The _flowers_ are excellent dipped in batter and fried. To make a delicious coffeelike beverage, bake the _roots_ in a slow oven until brown and brittle, grind, and perk like commercial coffee. Leaves rich in vitamin A. No directions on wine in this book. The explanation is given thusly on page 312 of my copy: > [@Peterson](#): > > Although many edible wild plants can be made into wine or beer, I have omitted these uses from the discussions in the visual and descriptive text. This is not because of any strong bias on my part, but simply because wine and beer making is much too complex a subject to be treated adequately in the space available. A hasty treatment would only increase the likelihood of unsatisfactory results… He goes on to give references for adequate information, as well as what permits you need and where to get them. And I agree with **Shirley.** If I had a lawn, I’d want it FULL of dandelions. My neighbors would hate me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-dendelions/359000.md?page=1)