In case you’ve been exterior currently, you’ve seemingly seen a subject of yellow dandelion flowers. These “weeds” are edible and scrumptious, discover ways to harvest them and the best way to use them in your meals!
Dandelion Flowers: The Weed You Ought to Be Consuming
Visitor publish written by Holly Jessen.
Dandelions are a vastly underappreciated plant. The place some folks see annoying weeds, others see magnificence, a free supply of meals and even enjoyable!
Right here within the Midwest, it’s the proper time to reap and eat dandelion flowers. Each a part of the plant is edible, from the basis to the blossom. So long as you’ll find some that aren’t sprayed with pesticides, it’s suitable for eating dandelions uncooked or cooked. These humble little crops are filled with vitamin C and have a number of well being advantages.
The important thing, for many components of the dandelion, is to eat it early, when the plant is small and fewer bitter. For the dandelion leaves, I’ve learn it’s finest to eat earlier than the plant develops flowers. When consuming the flowers, attempt to decide ones which have shorter stems.
–Get the Quick Start Guide to Foraging right here.
Consuming Dandelion Greens
Dandelion greens are finest within the early spring. I shortly found that probably the most time-consuming a part of harvesting dandelion leaves is sorting via to take away grass and different particles. However the excellent news is, you might have a free supply of meals and all it prices is your time to select it and clear it.
I made a decision to arrange the greens in two methods. Steamed with some coconut aminos and garlic salt and contemporary, in a salad. I used to be shocked to seek out out that the method of steaming the dandelion leaves made them rather more bitter. For my part, dandelion leaves style finest raw in a salad.
My daughter fortunately ate her salad with nothing however dandelion leaves with sprinkles of dandelion petals pulled from the blossoms, topped with a easy olive oil dressing. For my husband, I blended a number of leaves in with a romaine lettuce salad with different toppings. He mentioned he didn’t even style the dandelion leaves, which, for him, is excessive reward.
— Get pleasure from your dandelion greens with one in every of these 5 Amazingly Simple Homemade Salad Dressings.
Dandelion Blossom Recipes
The subsequent day, my daughter obtained much more enthusiastic about cooking with dandelions. She wrote and illustrated a menu that included dandelion tea (or refreshments, as she labeled it) and dandelion fritters, each made with the blossoms. She additionally helped me with harvesting and the all-important job of counting the blooms. This mission generated a whole lot of self-led studying for her!
To reap dandelion blossoms, decide the top, eradicating the stems. Rinse fastidiously and hold a watch out for ants and different bugs hidden within the flowers. Drain and dry on a towel.
— Be taught extra about Washing Produce (The Frugal Way!)
Dandelion Blossom Drinks
To make Dandelion Tea, merely boil the blossoms in water. I wished weak tea so I simply did a handful in about two cups of water. It wasn’t as bitter as I anticipated. The subsequent day we tried iced dandelion tea with lemon juice and dried stevia leaf. It was scrumptious! This could additionally style good with lime and no matter sweetener you like.
— Discover ways to Make Your Own Tea Bags
Dandelion Blossom Fritters
The dandelion fritters have been successful with my daughter. We tried them two methods, half breaded in cornmeal batter and the opposite half in cauliflower flour batter. The milk I had available was unsweetened almond milk. My daughter has some meals intolerances so I prepare dinner gluten and dairy-free for her, however these recipes would work with a number of varieties of flour or milk. In case you occur to be out of milk, water would work high quality too.
We favored the cornmeal dandelion fritters one of the best however the cauliflower ones have been good too. The distinction I observed was that the cauliflower flour turned very thick and goopy, which is smart, and wanted extra milk to get to the correct consistency to dip the blossoms into the batter. It didn’t fry up fairly as crisp both. I believe subsequent time I’ll attempt almond flour batter.
The important thing to this recipe is that it may be adjusted to suit particular person tastes. I added milk a tablespoon at a time and examined out a thick cornmeal batter, with a 1/4 cup milk, in comparison with a thinner cornmeal batter, with 1/3 cup milk. We discovered we favored the thicker batter finest as a result of we may style much less of the bitter inexperienced half across the dandelion petals. My daughter known as them dandelion pancakes.
I discovered it best to fold a small handful of blossoms into the batter after which drop them by spoon, one or two blossoms at a time, right into a pan lined with oil. Be certain your pan is scorching sufficient to sizzle the batter while you drop it in however don’t let it get too scorching. I have a tendency to start out with my pan a bit increased than medium warmth after which flip it all the way down to medium or decrease after I put the meals in. A fork works properly to flip the fritters. I used avocado oil however olive, coconut or one other oil would work too.
Dandelion Blossom Fritters Recipe
It is a fundamental recipe that may be simply tailored to your favourite elements. Select no matter flour, milk, and seasonings finest match your loved ones’s style and/or meals restrictions.
Print this Easy Dandelion Flower Fritters Recipe so as to add to your Recipe Binder beneath:
Dandelion Fritters Recipe
Elements
-
1 to 1 1/2
cup
dandelion blossoms
washed -
1/2
cup
flour - one egg
-
1/4
cup
to 1/3 cup milk -
1/2
tsp
onion powder -
1/2
tsp
garlic powder -
1/2
tsp
salt - oil for frying
Directions
-
Wash the blossoms, watching fastidiously for bugs.
-
Dry, blossom up, on a towel.
-
Combine up dry elements.
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Add egg and milk to the dry elements.
-
Warmth oil, protecting the underside of a pan.
-
Dip or fold blossoms into the batter and drop, one or two at a time, into the recent pan.
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Fry till golden brown, flip and fry the opposite aspect.
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Use paper towel to absorb a number of the further oil
Recipe Notes
It is a fundamental recipe that may be simply tailored to your favourite elements. Select no matter flour, milk, and seasonings most closely fits your loved ones’s style and/or meals restrictions.
Subsequent up we’re going to attempt dandelion bread or biscuits made with dandelion flowers. I’ve seen a number of recipes on-line I’d like to change to be gluten and dairy-free. One other enjoyable mission is making home made modeling clay-colored with dandelion blossoms. It smells pretty and is such a reasonably shade.
—Get began baking gluten-free with Merissa’s e book – Frugal Gluten Free.
There are such a lot of enjoyable and attractive methods to make use of dandelion flowers, that are additionally typically known as lion’s tooth. Subsequent 12 months, I’m going to get began even sooner within the spring so I can prepare dinner with dandelions so long as attainable. Lengthy stay the standard however highly effective dandelion flowers.
In case you loved this publish on edible dandelions, listed below are a number of extra you might take pleasure in:
Growing and Using The Nasturtium Plant
Planning Out and Growing Your Perfect Garden
No Food Waste: How to Use All of Your Food Scraps
Frugal Produce to Buy on a Tight Budget
Have you ever eaten dandelions earlier than? What are your favourite methods to take pleasure in this flower?
Holly and her nurse husband have one baby. She is a journalist who give up her job three and a half years in the past when her husband turned a journey nurse, making her a stay-at-home touring mother. Now they’re settling down in Minnesota after having lived in 5 cities in 4 states.
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