The Dandelion: Magical, Messy Weed and Novel Nutritious Green

The dandelion is undoubtedly one of childhood’s favorite flowers; probably because it both incredibly magical and terribly messy. I still fondly remember warm weather spent crumbling mimosa pods and blowing dandelion fluff with my mother shrieking “STOP SEEDING THE LAWN!” in the background.

As an adult, the dandelion has continued to fascinate me with it’s perfect round sphere of little seed-wishes, each with a set of soft wings. The average gardener, though, is rarely so captivated. That’s easy to understand given that dandelion is very prolific and has absolutely no sense of boundaries—it will grow most anyplace, anytime, whether you’d like it to or not. This spring, in Seattle, I saw some truly amazing specimens, some between one and two feet tall. The rare dry heat of Summer 2009 seems to have curbed the crop a little, but dandelions are still cheerfully blooming up from every crack and crevice and over-run lawn. So I thought I’d blog a bit about some of the more universally useful qualities of this faery-like weed.

First, it’s long been used as medicine. Even those who don’t typically dabble in herbs much have seen a box of dandelion tea while shopping at Whole Foods or Super Supplements. According to Balch’s well-known Prescription for Natural Healing, all parts of the plant can be used, and it is an amazing composition of everything from biotin and calcium to phosphorus and zinc. It tends to appear in tea form often because it is a strong detoxifier and diuretic. It not only cleanses the liver and bloodstream and improves kidney and other organ function, but it has also been used to treat “abscesses, anemia, boils, breast tumors, cirrhosis of the liver, fluid retention, hepatitis, jaundice, rheumatism, and the prevention of age spots and breast cancer” (69).

Second, the greens are edible and plentiful. As someone who used to arrive home from playing outside carrying tube socks full of wild blackberries (Mom was really unhappy about that too), I just love the idea of eating straight out of Mother Nature’s lap (as long as her lap hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides). Mark Bittman’s Leafy Greens is an excellent resource for learning how to harvest and prepare dandelions. A few of his tips include:

• The smaller the better. Leaves longer than six inches are most likely too bitter to eat.
• Leaves can be sandy, so wash them well.
• Use young greens in a salad with olive oil and salt, adding a little extra vinegar or lemon juice to counteract the natural bitterness.
• If you can hide the plants from the sun (loosely covering them with boards, etc.) when they are about three-quarters grown, they will turn white and be less bitter.
• Older greens taste better steamed or sautéed like spinach. (23-24)

Bittman also remarks that dandelions “are so loaded with beta carotene that one half expects them to be regulated by the Food and Drug Administration” (23). If Mom had known that, maybe she would have been happier about us “seeding the lawn” . . . or maybe not :-)