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Dandelion Root Recipes
- themanmaran 3y agoMain takeaway is apparently I've never really pulled up a dandelion root. Never expected them to have that giant potato on the end!
- koolba 3y agoIf you yank them too fast or the soil is too dry, you’ll only get the stem. To get the root out you need to do it the day after a good rain and use a dedicated tool to get leverage beneath the surface.
- freedomben 3y agoYep, the roots are remarkably good at staying in the ground. In the western (desert climate) US you pretty much have to carry a watering can if you want to harvest the roots. It takes minutes for the soil to moisturize and loosen up enough to get those roots out
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoKeep in mind you damage the soil when you dig up wet soil. Best to leave room between ones you want to dig up and try to disturb as little as possible.
- carapace 3y agoYears and years ago, before the Internet, I saw a lady being interviewed on some gardening show who had been gardening organically for a billion years or something. At one point she sticks her arm into her garden bed up to the shoulder, and casually says something like, "you should be fluffy and lose a yard deep"... This was rich dark lovely soil with all kinds of plants booming up out of it, and she can reach into it w/o digging arm-deep. Something to think about, eh?
- carapace 3y agos/lose/loose/
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoSure, loam is a great thing to shoot for, but most people have a hard time making really good soil. It's much harder than just growing an average plant in less ideal soil
- carapace 3y ago> most people have a hard time making really good soil Isn't it strange? I mean, that's literally what life does: make really good soil, eh?
- nonethewiser 3y agoSome part of me made me interested more in dandelions as I saw them sprout up in my neighborhood this spring. I found this video on their history interesting. Dandelions and Civilization: A Forgotten History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyePMeGE3CI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyePMeGE3CI In particular, I did not realize that they were brought over by settlers. Likely on purpose as a food source/herb then spread with western expansion. Another thing I remember is that he says there are accounts in China of roots getting much longer. 10+ feet IIRC, compared to 2 claimed in this article. Although that's a bit hard to believe. I guess it is used in traditional Chinese medicine. Of course now they are just seen as a weed. I guess I have mixed feelings The yellow flowers themselves dont put me off but seeing large patches of them after going to seed dont look good. Unlike many here probably, I do like a pristine lawn but even still I don't think the flowers themselves are a pure eyesore.
- Alex3917 3y agoMost lawn weeds were brought here as food. One obvious exception is buttercups, which are poisonous.
- voisin 3y ago> but seeing large patches of them after going to seed dont look good This seems like the primary metric we as a society use for assessing plants as weed or desirable. I wonder if it is the right metric or whether we should start with the environmental impact (and what metrics would make this assessment, like impact to pollinators, etc).
- nonethewiser 3y agoYeah weeds are just plants that most people tend to not want but tend to thrive.
- pueblito 3y ago“The cinnamon can be eaten, and so it gets cut down; the lacquer tree can be used, and so it gets hacked apart. All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless!” — ZhuangzI
- zikzak 3y agoMy father grew up fairly poor in the 1930s and they often were short on food but he said they always had vegetables. They harvested dandelions, ate them, and actually made dandelion wine (according to him). He and his siblings loved vegetables as during certain times of the year they were the one thing they had "too much of". Everything else was basically rationed but they would get various peak harvests where they could eat until they were full.
- beezlebroxxxxxx 3y agoDandelion wine is delicious and not that hard to make. You just have to make sure you're harvesting dandelions that haven't been sprayed with a chemical. The final taste is mild but like a light mead and honey-ish.
- jrgoff 3y agoDo you have a recipe that you prefer? I have seen a bunch of different recipes and have made it a few times with different ones. While I would agree that it isn't difficult to make, it has been pretty labor intensive when I have done it, so one of the big trade-offs for my recipe choice has been how much dandelion to use and have been curious about the tradeoffs there, though not curious enough to do any real experimenting.
- rwmj 3y agoI didn't make this dandelion mead, but I did follow some of his other wine and mead recipes and they were good. You need a lot of dandelions by the looks of it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-C9uJ90eLc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-C9uJ90eLc
- rwmj 3y agoDandelion flowers tempura is one thing we make quite a bit. It's basically free food (since the batter costs next to nothing).
- bearmode 3y agoDandelion & Burdock is still a popular soft drink in the UK as well.
- 4878241143 3y agoI would not describe it as popular these days
- neom 3y agoDandelion & Burdock is SO SO damn good, I always wondered why it didn't spread to the rest of the world, it was my fav soda growing up. Weird because Americans and Canadians really like Root Beer but not Dandelion & Burdock.
- YurgenJurgensen 3y agoThis can be answered in two words: 'Coca' and 'Cola'. There probably isn't room for multiple successful botanical sodas.
- dylan604 3y agoI've never even heard of Dandelion & Burdock, but am quite familiar with Root Beer/sarsaparilla. Since you mentioned them together, are there similarities to the taste?
- neom 3y agoSimilar but I'd say Dandelion & Burdock is better than Root Beer (as a RB lover).
- dylan604 3y agoAny suggestions on where to find this concoction on this side of the pond? Fentiman's seems to a brand that pops up in searches, but only seeing ridiculous prices like $28 for a 275ml (whatever that is ;-) bottle. No wonder it's not as well known.
- vrglvrglvrgl 3y ago[dead]
- omnibrain 3y agoFor some reason our kindergarten teachers (in germany) told us that the plant is poisonous. That taught me very early to question authority figures like teachers, because the same day when I came home from kindergarten I found my grandfather sitting on his yard bench eating dandelion leaves. Thinking about, they might have told us it is poisonous to keep us from playing with them, because the sap colours skin and clothes brown with hard to remove stains.
- rwmj 3y agoMaybe they were confusing them with buttercups (rununculus) which are poisonous.
- omnibrain 3y agoThat would be funny, because on other occasion I remember collecting huge bouquets of "Hahnenfuß" (we called them "Butterblume") on walks with the kindergarten group. :)
- pwndByDeath 3y agoThey might have sprayed them, making the poisonous
- freedomben 3y agoI had a similar experience with the anti-drug propaganda as a student. In the US there is (was?) an anti-drug program called DARE that as students in the 80s and 90s we were routinely subjected to. It was basically anti-drug propaganda. They went over all sorts of downsides/side effects of drugs (which are EVIL) including marijuana. The most terrifying "side effect" to most of us boys was the shrinking of your penis (yes seriously this was taught). Once I learned the reality around "drugs" it was a startling lesson to me that you need to question authority figures, even though this at times can infuriate them. Now with teenagers of my own, hearing some of the things their teachers teach them as "fact" can be depressing, especially when it's tech-related and it's clear that the teacher has absolutely no idea what they're talking about.
- galleywest200 3y agoDandelions will make you have to urinate, just a head up. This is why the French word for the plant is "pissenlit" or "piss the bed". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pissenlit https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pissenlit
- Tade0 3y agoWeeds with such an impressive root system need a different approach than just mowing, but many are unaware of this. My city's landscaping services are fighting a losing battle with a local patch of Asian knotweed. Mowing it down doesn't do much because it just grows back and spreads.
- foobarian 3y agoI had some Japanese knotweed attempt to mess with my yard. Luckily even the knotweed is not exempt from laws of physics so after keeping it cut down for a while it gave up. It can be a problem if you can't prevent it from setting up foliage. At least it's somewhat edible, and the dry stalks have airtight sections that explode if lit - kids love it.
- TheAceOfHearts 3y agoIt's also possible to make dandelion flower tea, if you have a bunch of these plants around maybe it's worth trying it out on the weekend. It seems a bit lower effort than digging up the whole root.
- cubefox 3y agoThat's interesting, since Dandelions are wild plants. Basically every vegetable or fruit we eat today (carrots would be pretty close I guess) are cultivated. Usually they hardly resemble their wild ancestor. I'm surprised Dandelions didn't get cultivated to have much larger roots.
- hosh 3y agoA hundred years ago, gardeners cultivated dandelions in their garden bed: https://williamrubel.com/2015/04/23/the-history-of-the-garden-dandelion/ https://williamrubel.com/2015/04/23/the-history-of-the-garde... Basil is a cultivated herb that often breaks out of containment and goes wild. Sometimes, people will redomesticate those because the ones that survive the local conditions are well-adapted to the climate.
- cubefox 3y agoThat's interesting, but it's not clear whether there is any cultivated dandelion species that is substantially different from the wild dandelion.
- hosh 3y agoYou might not have to deliberately breed it in any particular way since wild dandelions are already yields something useful for humans.
- cubefox 3y agoYeah but if they'd been bred they would be much more useful. Compare wild carrots to domesticated carrots: https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/wild-carrot-root-daucus-carota-bird-s-nest-bishop-s-lace-queen-anne-s-lace-daucus-carota/RDC-355648 https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/wild-carro...
- tintedfireglass 3y ago
- mcdonje 3y agoDandelion root coffee is good enough that I buy it on a regular basis. I'm very much into real coffee and I make espresso at home, but I like dandelion root coffee in the evening when I don't want more caffeine. It doesn't taste like coffee, but it tastes good, and it's close enough in flavor to scratch the itch. Much better than carob or chicory. (Although chicory mixed in with coffee à la Café du Monde is great.)
- slazien 3y agoFor anyone interested in incorporating wild plants into their cuisine (including foraging, preparation, storage, recipes, etc.), I cannot recommend Samuel Thayer's books highly enough: https://www.foragersharvest.com/sams-books.html https://www.foragersharvest.com/sams-books.html At this point, he is an authority in the foraging community, and his books are well-written. Got all of them in my bookshelf.
- tspike 3y agoDandelions are an incredible gift from nature. What other plant is completely edible, self propagates with no intervention, brings up nutrients from deep in the soil for other plants, blooms beautiful flowers year round and provides endless entertainment for children? The number of intractable societal problems that would suddenly become non-issues if the average household engaged in basic permaculture boggles the mind. It’s hard to think of a more apt metaphor for our ills than the fact that we actively apply cancer-causing poison to kill them as a matter of course.
- ed25519FUUU 3y agoThe invention of broadleaf herbicides like 2,4-d (herbicides that kill broadleaf “weeds” but not grass) has been disastrous. Now it’s expected you regularly spray chemicals on your lawn. Sometimes your neighbor can even use county, state, and city laws to compel you to do it.
- philips 3y agoYeah it is a huge issue. Oregon last year stopped enabling HOAs to force homeowners to spray herbicide or insecticide on their properties. HB2409 2021 https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_94.763 https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_94.763
- emptyfile 3y agoPeople spray herbicides around their lawn in America? Around their place of living? Bizarre.
- salad-tycoon 3y agoIn America, we demand the finest green laws that money and better living through chemistry can provide. A persons lawn is indicative of their status in society and how high functioning they are. Perfect flush and lush green is sought after, many big YouTube channels only discuss how to achieve a better lawn than the jerks down the street. Bonus points for symmetrical patterns mowed into the lawn. So it’s a status symbol. Lots of people do deleterious things to achieve status. I don’t think it’s “weird” but rather maybe a bit dumb Do you eat non organic cereals of basically any kind? Those are loaded with it too.
- meristohm 3y agoHad some dandelion leaves in salad yesterday. I have added the roots to a batch of fermented cabbage (etc- at times it's more like kimchi, especially if I add fish sauce and peppers, other times sauerkraut).
- dh-g 3y agoDandelion fritters and pancakes are also excellent and b/c they use the the flower heads / leaves they are easy to forage for.
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoI made a dandelion petal gin and a whole dandelion tincture last week, and both were a big hit at a cocktail party. I also sprinkle the petals and greens on my salads for a boost of nutrition, flavor and color. My favorite cocktail with the gin/tincture is a Bees' Knees but substituting lime and agave for the lemon and honey. I call it a Dandy Lion!
- bodhi_mind 3y agoI made a dandelion mead about 6 weeks ago. It’s sitting in secondary right now and I’ll let it age for about a year I think.
- dghughes 3y agoI've been pulling dandelions from my yard so maybe I am sensitized to any news but lately I've seen a lot of stories on them: Europeans brought them over to the New World they were a common food source and used for medicine. Dandelion comes from Lion's Tooth in French due to the look do the fine pointed flower leaves. They are seen as a nuisance now since lawns were once only for the very rich. You had land you needed to grow all your food on it. A local biologist said "no mow May" is nonsense bees should be using wildflowers not dandelions. To bees dandelions are like junk food the pollen is poor quality. Dandelions do not need to pollinate seeds are ready to go that's why they are so numerous. All parts of a dandelion edible young leaves taste good but old are bitter, such is life.
- solarist 3y agoOh they are also called Löwenzahn in German. The name "dent de lion" made the penny drop for me.
- dagejo 3y agoyet in french we call it 'pissenlit' which means 'pissing the bed', supposedly because it has diuretics properties... I'd prefer the name 'dent-de-lion'
- EForEndeavour 3y agoI've always found the French word for dandelion unreasonably amusing. I'm imagining walking in a garden or nature path pointing out plants to a child: What pretty crocuses! And there are some beautiful tulips. Here we have some bed-pissers. What a lovely rose bush! Oh, look out for that patch of pants-shitters. Etc.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dcanelhas 3y agoN.b. the 350 degrees in the recipe is fahrenheit. (≈177°C).
- ngvrnd 3y agoEverything is edible; many things only once.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago> Everything is edible; many things only once. That's... literally, by definition, not true. Edible specifically means, per https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/edible https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/edible , "something that is suitable or safe to eat". If you could only eat it once, it wasn't edible. (Also, what's even your point? Dandelions are actually edible.)
- Borrible 3y agoDandelions. I hate them, ugly and naughty. If you do not pay attention, they grow over your head. I rot them out, boil them alive into a soup, along with the goutweed, nettles, parsley and chives. Now and then I also mix this ineradicable brood into a pesto. And eat it. Never show weakness to weeds.
- m3kw9 3y agoWeed recipe
- pwpw 3y agoΧόρτα[0] is a common dish in Greece. I recommend giving it a try with dandelion. My great-grandmother used to stop alongside the country road with a little sickle and cut various greens for cooking down later. [0] https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/11/05/greek-leafy-greens-good-xorta/ https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/11/05/greek-leafy-greens-goo...
- nerpderp82 3y agoThe most interesting thing I discovered about Dandelion roots is that earth worms appear to nurse off them. Whenever I dig up a big Dandelion root, I also find a large earth worm. Earth worms also like cows milk.
- BrianB 3y agoJust remember when foraging for wild edibles (including dandelions) to avoid areas that have been treated with pesticides, or where dogs may have peed. Avoid golf courses and train tracks and old farms. Dandelions are pretty prolific but I would also be mindful of abundance when foraging other plants. If there is only one or a few of them around, don't take it. There's a 1-in-20 rule for this. There are a ton of books, YouTube videos, and probably some in person classes in your area on this stuff.
- manicennui 3y agoDandelions and Civilization: A Forgotten History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyePMeGE3CI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyePMeGE3CI