Foraging Series - Dandelion

I think of the Coastal Plain, at least this Lower South part of it, as a micro-region.

It’s kind of an odd climate zone with hot humid summers and mild winters … winters that more resemble late fall and early spring in northern climates. June to September tend to be brutal. October to May is the reason the retired snowbirds migrate South for the winter then beat a trail back North in the Spring. I recall only twice in my 62 years of life that it has gotten cold enough for long enough for the ground to freeze.

We are on the tail end of the long season here for cool weather loving wild edibles. A number of them are still hanging on in shaded areas. Out in the open, where the sun is warming the earth, most of them are gone or winding down in a fast state of decline.

Dandelion is one of them.

I always look forward to their appearance when cool weather sets in. Most people think of them as a bane and don’t want them growing in their yards. Seeing that first yellow Dandelion bloom is always a welcome sight for me … a little added sunshine in the landscape on a cool day.

I’ve only, until lately, appreciated them as colorful winter wildflowers though I’ve known for what seems forever that they are edible. They are also used medicinally. The more I read about Dandelions the more I appreciate them. One source refers to them as The Official Remedy for Disorders.

A vast gulf lies between knowing something and experiencing something. Knowledge is always a good thing. Experience is always a better thing. Retirement, and staying close to the house while Shirli recovers from this knee replacement surgery, gives me some long anticipated time to move some things from the knowledge department to the experience department.

I think the thing that has, until yesterday, discouraged me from trying Dandelions is the amount of information and personal testimonies about them being SO bitter.

It was time to deal with the issue.

We’ve not had any rain in a while and it was tough digging with the ground as dry and hard as it is. I got as much of the root as I could with a little improvised digging tool … a small combination pry bar and nail puller. It makes a pretty good digging tool and works great for hoeing around tiny seedlings in the garden. The tops, though growing in a partially shaded spot, were showing their late season age.

I separated the tops from the roots after giving them a good initial washing. Old stems, and anything that was obviously not fit for the pot, were pulled and tossed in the cleaning up and separating process before giving the greens a couple of good rinses. Before putting the greens into the pot I chopped them into inch sized pieces.

After twenty minutes of cook time the greens were tender enough to eat.

Good deal. Time for a taste test.

To say they were bitter would be an understatement. Imagine the bitterest heirloom turnip greens. Something like the 7-Top that the Old Timers used to grow. Multiply times ten. Maybe times twenty.

Water change. Bring to a boil. Cook another ten minutes.

They were still too bitter to attempt serving up with supper.

I grew up on bitter tasting turnip greens. A bowl of turnip greens and a hunk of corn bread were quite often supper for us. When I tried introducing my young children to them they wouldn’t have any part of them insisting they didn’t like the bitter. So I made an adjustment by adding a little sugar to the pot when I was cooking them. That did the trick and my children grew up eating turnip greens.

The little mess of Dandelion greens was already cooked so there was no going back to start over with them. I put them, instead, in a microwavable dish, sprinkled them with a couple teaspoons of sugar, a sprinkle of salt, added a nice dollop of butter, and gave them a few rounds of the carrousel.

That doctoring changed them from something you had to force yourself to eat into something that was purely a culinary pleasure. Shirli and I both enjoyed them and will, most definitely, be doing Dandelion greens frequently when they begin to emerge after cool weather returns.

What about the roots?

There’s a lot of impressive information about the health benefits of drinking Dandelion root tea.

I gave the roots a good scrubbing with a brush and sliced enough fresh root to make a cup of tea.

How did it taste?

It tasted like Dandelion root.

The bitterness? This aspect that is considered to have a number of health benefits? It’s not nearly as bitter as the greens. It’s doable as is. A little honey, according to our taste, would make it better.