My mother dosed her kids with generous amounts of dandelion greens as soon as she discovered their bright leaves in springtime. Yet this common plant is dismissed today as only a weed. If you’d like to explore eating dandelions, first learn how to harvest and clean this wild green.
I was one of nine children growing up during the Depression on a Vermont dairy farm. Mom regaled us with many stories of the wild-food foraging that supplemented the self-reliant family diet. Dandelions, the first fresh greens of spring, ranked high on her list of important foraged foods.
I inherited my mother’s dandelion fork, a simple wooden-handled tool with a steel shaft and a short, sharp fork at one end. Though sadly, I misplaced the fork and bought a new one (much inferior), I continued her tradition.
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Harvesting Dandelions
The trick to enjoying dandelion greens? Harvest them young with their underground crowns attached and clean them well. Choose a spot that hasn’t been sprayed or fertilized with agricultural chemicals or frequented by pets.
Harvest the spiky greens and their pale belowground crowns (which taste like artichoke hearts) as soon as you detect the tiny spiked leaves poking forth. Harvest the greens until the blossoms open (the unopened buds are yummy), after which the leaves become too bitter for most palates.
Angle your “weeding fork” down about an inch into the soil below the rosette of 3- to 6-inch greens, and sever the crown where it joins the root. Then, pull the entire rosette from the ground. Shake it free of dirt and remove as many of last year’s slimy leaves as possible.
Cleaning Dandelions
Pay rigorous attention to cleaning the grit and debris inside the tightly formed crown. Swish the greens around in a deep pan through several changes of water. Then, cut open the crowns without severing the leaves and scrape debris from each rosette before submerging the greens for a final rinse.
Cooking with Dandelions
Although I add the tiniest dandelion greens to fresh salads, I like them best cooked with a couple of onions. I sauté chopped onions (and maybe a little garlic) in olive oil until they become translucent, then add the greens with a little rinse water clinging to them and steam until the greens are soft.
I also add dandelions to a spring-tonic soup that could include young nettles, parsley, spinach, kale, and chard cooked in well-seasoned chicken broth.
Also, a strong tea of dandelion blossoms used as a hair rinse adds shine and highlights to blond hair.
See recipes for dandelion wine, dandelion jelly, and more.
In the Garden
The deep perennial taproots forage minerals and make them available for shallower-rooted crops. (Don’t let too many get started, though, and pull the blossoms off in the vegetable garden.)
In a lawn or field, the bright yellow flowers attract pollinators to the spring garden and provide an important early nectar source for many butterflies.
NOTE: Make sure you can identify dandelions with certainty before you harvest them. If you’ve never eaten dandelions, prepare and eat a small amount before you begin harvesting in earnest. Never harvest dandelions from areas that have been treated with pesticides or other chemicals, such as a lawn.
Margaret Boyles
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I was raised by my Grandparents in NH and every spring my gram would go out and pick dandelions. She would boil them and I would have mine with butter and vinegar. Yummy! I still go out in the spring and pick them first greens of the year.
Is there some other plant that resembles it that should not be eaten? When you take the crown off, is that leaving the root to regenerate? Trying to understand 'wild' foods and what parts are/are not OK to eat and the correct method to fix for safety.
Hi and tank you so much for this articel.
I never try dandelions for eat or drink but iknow that they are good for helth and yes i will try for sure :)
blessings to theold farmer's almanac .
Love them gently boiled/steamed and garnished with olive oil and salt. I drink the remaining broth or add it to soup. My grandfather, a European immigrant, would keep us supplied with the greens during the season when I was young. While I do harvest some from my property each spring, I've found a reliable supply available nearly year round at the local Hannaford grocery store here in Maine so can enjoy them more frequently than I ever dreamed possible.
When I was growing up my Mom would blanch the geeens, cook bacon,chop the bacon and the greens ,and both to mashed potatoes !!! Yummm!
When my kids were young, we would occasionally have smiley pancakes. Just mix up you batter, make a smiley face by putting dandelion flowers in the skillet, sunny side down and cover with batter. When the bubbles start popping and the edges start to dry, flip them over. You'll have a golden brown pancake with a bright yellow smiley face. They taste great, too.
My family eats the flowers too. Pick them leaving no stem. Soak in salt water for an hour or so, rinse, pat dry, roll in flour & fry in butter. Just had my first batch of the season the other day.
Dandelion greens are delicious. My dear mother used to hunt for them each spring. We lived in Maine woods and lived off land. We was more healthy than, than today.
Well, Kay, I can report I've located and harvest my first dandelion greens. Off to a great season of foraging!
