Eat your weeds
Monday, April 28, 2008
Dandelions are popping up everywhere I look lately. They are the bane of my existence in the garden, mostly because they’re so hard to permanently get rid of. Maybe I shouldn’t try so hard and, instead, use the overabundance of weeds to my advantage. In terms of foraging, the dandelion is useful in a variety of ways - from the leaves to the blossoms.
The most common use of the dandelion are the greens. You’ll pay a small fortune for dandelion greens at the market - if you can even find them. They’re great in salads as a bitter green, or fantastic cooked down in a saute or soup or warm salad. Just walk out to your back yard or where ever dandelions are plentiful and pick the leaves off the plant!
I only recently discovered that you can eat the dandelion blossoms, as well! Try fried dandelion blossoms, dandelion jelly, or dandelion wine. You can even use dandelion root to make coffee.
Dandelions can even be used for home remedies - dandelion oil is used to treat rheumatism.
There’s treasure in those weeds you keep mowing over - be sure to pick those dandelion flowers and leaves before you mow next time!
Other dandelion recipes:
