I started a diet and was researching different kinds of tea etc. and found that Dandelion stems are edible raw or cooked. The roots can be used to make tea or "coffee". The flowers can be used to make wine, which I knew.

From what I've read, they are pretty healthy overall so I found some Roasted Dandelion root tea I've been drinking for the last couple days. It's actually pretty tasty.

Anybody else ever tried dandelion for health benefits? Any reason NOT to consume it?

Early spring, the leaves with hot bacon dressing.
Or, I guess in a salad.

F' the salad, I want the bacon dressing.


No, it is not healthy.

It's a powerful laxative, like Kale. Don't ask me how I found out.

Are you saying I should watch my ass? lol

Flavor profile: Greens with a hint of 8-8-8 and dog whiz.

Have tried them a few times, never made habit out of it. Note, eating vegis takes effort for me.

For wild growing spring greens I prefer fiddle head ferns, especially lightly battered and fried

Purslane as well.

If this thread would have been up last night instead of that brisket when I was fasting------------

haha

Just found this on the innerwebs:

Fried dandelion flowers taste similar to morel mushrooms. They’re very tasty!

Ingredients:

dandelion blossoms with green base and stems removed (leave enough of the base on to hold the flower together)
1 cup milk
salt
1 egg
1 cup flour
vegetable oil

Directions:

Soak the dandelion flowers in a bowl of cool salt water to remove any bugs or debris. After they’ve soaked for around 1/2 hour, take them out of the water and gently blot the excess moisture away.
Heat enough oil to fry the dandelions you have.
While the oil is heating, make a batter using the milk, salt, egg and flour. Dip each flower into the batter, and toss it into the oil once it’s popping hot. Fry until they’re lightly browned.
Use a paper towel to gently blot away excess grease, and serve immediately. Yum!

i'll try some this spring.

Nothing that a little Milwaukee's Best Light won't wash down!

Mine get a squirt of 2-4-D.

Mine get a squirt of 2-4-D.

Not a problem.

In fact, if you have access to a gross of Hutterite kids, they will pick you a bunch and make wine out of them.


Dandelion wine aint bad.

cicoria aka dandelion my grandmother would cook it, she would stop on the sides of the highway to pick it in the spring

I have enough in my yard to feed an army each spring before I hit them with weed killer. Hate them. Never once thought about eating the damn things! haha

At one point I thought I could control those weeds by paying my little kids a penny per flower. It's a good job for them, they learn to count, I get rid of weeds. Win/win, right?

My daughter fell on that job with glad cries. She would collect grocery bags full every day and tell me how many. She got so proficient, I about went broke!

2-4-D became the solution.

i don't because my yard has chemicals with federalizer. I use.

Well, it probably would be a flavor match for the dog whiz.

I must be the only poor hillbilly Pa Dutchman that eats yard weeds.
I don't eat the ones from my yard, Dillonbuck is my boxer, and he waters my yard often.


There is a spring plant that grows in real clean, cold mountain cricks. It is good to eat in April, it looks a little like a green leaf lettuce. Locals call it deer tongue, or endive. We eat it with the hot bacon dressing akso.


I also like poke weed. We don't do the cooked greens thing, instead, we pick it about a foot tall, strip the leaves and cook the stems. Two or three cycles changing the water ever time to get rid of the toxins. Great with a cheese sauce. Eating a lot of it will give you the splatters

I've eaten dandelion greens. Boiled with butter and salt. Tastes alot like spinach that way to me.

I can see the similarity to spinach.

not quite the same as dandelion greens, but we have picked early season wild lettuce, salt & pepper, pour hot grease over it to wilt it, and added chopped onions and tops.

made a good early spring salad.

iin some of the seed catalogs there are varieties of tame dandelions to grow in the garden.

Try a Pa. Dutch (German) sweet/sour hot bacon dressing sometime.

If you don't have a set receipe, the secret is enough vinegar and sugar to make the flavor profile.
If not all you taste is the roux, greasy flour.

Maybe a dumb question but if I have sprayed in the past to kill these ugly ass weeds, would it be foolish to attempt to eat the new ones that come up?

They grow everywhere. Try to find someone rural that doesn’t spray or have a canine nitrogen dispenser.
They won't mind you cutting the dandelions out of their yard.
You are looking to get them in early spring, when they are 8" or so across. They get tough and bitter after awhile.

LOL this is the dumbest damn subject and I'm not even sure why I posed the question but I sure appreciate all the replies! hahaha

I remember as a young boy we picked dandelion greens to eat when we didn't have any spinach. I was told to only pick the small young leaves which would be tender.

We don't use anything on the grass in our yard, so we have dandelions.
The flowers (when they are young) are pretty OK if you batter them like an onion ring and deep fry them. We also use the young greens in a salad.

In answer to your question...............yes. No spray around our place, well, perhaps "limited" focused spray if I see any puncture vine, but that usually isn't growing where the dandy lions are.

458 mentioned fiddleheads. Yum.
dillonbuck mentioned a couple of others. Betting he's tried ramps too (those WILL clean you out!)
Someone mentioned the wild lettuce, I've eaten a couple of varieties. Get them young or they're virtually inedible.
Haven't seen mention of young nettles. Once cooked they are pretty good spring greens.

Various places I've lived have loads of wild mustards. I love those

Stuff is just starting to grow up here, gonna hafta go look for some greens soon.

Thanks for the reminder.

Geno

Don't forget the Wildwood weed. Just Google it if you don't remember.

yes, we always did wild mustard when young and just putting out.

creasy greens (creases) have been a staple for many years.

they're found naturalized & wild in the country side.

spicy, with tons of vitamin A in their leaves.

young wild lettuce is the best.

[u][/u]Ramps! You haven't experienced bad breath untill you eat ramps.

Ramp sammies,
Heavily buttered bread, ramps. Enjoy!