Wild Foraging: Dandelion Greens
This past weekend we had unseasonably warm temperatures and spent a good portion of the morning enjoying the weather outside as a family.
Even though we rent, we are fortunate enough to have a backyard, and have taken full advantage of that. With our garden just starting to produce seedlings you would think that eating from our own backyard would be impossible. Fortunately it is not.
There are all sorts of edible plants in our backyard, the most familiar of which is the dandelion. This past weekend they hadn’t blossomed yet, so the timing was just right for salad-sized dandelion greens.
We went through the yard picking them, being careful not to place the grass and other weeds into the bowl. For salads the leaves are 2-3 inches in size, similar to a “spring mix” salad. The larger they grow, the more bitter they get. The ones that we picked definitely had some bite, but not so strong that you wouldn’t want to eat them.
Once picked the dandelion greens got a good wash and dry before being mixed with a bit of canned tuna, chopped tomato and chopped onion. A leftover homemade garlic aioli thinned out with lemon juice and olive oil made for the perfect dressing. The richness of the aioli cut right through the sharp greens, creating a lovely contrast of flavors.
Dandelion greens are packed with nourishing vitamins and minerals. They can actually help you detoxify your system not only from toxins, but from the heavier foods of the winter. They are also a natural diuretic.
I found this great site for all things wild foraging. I will definitely be bookmarking it and I hope that others find it helpful as well.
For more on local, seasonal eating see Food Roots. This post is also a contribution to fight back Friday.
I think we have a few dandelions in our yard right now as well.
if our dandelion’s have already “flowered,” is it too late to eat them?
thanks for that link–i’m going to check it out.
Thanks for the link!
Great Tip! I’ll have to see if ours are too far gone yet. They have been up for a while already.
I love a few dandelion greens in my salad! Once the flowers come up, you can coat them in a tempura-like batter and fry them. They are quite yummy. In herbal medicine, all parts of the dandelion are used. It’s a great spring tonic!
OUUU, I think dandelions (or ‘pis-en-lit’ pee in bed in French! lol) are so beautiful. They get a bad rap.
What a fantastic idea, although I think i’d only be able to pick them at my parents house in the country, as I live in the city and the pollution from traffic etc may make for interesting flavours! 🙂
Thanks!
Blessings
Those like the makings of a good wine. 😉
We received a whole case through our produce coop this week. I’ve been feeding them to the chickens. We’ll have to give them a try.
Foraging is such a wonderful practice! We forage greens from the fireweed plant and, in autumn, we can pick some beautiful mushrooms.
I really like dandelion greens in salads. We’ve been getting them through our local CSA, and it’s been neat as I’d never had them before. Now I really like them.
Thanks for sharing this in today’s Fight Back Fridays carnival.
Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
I had no idea you could eat those!
You learn something new everyday.
🙂