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Dandelion Greens

Accompanying recipe: Honey-Preserved Blossom Spread

Dandelion greens are one of season’s earliest foodstuffs and one of the finest of spring tonics. Indeed, they are the most nutritious leafy vegetable you can buy (see accompanying chart).

The greens have a slightly bitter note, they are elegant in a salad and they make a tasty potherb. I also put them in stir fries and soup.

Dandelions support digestion, reduce swelling and inflammation, and treat viruses, jaundice, edema, gout, eczema and acne. This sunflower relative boasts potent medicinal properties with laxative and diuretic properties (its French name, pissenlit, wet the bed, aptly names its effectiveness).

Of course, foraging dandelions enables you to enjoy dandelion crowns. I’ve heard the cooked crowns described as “…homely as a mess of toads on the plate.” But, don’t let that put you off.

This "crown" sits atop the dandelion’s taproot and includes multiple nascent buds and the earliest—and therefore most tender—leaves. Every spring, I feast upon these succulent, buttery soft, bittersweet morsels. Dandelion crowns are a treat that money can’t buy.

To feast upon the crowns—or to forage your own greens—requires getting down on your hands and knees. Ahh, spring aromas wafting up from the warming earth.

How I love foraging. In addition to the anticipation of the upcoming feast, there’s the thrill of the find, the pleasure of piling a basket with freely given gifts and a feeling of inter-relatedness that being outdoors engenders. Indeed, foraging is humankind’s oldest profession.

Brush away the protective blanket of last year’s foliage and a scant layer of soil to expose dandelion crowns. Don’t bother gathering from plants that have gone to flower. Here’s why: as the energy moves up to the blossom, the greens becomes quite bitter and require blanching to be toothsome.

The flowers, however, may be used to make wine or Honey-Preserved Blossom Spread (see below). Please note: do not gather dandelions from lawns, public trails, roadsides or any chemically-tainted area.

I marvel at dandelions’ resilience. No matter how many tons of chemicals are dumped onto suburban lawns to kill them, dandelions reign. A meal ticket for herbicide producers. And, would that such producers make more digestible choices.

Back home with the goods, I pick over my haul and discard extraneous leaves and grasses. I’ll sauté the crowns (and/or leaves) with an onion and garlic and season with a pinch of sea salt and few grinds of fresh pepper.

Or, for an excellent salad, I’ll toss dandelion greens, neat, or with other greens. The bittersweet root is typically used as a coffee substitute and in herbal tonics. In ten minutes foraging, I gathered a nice mess of crown jewels—and I left plenty for you.

May you be well nourished,

Rebecca Wood