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.
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.
Milo! Milo!
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:
I think it’s just the case that the diuretic effect is quite a marked one.
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.
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.
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’.
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.
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.](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.
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…
I wouldn’t pick em off my lawn anywhere in the city. I buy them bagged and toss em in a salad.
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)
No directions on wine in this book. The explanation is given thusly on page 312 of my copy:
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.