sgt.porter
Marksman
I've mentioned eating dandelions in a couple other threads, so I'll try to do a short write up here.
The average family spends $4000 per person per year on groceries. That's ridiculous when you realize that 3 generations ago, grocery stores barely existed. We've long forgotten how to live off the land and buy only what we need from the general store. Commercialization of everything has trained us to think that if it isn't a name brand well advertised product coming of the shelves of a mega chain well advertised supermarket, we shouldn't eat it.
A few years ago, we decided to grow, hunt, and gather as much food as we possibly could. At first, we would have a little wild food here and there, planted a garden, and raised a couple hogs. Now we might spend $1000 in groceries on our family of 4 in an entire year. Not only does it save us money, but we have noticed drastic improvements in our overall health.
That's just a little bit of a long rant I could write a book about, but that's not the meaning of this thread.
Dandelions, while a pest to most people, can be an abundant food source for others. This time of year, dandelions appear on our table 4 times a week or more.
You shouldn't need help identifying dandelions, we all grew up blowing the seeds around the yard, ticking our parents off.
The entire plant, including the roots is edible, and there are no poisonous look alikes.
I'm going to focus on eating the leaves and the blossoms.
The leaves of the dandelion are best before the plant sends up it's flower stalk. They are great sautéed or fresh in salads. I like to cook them up mixed with white rice as well. After the plant flowers, the leaves become bitter and remain that way till after the first fall frost. They can be eaten in their bitter state or they can be boiled to remove the bitterness.
The flowers of the dandelion are my favorite part. They have a unique flavor that is hard to describe. Cut the flower off just where it meets the stem and pop it in your mouth. Slightly bitter and a little meaty. Eat them raw, toss them in salad, fry them, mix them into any recipe you wish.
I think dandelions really enhance the flavor of wild mushrooms. I regularly toss a couple dozen or so in the pan with mushrooms.
They also go well finely chopped into bread, biscuit, and roll mixes.
One of my favorite dandelion treats, and a good way to introduce newcomers to their flavor, is to mix up pancake batter, dip the flowers in the batter and fry them.
Kids and grown ups alike are likely to try these dandelion cakes. I like to eat them as they are, but at the table they are commonly dipped in syrup, honey, dressing, even ketchup. My wife spreads a little peanut butter on them sometimes, but I don't like that as well.
One last note about the dandelion. Although I use them, I don't normally talk about herbal medicines and remedies because it gets too controversial. But here is one that I have used many times with great success.
If you or your child get stung by a bee, you can quickly begin to relieve the pain by pulling up the nearest dandelion plant and rubbing the milky sap from the root on the sting. For some, this works instantly, for others it only helps a little (but may keep your stung toddler manageable until you can get the baking soda), but I have never seen it have no effect at all.
The average family spends $4000 per person per year on groceries. That's ridiculous when you realize that 3 generations ago, grocery stores barely existed. We've long forgotten how to live off the land and buy only what we need from the general store. Commercialization of everything has trained us to think that if it isn't a name brand well advertised product coming of the shelves of a mega chain well advertised supermarket, we shouldn't eat it.
A few years ago, we decided to grow, hunt, and gather as much food as we possibly could. At first, we would have a little wild food here and there, planted a garden, and raised a couple hogs. Now we might spend $1000 in groceries on our family of 4 in an entire year. Not only does it save us money, but we have noticed drastic improvements in our overall health.
That's just a little bit of a long rant I could write a book about, but that's not the meaning of this thread.
Dandelions, while a pest to most people, can be an abundant food source for others. This time of year, dandelions appear on our table 4 times a week or more.
You shouldn't need help identifying dandelions, we all grew up blowing the seeds around the yard, ticking our parents off.
The entire plant, including the roots is edible, and there are no poisonous look alikes.
I'm going to focus on eating the leaves and the blossoms.
The leaves of the dandelion are best before the plant sends up it's flower stalk. They are great sautéed or fresh in salads. I like to cook them up mixed with white rice as well. After the plant flowers, the leaves become bitter and remain that way till after the first fall frost. They can be eaten in their bitter state or they can be boiled to remove the bitterness.
The flowers of the dandelion are my favorite part. They have a unique flavor that is hard to describe. Cut the flower off just where it meets the stem and pop it in your mouth. Slightly bitter and a little meaty. Eat them raw, toss them in salad, fry them, mix them into any recipe you wish.
I think dandelions really enhance the flavor of wild mushrooms. I regularly toss a couple dozen or so in the pan with mushrooms.
They also go well finely chopped into bread, biscuit, and roll mixes.
One of my favorite dandelion treats, and a good way to introduce newcomers to their flavor, is to mix up pancake batter, dip the flowers in the batter and fry them.
Kids and grown ups alike are likely to try these dandelion cakes. I like to eat them as they are, but at the table they are commonly dipped in syrup, honey, dressing, even ketchup. My wife spreads a little peanut butter on them sometimes, but I don't like that as well.
One last note about the dandelion. Although I use them, I don't normally talk about herbal medicines and remedies because it gets too controversial. But here is one that I have used many times with great success.
If you or your child get stung by a bee, you can quickly begin to relieve the pain by pulling up the nearest dandelion plant and rubbing the milky sap from the root on the sting. For some, this works instantly, for others it only helps a little (but may keep your stung toddler manageable until you can get the baking soda), but I have never seen it have no effect at all.
} then we started daring each other to eat things..she told me to eat a dandelion so I did..then another and another. she told me I was gonna get sick
I told her when I was younger I remember my mom having us kids gather dandelions out of the yard and she would put them in a special salad that she made and that she would also mix some in with drop biscuits etc etc. she said I was full of it
