Abhorred or Adored!

STOP! Before you dig them up and discard them (even tho your compost heap would benefit greatly from their inclusion), know that they have much vitality to offer those willing to conquer their disdain and put some in a salad. Yes, when I harvest salad greens from my garden, dandelions are part of the fare. Just a couple of leaves, you will hardly notice they are there.

Here’s why:

Dandelion raw leaves are high in Vitamin A (higher than carrots), K and C, Potassium and Calcium. The Bitter flavor will stimulate digestion. Dandelion is an Alkalizing tonic.

Dandelion roots and flowers are edible too. Add a little root and a few leaves to your soups, and stir fries.  The cooked leaves are high in iron, phosphorus and B vitamin complex.

Dandelion Vinegar:  Make a mineral rich dandelion vinegar by adding cleaned roots to apple cider vinegar and let brew in a dark cool place for a few weeks. Use in your salad dressing

Dandelion Flowers: Make a tea for headaches and pain relief. It is also a heart tonic. Use topically for wounds and skin blemishes. For a medicinal tea, infuse flowers (do not boil)  for at least 10 minutes or more. 

Dandelion coffee: Roasted roots may be combined with burdock and chicory root creating a flavor similar to coffee that will repair the damage to the liver caused by the coffee.

 Overall, in herbal medicine, dandelions have been found to:

Benefit the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, spleen, stomach, and pancreas. (And we pull them up to discard them as weeds?) The whole plant is edible and the bitter flavor of the leaves promotes bile and strengthens the digestive system. It is very valuable for diabetes and hypoglycemia. It will detoxify the body from eating meat and fatty fried foods.

The Dandelion is one of the best herbs for the liver, clearing heat and congestion and therefore cleansing the blood. It has been known to cure hepatitis.

As a diuretic it clears the kidneys and will lower blood pressure. Dandelions are good for your breasts and can possibly reduce tumors, swollen lymph and cysts and possibly protect us from breast cancer

In the Garden

I always leaves some dandelions in my garden beds as they are dynamic collectors. The long tap root will pull up minerals from deeper layers of the earth and as leaves wilt and compost these minerals are made available to plants with shorter roots.

Let the dandelions grow in your garden and include some leaves in your salad every day!

Prepared by MaryGold McNutt.  Submission for DCA Food Security Group
Bibliography THE HERBS OF LIFE, Lesley Tierra . L. AC. Herbalist HERBAL MEDICINE FROM THE EARTH, Sharol Tilgner, N.D.
THE HERB BOOK, John Lust THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERBS AND HERBALISM, Edited by Malcom Stuart, Orbis.London
NB If you have a serious health condition, please consult with your doctor or certified herbalist

Identifying Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale)

Wikipedia image

True Dandelions have deeply indented jagged leaves, they are smooth and slightly shiny, and grow in a rosette form. The flower stalks are never divided. Only one flower per stalk.

False Dandelions (Hypochaeris radicata), look like true dandelions at first glance, grow in the same formation but the leaves are more rounded with less pronounced indentations, they are thicker, soft and fuzzy with little hairs. The flower stalks are divided with multiple flowers branching off of one stalk. False dandelions, I believe, have the same medicinal qualities as the true ones, but are less potent.

Dandelion Or Not? New Comics, Redbubble