Humans have relied on it for food & medicine since pre history & have used it ritually for making luck, divination & making wishes for just as long.

Despite it’s lowly status as a weed, Dandelions herald the end of winter & the arrival of Spring with their bright sunny blossoms & are a vital source of early pollen for bees.

They are an excellent source of vitamins A, K, E, D & C, plus calcium, potassium, copper, iron & manganese, magnesium & zinc. Without doubt, Dandelions are a nutritional power house, plus they support the liver & kidneys, aiding in the elimination of waste products from the body & helping those of us who suffer from chronic skin & joint problems, including acne, eczema, arthritis & rheumatism.

How could such an amazing plant have become so disregarded?

During this post we are going to make a delicious Dandelion blossom tempura with a spicy Dandelion dipping sauce. Dandelion blossoms smell & taste surprisingly sweet, considering how bitter the roots & leaves can be. Dunked in tempura batter & fried to a golden crisp, they are perfectly paired with spicy Dandelion leaf dipping sauce, for well, dipping!

For this recipe you will need to gather about 2 cupfuls of freshly picked Dandelion blossoms & 2 cupfuls of fresh leaves. The blossoms quickly wilt once picked, so nip out about an hour or so before the webinar kicks off.

TOP TIP: try to collect your blossoms & leaves from an area that is not frequented by dog walkers! When you pick your blossoms give them a good shake outside to remove any bugs & rinse gently in cold water when you get home. The same goes for the leaves. Gently pat dry. If you are confident that your blossoms are from a dog free environment, there’s no need to rinse, they are certainly better dry.

Ensure you have read the recipe through carefully before we start the session & have already prepared any equipment needed & chopped & prepared all of your ingredients.

Click here for our dandelion foraging guide

Dandelion Blossom Tempura Recipe

This Dandelion blossom tempura recipe is an absolute quick win and tastes delicious – you’ll have people asking you to come and pick their dandelions to make this for them.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of blossoms
• 70g of cornflour
• 30g of plain flour
• A pinch of sea salt
• 90g of ice cold sparkling water.

Sunflower or rapeseed oil for frying, (do NOT use olive oil or coconut. Olive oil has a lower heating point than sunflower or rapeseed & will not achieve a high enough temperature. Coconut oil will prove to be incredibly expensive & your tempura will taste “fatty” as it cools.

Equipment

A large saucepan.
A sieve to drain your fried blossoms before serving
A large bowl to mix your batter & dunk your blossoms in to.

If you want to make a gluten free tempura, use the same quantity of rice flour instead.

You can spice up your batter with some chilli flakes if you wish or make them sweet by adding some nutmeg & cinnamon & just a touch of icing sugar.

Method

1. Fill your saucepan no more than ¾ of the way up with the oil & switch on to heat. The oil needs to sizzle when you drop a small chunk of bread in to it.
2. Mix your flours & salt & add the water, beating thoroughly with a hand whisk.
3. Once your oil is sizzling hot, dunk the blossoms in to the batter & drop a few at a time, head first in to the oil.
4. Fry for a few seconds until golden, flip & fry other side for a further few seconds. Remove with a slotted or mesh spoon & drain.
5. Cook the remaining blossoms & serve immediately with the spicy dipping sauce.

For the Spicy Dandelion Leaf Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Dandelion leaves, washed thoroughly & roughly chopped
• 1 cup of hot water
• 1 cup of cider vinegar
• 1 of a cup of sugar
• A thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled & finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic peeled & finely chopped
• As many dried chilli flakes as you dare!
• ½ tsp of cracked black pepper
• Pinch of salt to taste.

Equipment

A saucepan to heat your ingredients in.
A sieve lined with a cloth to strain your plant material out.
A bowl to strain your heated liquid in to.
Chopping board
Sharp knife.

Method

1. Place your roughly chopped Dandelion leaves, water & vinegar in a saucepan & heat until boiling. Simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Strain out the Dandelion leaves, discard the plant material in to your compost & pour the strained liquid back in to your saucepan.
3. Add the rest of your ingredients & heat gently until the sugar has completely melted. Simmer for another 5 minuets, then pour in to bottles or jars until ready to enjoy. Will keep in the fridge for about 3 to 6 months.

Recipe credit @thelittleforagerskitchen

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In the recipe below I’ll outline the bits you can do to just make the honey tasting syrup, but I’ll also add the bits of information that I learnt when turning it in to more of honey as well

Click here for our dandelion foraging guide

Dandelion Honey Recipe Video

Ingredients

• 200g Dandelion Petals (remove the petals from the green base of the flowers – they’re bitter and will make you liquid go brown too)
• 200ml water
• 300g white sugar

Click here to see our guide to the health benefits of dandelions

Method for our Dandelion Flower Honey

1. Remove the dandelion flower petals from the green base of the flowers – the green bases are bitter and will make your liquid go brown too. This can be a messy and tedious job so best done whilst sitting in the sun enjoying some relaxation time.
2. bring the water to a boil and then simmer the petals for 15 minutes
3. strain the liquid through a colander to remove the petals
4. Add the sugar and heat until nicely dissolved.

That’s the syrup done – enjoy as a honey-flavoured syrup

To turn your syrup in to honey…..

The best way I found of making it more honey like was by boiling the mixture down and reducing the liquid by about 25%,

I then let it cool to check the consistency and when it was cool I added little amounts of modified maze starch (also known as ultratex) to the mixture whilst holding a stick blender in the liquid which was one to mix it in nicely. I did that until the mix thickened up to more of a syrupy consistency.

Enjoy on anything you would Honey and feel relaxed knowing the Bees are happy too!

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Some people describe it as tasting a bit like sunshine in a bottle and to be honest I think I’d agree – it has a beautiful milky yellow colour and can be used directly as it is, chilled on ice or can be mixed in to a summery cocktail – I like to add it instead of soda in to a mojito!

Ingredients

In a 500ml bottle add :

• 30g sugar
• a tiny bit of wine yeast
• 400ml water
• 10 fully open dandelion flowers (best picked in the morning for most flavour)
• the juice of half a lemon

Click here to see our dandelion foraging guide

Method for making Dandelion Flower soda:

1. Then shake well to let them all mix,
2. Leave it somewhere warm from 4 days (make sure to open and close it in the morning and evening to release some gas)
3. Then pop it in the fridge and serve chilled or with ice.

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This dandelion flower wine has been compared to tasting like the bliss of sunshine itself, it has a sweet, almost honey-like flavour that goes down so smoothly you need to keep a check on how much you’ve had.

It’s key that all your equipment is thoroughly clean

To make 5 litres at about 8%

Click here for our dandelion foraging guide

Ingredients:

· 1 carrier bag of dandelion heads (about 250g)

· 1.2 kg sugar white

· 2 lemons

· 2 oranges

· 5 litres water

· 1 sachet yeast (wine or bread)

· A Demi-john (or 5ltr food grade container with hole and rubber bung in the top)

· Air lock

Click here to see our guide to the health benefits of dandelions

Method:

1. Pour a kettle full of boiling water over the dandelion tops and leave 24 hours in a large pan with the lid on (if you don’t have time simply boil for 15 minutes).

2. Strain the dandelion tops from the juice and put the tops in compost

3. Add the juice of the lemons and oranges, the sugar and remaining water and stir until all mixed in sufficiently

4. Add the yeast, put a cloth over the top of your pan and leave for 24 hours to start brewing/bubbling

5. Pour this mixture in to your demi-john and put on your airlock

6. Leave for as long as possible, at least 1 month

7. Decant in to your storage bottles and enjoy chilled on a sunny day.

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Makes 3 to 4 medium jars

Click here for our dandelion foraging guide

Ingredients:

· three cooking apples – peeled, cored and chopped

· 50g Fresh dandelion flowers or a good handful

· 3 lemons – the juice of

· 750 grams jam sugar

· 600ml water

Click here to see our guide to the health benefits of dandelions

Method to Cook our Dandelion Flower Jam:

1. Put the peeled and cored apples in a pan with the hot water and 3/4 of the dandelion flowers (with green on), simmer for 10 mins, the apples should be soft and liquid a vivid orange.

2. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

3. Add the strained liquid back to the pan, adding the lemon juice and sugar

4. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and then add the rest of the dandelion flowers (petals only—remove the green bits)

5. Boil vigorously until the setting point is reached (put a side plate in the fridge with a little jam on it, after 1 minute remove, if it’s formed a skin then the setting point has been reached) .

6. Put in to steralised or well cleaned jars and leave to set, store and use within 1 year, once opened keep in the fridge and use within a week.

Our Dandelion Flower Jam Recipe Video

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When I’m out collecting dandelion flowers to make jam I often find about 20 – 40% of the flowering tops haven’t opened up into flowers yet, if I left them they would certainly open up in to flowers eventually, but there’s masses of flowers and I’ve already collected them for everything I will cook with them….

So I decided to collect the closed dandelion flower buds as well, I tried a couple of things with them including pickling and lacto fermenting, however popping them in a simple salt brine actually worked out the best. They’re quite similar to capers.

Click here for our dandelion foraging guide

This recipe makes as many jars as you can fill:

1. Collect the closed dandelion buds
2. Place in a jar along with a couple of garlic bulbs (or wild garlic closed flowers – for a wild garlic and dandelion caper jar) & whatever spices you like. I popped in some Common Hogweed Seeds & some Alexander Seeds.
3. Pour over cold brining solution (I used 10% salt brine which worked really nicely), leave for 3 weeks before eating
4. Use in any recipe that calls for capers

Top Tip

Make sure you pour over the brine solution cold, I learnt this on more occasions than I’d like to admit to (I completely forgot this tip myself many times)

If you pour over the brine when it’s still hot, lets say you heated up the water to allow the salt to dissolve more quickly, the closed flowering buds will open up in to the open yellow flowers you see everywhere in spring and they will not close again. I’ve completely lost big jars of dandelion capers by accidentally doing this and it gets more frustrating each time I do it. The open brined flowers can be used of course but they’re just not like the capers we’re hoping for from this recipe.

Dandelion Bud Capers Recipe Video

Click here to see our guide to the health benefits of dandelions

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Dandelion is one of the UK’s most prolific weeds and most of us have spent some time digging this one up out of the garden, kicking and swearing at it. But if we look at it slightly differently it could help us with cutting our food bills.

Botanical Name

Taraxacum officinale

Known Hazards

Dandelion root tea is sometimes taken to increase people’s appetite, what it also does is release sugar into the blood, so as a diabetic it is worth keeping this in mind if you’re planning to drink dandelion root tea.

Here’s a guide on how to make dandelion root coffee

Or you can buy it here

Those with very sensitive skin may get contact dermatitis when touching the latex (but it’s also good for killing off warts!)

Could be confused with…

There’s a range of other plants in the Asteraceae family known as false dandelions, in general plants in the Asteraceae family are considered safe, edible and herbal.

Dandelions also look very similar to Cat’s Ears (Hypochaeris radicata), the main differences being that dandelion leaves are smooth or glabrous whereas Cat’s Ears are coarsely hairy, although the whole of a Cat’s Ear plant is also edible, and the leaves are actually less bitter than those of the dandelion.

Range and Distribution

Dandelions are the most prolific of all weeds throughout the UK, and can also be found all over America, Canada and throughout Europe and Asia.

Habitat

Everywhere and anywhere it can get its seeds to spread, including road sides, grassy banks, walls, cracks in paths, fields, hedgerows, gardens, waste lands and much more.

Dandelion Video

Physical Characteristics

The dandelion is an extremely effective perennial, having the ability to grow from seed and root segment. A single plant can produce up to 5,000 seeds, which have the ability to travel in the wind over 200 metres from their origin. They also do not need to be pollinated to reproduce. Dandelions grow above a sturdy taproot that can grow over 30cm down, forming a basal rosette of deeply lobed leaves.

Leaves

The leaves can grow from 5-50cms long and 2-10cms wide, the leaf can vary slightly from one to another but all leaves are typically oblong or obovate in shape becoming more narrow towards the base of the plant. The leaf edge ranges from being shallow to deeply lobed but they are allays lobed in some way, giving them the appearance of lions’ teeth.

Flowers & Stem

A single flower head grows from a single, hollow leafless stem that can grow up to 50cms and on breaking exudes a white latex. The yellow flowers grow from a single centre and resemble an opened traditional Japanese umbrella.

Seeds

This umbrella eventually becomes a white puffball of seeds, which can easily be carried for dispersal by the wind.

Edible Use

Root: If collected late autumn this can be roasted for coffee substitute or syrup. Tender roots are suitable for grating and lacto fermenting, or roasted or boiled with Marmite (vegemite).
Stem: use as a straw for drinking chilled dandelion flower tea, cordial or wine.

Leaves: fresh and early growth in spring can be used in salads, pasta dough, as a vegetable, for tisane, juicing, lacto-fermenting, pesto, a bitter for cocktails and beer making.

Flower: for tea, cordial, salads, wine, marmalade, and tempura.

Closed flower bud: (before going in to seed) as a vegetable.

Fruit/seeds: for sprouting micro dandelions used in salads.

Herbal Use

Dandelion is mainly used as a liver tonic and diuretic. The white juice exuding from the stem is said to cure warts. Dandelion was, historically, known for treating a large array of ailments due to the large number of active compounds present within the whole plant.

Miscellaneous

In order to decrease some of the bitterness sometimes present in the leaf, you can rip the two leaf edges away from the centre, removing the majority of the white liquid causing the bitter taste. If you place a pot with a small hole in it over a young dandelion it will grow a large pale leaf which will be a lot less bitter, more tender and delicate as a salad, restaurants actually buy this stuff, it’s like forcing rhubarb.

Tips and Observations

Dandelions that grow in the shade tend to have the largest and best edible leaves, whereas dandelions growing in full sun produce the most amazing flowers. Just before picking the dandelions, give the flower a sharp flick to knock away any potential bugs that may be resting in there.

The post Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) Identification appeared first on .

Read on to learn more….

Dandelions are undoubtedly one of the most prolific plants found growing throughout northern parts of the world. It is seen by most as a weed and something that needs to be gone out of our gardens and parks. However, if we actually knew the vast range of edible potential this plant has and the huge health benefits associated with eating this plant I think we may start to think twice before we reach for our weed killer.

Click here for our dandelion foraging guide

Top 9 Health Benefits of Dandelions

1. Can Improve the health of Bones – Dandelions are rich in Calcium and Vitamin C, the first helping to strengthen bones whilst the second helps protect the bones from age-related damage.
2. Aids diabetes – Dandelion stimulates the production of insulin, helping to lower blood sugar. On top of that it is also a diuretic, increasing urination and helping to flush out excess sugar from the body.
3. Treating the skin – Dandelion juice can be used to help treat skin complaints. This treatment stems from the fact that the sap is highly alkaline and has germicidal, insecticidal and fungicidal properties. You should be careful while using this sap and avoid any contact with the eyes. This sap can be used on itches, ringworm, eczema, and other skin conditions
4. Weight Loss – Dandelions help increase the flow of urine from the body, helping to remove toxins and fats. Up to 4% of urine be fat so the more you get rid of the better.
5. Treatment of Jaundice – Dandelions are uniquely set to help with the treatment of Jaundice as they can tackle the three main combat areas required in treatment.
6. Reduce production of bile – dandelions promote liver health and help with regulation of bile
7. Remove excess Bile – Diuretic effects of Dandelions allow excess bile to be removed
8. Fight Viral infection – Due to the presence of Vitamin C and Luteolin Dandelions are anti-oxidant and disinfectant allowing them to fight Viral infections effectively.
9. Constipation – For a leafy green, dandelions are high in fibre and can help bowel movements therefore aiding with constipation

Click below for our guide on:

How to Make Herbal Remedies at Home

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