With their signature sunny flowers and spiky greens, dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is an instantly recognizable plant that almost everyone is familiar with. I don’t think I need to show anyone what dandelions look like. It has broad leaves with prominent veins and may smother lawn grass if left untreated, which generally calls for maintaining thick lawn coverage. A flower drying screen (you can try making a simple drying screen at home using a few basic materials) is a great tool for removing all remaining moisture from the flowers. This rather unassuming garden weed can be harvested and used for both food and medicine. All parts of dandelion are edible and medicinal, from the flower to the leaves to the root! The seeds of the wild amaranth can be gathered and cooked just like store-bought amaranth, either as a cooked whole grain or as a ground meal, and while it does take a bit of time to gather enough to add to a meal, they can be a a good source of free protein. "Yellow flower but multiple heads, sometimes spiky stem and leaves." Sign up to learn more about the gather + root online foraging course here. Unless you know for sure, steer clear of plants that grow outside your yard, in places where they may be sprayed or treated, or in places that neighborhood dogs and cats use to do their business. Be sure to limit the drying time to a day or two at most to prevent the blooms from becoming puffballs. This will also subscribe you to the Grow Forage Cook Ferment newsletter. Curly dock (also called yellow dock) leaves can be eaten raw when young, or cooked when older, and added to salads or soups. Notes: A tall perennial with heart-shaped, toothed leaves. They are rich in vitamins and minerals and have many health benefits making them a free superfood. The dandelion’s hollow stem exudes a milky white substance (a type of latex) when broken. If you want to learn more about the edible and medicinal weeds that surround us and how to use them, check out my eBook: Wildcrafting Weeds: 20 Easy to Forage Edible and Medicinal Plants (that might be growing in your backyard)! Can I use them the same way as the yellow ones? From front lawns to parking lots, one of the most appealing aspects of foraging for dandelions is that the plant can be found everywhere and anywhere. Harvest the greens until the blossoms open (the unopened buds are yummy), after which the leaves become too bitter for most palates. You can also use dandelion leaves that have been harvested in early spring to make a delicately sweet dandelion herbal tea. It’s a great companion plant for gardening because it’s long taproot brings up nutrients to the shallow-rooting plants in the garden adding minerals and nitrogen to the soil. In between firm and tender, these gorgeous spiky dandelion bunches from California will mostly end up being cooked, but the smaller leaves can also be slivered raw for salads. The seed head is a familiar white puffball, you might remember making a wish and blowing on one of these puffballs as a child! Give these recipes featuring dandelion a try the next time you’ve been out foraging: Dandelion has a wide variety of medicinal uses; traditionally the entire plant has been used to aid digestion, help treat UTIs, improve kidney and liver function, and stimulate the appetite. If you love the peppery taste of arugula or radicchio in your salad, try adding freshly picked and washed dandelion greens in place of these traditional bitter greens. Mallow, or malva, is also known as cheeseweed, due to the shape of its seed pods, and can be found in many lawns or garden beds across the US. Dandelion flowers grow on single, unbranching, hollow stems and the leaves are lobed and produce a milky sap. Your email address will not be published. The perennial, also known as creeping thistle, is considered noxious in most of the continental U.S. and even Hawaii. And that's a shame. Plants can propagate by seed, but they also spread via stolons or rhizomes. Thanks for sharing my post! Dandelion. Carolina False Dandelion can be found in the Enjoy sauteed, or raw in salads - mixed with other sweeter varieties to tame the bitterness . With basal leaves that form a rosette on the ground, dandelions have yellow flowers that open during the day and that turn into white fluff when they produce seeds. They provide an important source of food for bees early in the year, too. What to Forage in Fall: 30+ Edible and Medicinal Plants and Mushrooms, How to Make Soap For Beginners + Calendula Soap Recipe, What to Forage in Spring: 20 Edible and Medicinal Plants and Fungi, How to Make a Gallon of Mead: A Simple Mead Recipe. 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. Look for big leaves with fewer lobes as they’re the tastiest — they also tend to be less bitter than leaves harvested during the summertime. Can anyone help please? The flowers are sweet and crunchy, and can be eaten raw, or breaded and fried, or even used to make dandelion syrup or wine. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) Ah, we love much about dandelions with their bright yellow heads in the springtime. You should harvest the spiky greens and their pale belowground crowns (which taste like artichoke hearts) as soon as you see the small leaves poking out. Leaves: Narrow, strap-like, 0.5 ft to 1.5 ft long and a quarter-inch wide - arranged around base of plant. You’ve inspired me. When young, the leaves, stems, and flowers can all be eaten either raw or cooked. Depending on your location, dandelions are at their peak in terms of foraging during the spring and fall (although dandelions will grow year-round in warmer climates). Learn more. If you feel like you've indulged a little too much lately, this super green dandelion leaves smoothie might help. Stick to unsprayed dandelion plants on your own property or ask a friend or neighbor whether they’d be willing to let you forage their unsprayed dandelions. Grows in zones 4-11. The smooth dark green spiky leaves resemble dandelion leaves, and it is sold loose or banded in bunches. The root of the dandelion is a long taproot that brings up nutrients to other nearby plants. I just boil the flowers in a pot of water. Please see my Privacy Policy. Clover is an important food for honeybees and bumblebees, and clover leaves and flowers can be used to add variety to human meals as well. Try making this soothing dandelion salve (perfect for sore muscles and cracked, dry skin) or a dandelion tincture, which is taken directly or added to water in very small amounts. Dandelion is probably the easiest to recognize, it’s leaves are lance-shaped with irregular and jagged edges. Please see my, « 10 Reasons to Grow Oregano: a Highly Beneficial Herb, How to Make Kimchi: Simple Fermented Recipe ». The common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a perennial plant--most would say a weed--with long, deeply toothed green leaves growing in a low rosette around tall, hollow milky stems which bear a shaggy, cheery yellow flower head. Leaves are covered in tiny, hollow stinging hairs which break off and inject formic acid and other chemicals into skin when touched, causing a burning sensation. Cat’s Ear do not have hollow stems and their stems are branching. 32 Companion Plants to Grow With Your Peppers, Plant These 6 Perennial Vegetables Once, and Reap Their Harvest Year After Year, Know Your Leafy Greens: 15 Favorites to Add to Your Diet, How to Grow Green Beans, Even With a Brown Thumb, 7 No-Cost Ways to Grow More Food From Your Garden. In case you need more incentive to cook with dandelion greens, they’re also highly nutritious! This would be great to introduce to our preschool! Leaves are sharply pointed, with complete or deeply-lobed margins. Among the first wild greens to appear in spring, the dandelion or cow parsnip is valued mainly for its spiky, enticingly bitter leaves, but also for its sunny yellow blossoms and even for its roots. 12 Ways to Preserve Apples: Canning, Freezing, Drying + More! EATING PRICKLY SOW THISTLE All winter little rosettes of Prickly Sow Thistle leaves speckled the ground next to the cabin. Because it’s so widely available and familiar, dandelion is one of the best beginner plants for those who are new to foraging. The leaves, however, are triangular-shaped and more deeply lobed than the leaves of true dandelion. Type: Broadleaf perennial Size: 12 inches tall, 6 - 16 inches wide Where It Grows: Lawns and gardens in sun or shade Appearance: This common lawn weed has a strong taproot; leaves are deeply notched.Yellow flowers mature to puffballs. You can unsubscribe at any time. Fall is the time to harvest the root, and you can see my post about it here: Foraging for Dandelion Root. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Remember to steer clear of eating plants foraged from near roads; they may be tainted with pollutants. Purslane can often be found in moist garden beds, lawns, and shady areas, where it lies close to the ground and often goes unnoticed. True dandelions have leafless hollow usually beige-colored stems, and produce only one blossom per flowering stem. This is another reason dandelions are such a beginner-friendly plant to forage! Lower part of flower forms a slender tube. [Disclaimer: This is not meant as a field guide, so before you start eating the weeds out of your lawn or garden, be sure that you've positively identified them as an edible plant, and know how to prepare them. Since I was a small child up to today (I am currently 35 years old), Dandelions have always been my favorite flower. The leaves of the wild amaranth, also known as pigweed, are another great addition to any dish that calls for leafy greens, and while the younger leaves are softer and tastier, the older leaves can also be cooked like spinach. Carolina False Dandelion Pyrrhopappus carolinianus (Carolina False Dandelion) is a winter annual or biennial with pale-green erect, branched fl owering stems with bright yellow fl owers at the ends. Dandelions are easily identifiable by their yellow blooms and basal leaves (leaves which grow from the bottom of the stem only). The plant's stems also discharge a milky sap. Dandelions have a hollow stem, one flower to one stalk, stalk arises out of leaves that grow low to the ground, no leaves on the stalks. Considered a pesky lawn weed by many, dandelion has been used for hundreds of years in China, Europe, and the Amer… https://www.growforagecookferment.com/foraging-for-dandelions could I make wine using the same recipe but with sow thistle flowers? I would like to know the nutritional value of each type. It is often roasted and used as a caffeine free coffee substitute. Because dandelions have such a pervasive presence, it’s incredibly important to be mindful of the potential for herbicide and pesticide usage. Small amounts of raw clover leaves can be chopped into salads, or can be sauteed and added to dishes for a green accent, and the flowers of both red and white clover can be eaten raw or cooked, or dried for tea. The bold flavor of dandelion greens are delicious when they’re paired with eggs, like in this recipe for sautéed dandelion greens with eggs. While dandelion is commonly classified as a weed (and often treated as such), it’s actually a perennial herb with a long list of culinary and medicinal uses. Dandelion seeds are like parachutes that fly away in the wind—they're the plants that you would blow on and "make a wish" when you were younger. Spiky leaves are enough to put these on your least-wanted list. In the thistle family, the mature plant is also has prickly spines. :). These fuzzy leaves are responsible for its common name, and it has other common names including hairy dandelion. Green Leaf or Red Leaf Lettuce. They can be used to make dandelion jelly, tea, and even dandelion mead! “Purslane Weed (Portulaca oleracea): A Prospective Plant Source of Nutrition, Omega-3 Fatty Acid, and Antioxidant Attributes.” Scientific World Journal, vol. It usually thrives in dry, compacted soils. Once in a while, we might come across dandelion greens or purslane for sale in the produce section of the grocery store, or the farmers market, but for the most part, many common edible garden weeds aren't available anywhere else except for our lawns or garden beds. That's not a dandelion. Dock leaves are rather tart, and because of their high oxalic acid content, it's often recommended to only eat them in moderation, as well as to change the water several times during cooking. 11. Unlike dandelion greens, dandelion flowers have a delicate and sweet flavor. They can get as tall as 50 cm and they thrive in temperate weather. The young leaves of plantain can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled, or sauteed, and while the older leaves can be a bit tough, they can also be cooked and eaten as well. And that’s just the beginning! The spiky, deeply lobed leaves are robust, bitter, and full of nutrients. They truly are the perfect Grow Forage Cook Ferment plant, and then some. It is sometimes mistaken for dandelion because it has a yellow daisy-like flower and alternate toothed leaves and tends to be invasive in open areas. Contrary to popular belief, this is a beneficial plant to have. Jun 7, 2018 - This past weekend, there were some long spiky greens in the produce shares...Dandelion Greens! Sow Thistle (Sonchus spp.) They even have some of their own unique benefits. I never see any single flower stalk bushes in my yard! Dandelion Leaves Are a Free Amazing Superfood for You Dandelions have a reputation as a weed but the dandelion leaves, flowers, and roots are actually very good for us. Dandelion leaves, stems and flowers are often consumed in their natural state and can be eaten cooked or raw. It produces spikes of large, bird-attracting white flowers in summer and fall. The young shoots and leaves of Lamb's Quarters (also known as goosefoot) can be eaten raw in any vegetable dish, or sauteed or steamed and used anywhere spinach is called for. 2014. Derek Markham is a green living expert who started writing for Treehugger in 2012. If raw dandelion leaves don't appeal to you, they can also be steamed or added to a stir-fry or soup, which can make them taste less bitter. Rodale's 21st-Century Herbal. Ideally, dandelion flowers should be picked later in the morning when the blooms are completely open and dry. The root of the dandelion can be dried and roasted and used as a coffee substitute, or added to any recipe that calls for root vegetables. Dandelions grow on lawns, in gardens, parks, meadows, pastures, and disturbed areas. Although the edible weeds that you can find in your yard might be different ones than the ones I find in my yard, due to weather, soil conditions, and geography, here are some of the most common garden weeds that can be used for both meals and medicine: The quintessential garden and lawn weed, dandelions have a bad reputation among those who want grass that looks as uniform as a golf course, but every part of this common edible weed is tasty both raw and cooked, from the roots to the blossoms. The root is usually dried, ground and consumed as … And there are few plants that can be identified as quickly with it’s bright yellow flowers, and their seed heads that look like puffballs. do you use fresh flowers or dried for your tea? Tastes like honey. A specific combination of dandelion root and leaf extracts of another herb called uva ursi taken by mouthseems to help reduce the number of UTIs in women. Edible Green Leaves Dandelion, red clover, plantain, watercress and chickweed are edible green leaves. Want even more dandelion recipes? Read more about why you really don’t need to save the dandelions for the bees. It might be a near or distant relative in the same family. A yucca in bloom is a showstopper. My grandmother would always make dendilion soup in spring time with hard boiled eggs :), … my mother made really good dandelion wine. The older leaves can be used like any other cooked green after steaming, boiling, or sauteing them. The stems of the dock plant can be peeled and eaten either cooked or raw, and the mature seeds can be boiled, or eaten raw, or roasted to make a coffee substitute. Needs well-drained soil. Younger, smaller arugula is milder tasting and less bitter. Dandelion leaves can be harvested at any point in the growing season, and while the youngest leaves are considered to be less bitter and more palatable raw, the bigger leaves can be eaten as well, especially as an addition to a green salad. Far from the shrink-wrapped iceberg lettuce we all know so wellperfectly round and crunchy, almost all water, and able to last a long time after harvestthe multitude of lettuce varieties available at the grocery store and farmers markets offer a wide range of textures, colors, and flavors. Dandelion greens are an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K and are also a source of vitamin E, folate, iron, and calcium. Wildcrafting Weeds: 20 Easy to Forage Edible and Medicinal Plants (that might be growing in your backyard), gather + root online foraging course here, don’t need to save the dandelions for the bees, Sweet & Savory Dandelion Rosemary Shortbread. and it thrives in many different types of climates. Dandelion Foraging: Identification, Look-alikes, and Uses, May contain affiliate links or sponsored content. Required fields are marked *. Last updated on June 15, 2020. Part of the resistance to eating plants that we believe to be weeds, in my opinion, is that we are conditioned to only consider the items we find in the grocery store as food, and not things that the rest of the neighborhood sees as unwelcome invaders in lawns and gardens. I still have some that U can try, next time…. Here are two commonly found dandelion look-alikes: Cat’s Ear (Hypochaeris radicata) is the most likely to be mistaken for dandelion, as the flower heads look very similar. Also do not eat plants that have been treated with garden chemicals. Other than the occasional four-leafed clover hunt, this common lawn weed goes mostly unnoticed, even though it is becoming popular as a lawn replacement altogether. It’s always nice to return the favor if you’ve been foraging on neighboring property — I like to show my thanks by gifting something I’ve made from the foraged material (such as this dandelion soap made with the whole plant!). Dandelion tea is a diuretic. Rodale Books. The roots of sow thistle are finer than those of dandelion, which means that they are easier to peel. I do this to relieve swelling in my legs. Chickweed is edible. Dandelion leaves can be harvested at any time but they’re at their most tender during early spring. <3. Finding dandelion is rarely a problem as it grows all over the world (in all seven continents, in fact!) And it's too bad, really, as many of the common garden weeds are not only edible and nutritious, but can be a great homegrown (and free) addition to our meals. ], Uddin, Md. Arugula has traditionally been used in Italian cuisines. With warmer weather the leaves expanded rapidly and now some plants are about knee high, producing yellow, dandelion-like flowers and white, puffball heads of parachuted, achene-type fruits. But I bet you don’t know all the wonderful uses that they have! i grew up eating and still do!!! Knotweed – Knotweed is an annual weed, common along sidewalks. Kammal, et al. But when a plant that we identify as being a weed is found growing in our lawn or garden, out comes the trowel and hoe (or for the ruthless and impatient gardeners, weedkillers such as RoundUp), and we may spend the entire growing season keeping these opportunistic and resilient plants at bay, in order to have neat and tidy garden beds and uniform lawns. They are sold in some supermarkets, but you … I went online and discovered that they are in the dandelion family. It will be so much fun to try all these new ways of cooking them! The plant can also be used as a topical poultice for minor cuts, burns, or rashes, and can be made into a tea for use as a mild diuretic.. This… This humble garden weed, however, is a nutritional powerhouse, and is outrageously rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. It can be a great addition to a salad or stir-fry, or used to thicken soups or stews. It adds a delicate spinach-like taste to any dish. Cat’s Ear and Carolina False Dandelion have leafless solid, branching green stems with several blossoms. False dandelion, Cat’s Ear (Hypochaeris radicata). The common yellow dandelion has a long list of powerful healing abilities as well as other health benefits. Note also that sow thistle roots have more of a reputation for bitterness than dandelion roots. Let’s go foraging for dandelions! They … Here are 50+ Dandelion Recipes (including drinks, sweets, skincare, remedies, & more!). The gather + root online foraging course will help you to safely identify, harvest, and use common edible and medicinal plants with confidence. Instead of a generic looking and tasting salad, you can make something interesting to eat and look at. I understand from a botanist that there are two types of dandelion – true dandelion that has only 1 flower stalk and false dandelion that has multiple flower stalks. My father and myself would harvest them annually and cook them up like rapini. Love dandelion with saute garlic and olive oil!!! Chickweed leaves, stems, and flowers can all be eaten either raw or cooked, where it adds a delicate spinach-like taste to any dish. Even then a rogue flower sometimes appears in a damp meadow or a shady corner of the yard. Yes, you can eat the greens of the dandelion, and they are not only delicious but carry many health benefits. Your email address will not be published. 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