Recipes

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Do you remember the the taste of homemade bread pudding rich with fresh eggs, honey and raisins which had a flavor that made every  taste-bud on your tongue quiver in anticipation of the first bite as it was pulled hot from the oven?

How about waking to the smell of homemade bread baking?  Did your family keep a covered dish of apple butter on the table to smear on it as fresh churned butter melted into every crease and crevice?

Do you remember eating Dandelion Greens with hot cornbread straight from the oven?  This was a favorite dish of my grandfather.  He was a lucky man and he knew it as my grandmother was known far and wide as a great cook.  This was partly because she didn't know how to be otherwise having descended from a long line of extraordinary cooks.  She always said that the best time to eat anything was when it was the freshest. We all knew it was so because of the quality and taste of the food we ate at home compared to the food we ate when we were away.  Even today, I tend to judge food by her standards, and in most cases, even five star restaurants fall short even though they try very hard to use fresh ingredients.

Dandelion Blossoms

Dandelion Leaves and Root

Lets take a look at the Dandelion plant.  It will help us better understand the importance of knowing a bit about the world around you.

1. Dandelions originated in Eurasia about thirty million years ago  where they were used for both food and  medicine.

2. Dandelions were not native to North America.  They were imported by both the Spanish in New Mexico and by those of Germanic origins in Pennsylvania to use as a food source.

3. The word "Dandelion" is derived from the French word for the plant, "dents de lion" which means, "teeth of the lion" used in reference to the jagged leaves of the plant.

4. The seed of the Dandelion plant can be blown by the wind as far as five miles.

5. The flower of the Dandelion opens with the morning sun and closes in the evening as it is photosensitive.

6. The Chinese have been using the Dandelion for over a thousand years as medicine to prevent various problems such as diabetes, bacterial and fungal infections as well as cancer.

7. Dandelion is used as a diuretic as it increases the output of urine.

8. In Belgium it is grown as a crop.

9.  Dandelion is used as an ingredient in root bear.

10. Taraxacum officinale is a perennial, but there are some species of dandelion which are biennial.

11. The flower heads of Dandelion may be used to make dye - purple color range unless you do not use a mordant which will cause it to be in the yellow family.

12. Dandelions have a taproot which can extend up to fifteen feet underground although they are typically eighteen inches.  The taproot is used to reduce garden soils becoming compacted.

13. Dandelions can draw nutrients such as nitrogen from the soil and concentrate those nutrients in its leaves and roots. They are high in calcium, iron and vitamins A and C.

14. Dandelions are the first to colonize disturbed ground after a wildfire, etc.

15. Dandelion roots maybe used as a coffee substitute much like chicory and the leaves and blossoms may be made into a tea.

16. The white sappy latex from the Dandelion plant has historically been used to treat warts and to heal blisters.  

17. The celestial bodies are represented by parts of the Dandelion plant: the yellow flower head is the sun, the white seed head is the moon, and the seeds are the stars as they spread all over the galaxy.

18. Always cut Dandelion greens from an area that has not been sprayed with weed killer.

Holidays and Dandelion

Maundy Thursday is believed to have originated from Mandatum, a Latin word meaning to "love one another."  This day has had special meaning since the Middle Ages.  Germanic people called it Green Thursday, the English referred to it as Sheer Thursday and the Greeks as Great Thursday.  This is the day of "foot washing" to commemorate Jesus washing the feet of his disciples before the crucifixion.  Dandelions were served on Green Thursday.

Green Thursday Dandelion Greens

Gather young dandelion greens early in the morning.  Wash and cut them into small pieces about one inch long.  Serve with a dressing made by mixing hot bacon grease with a little vinegar.  Some folk added a little sugar to this dressing.

Sauteed Dandelion Greens

Cut off dandelion roots about three quarters of an inch above the root.  Chop fresh tender dandelion greens into pieces about one inch in length.  Saute them lightly in butter or olive oil [our ancestor's used bacon grease].  Add finely chopped onion and/or fresh garlic and allow them to cook for about five minutes or until they are tender and the onion and garlic have caramelize.  Their flavor and texture maybe varied by the addition of raisins, currants, toasted nuts or crumbled bacon.  A Hollandaise sauce may also be served over the sauteed dandelion greens. Older, larger greens will be stronger-flavored and should be boiled in water before cooking in the above manner.

                                                                   Dandelion Wine

Gather, while the sun is shinning, one gallon of dandelion blossoms from an area that has not been sprayed with weed killer.  Pour one gallon of boiling water over them and let them stand in a cool place for three days.  Then put into a porcelain preserving kettle and add the rind of three oranges and one lemon chopped very fine. Boil for fifteen minutes and then strain.  Add three pounds of granulated sugar together with the pulp and juices of the oranges and lemon.  After it is lukewarm, add one-half a yeast cake.  Let stand for a week in a warm place and then strain again.  Let stand until it stops fermenting.  Then bottle or cork.

Recipes