Author Topic: Dandelion Greens (Read 3492 times)

charles p · « **on:** February 20, 2011, 09:01:43 AM »

Dandelions are starting to bloom where I live. Would like to try some. When do you gather them? Is now a good time? Do you steam them like mustard greens or eat them raw like lettuce?

Dee · « **Reply #1 on:** February 20, 2011, 12:18:01 PM »

You can steam them, or eat them raw with, or as a salad. The root is also edible and full of starch, i.e energy.

Catfish · « **Reply #2 on:** February 20, 2011, 12:28:41 PM »

You cannot cut them to soon, but if you let them go to long they do get tough. My favorite way to have them is wilted. Cook up a big pan of bacon then put in the greens and some potatoes that are cut into very small pieces and cook until the leaves wilt. I also like vinegar on them. Man I`m getting hungry just thinking about them.

powderman · « **Reply #3 on:** February 23, 2011, 12:17:57 PM »

I usually mix them with sardock and poke leaves. We usually just boil them with a slice of bacon. Drain and eat with salt and pepper or in a bowl with a bit of vinegar. Nothing up here yet. POWDERMAN.

zoner · « **Reply #4 on:** February 23, 2011, 12:24:55 PM »

my grandparents ate them years ago. If I remember right they preferred to take em before they bloomed....Mike

torpedoman · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2011, 03:02:12 PM »

cover the leaves with black plastic and they get real big and white, sweet too. Americans are stupid enough to spend billions every year to get rid of a plant that every part is usable to grow a plant that has no value to a human.

powderman · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2011, 02:32:21 PM »

I've heard of folks taking the flowers and rolling them in flower of dipped in batter and deep frying them But I've never tried it. What about the root??? POWDERMAN.

Spector · « **Reply #7 on:** February 28, 2011, 06:34:05 AM »

I've sauteed the leaves and flowers. They weren't bad. My wife just told me last night that she read the leaves should be picked before the plant blooms. I know my rabbit and guinea pigs loved the leaves and the pig loved the flowers. They all died this winter. I have a natural inclination to pick them from having done so for so long. Guess I'll have to find new ways to cook them. I have noticed a bitterness a few times. Maybe that's when I let them get too old.

I don't use polk anymore so I'm looking for someting to replace it with..........Mike

blind ear · « **Reply #8 on:** February 28, 2011, 11:35:43 AM »

Quote from: Spector on February 28, 2011, 06:34:05 AM

I've sauteed the leaves and flowers. They weren't bad. My wife just told me last night that she read the leaves should be picked before the plant blooms. I know my rabbit and guinea pigs loved the leaves and the pig loved the flowers. They all died this winter. I have a natural inclination to pick them from having done so for so long. Guess I'll have to find new ways to cook them. I have noticed a bitterness a few times. Maybe that's when I let them get too old.

I don't use polk anymore so I'm looking for someting to replace it with..........Mike

Spinach is close in flavor. Why don't you use Polk anymore? ear

Bugflipper · « **Reply #9 on:** February 28, 2011, 11:44:30 AM »

I usually mix them in with polk salad. After they are steamed I drain, throw in a frying pan and cook the water off. Then throw in some bacon grease and an egg. I eat them any time. The bigger the plants the longer they are steamed. Polk is boiled though because it is poison if not leached properly. I don't know if the dandelion will suck up the poison from the polk so I add them together after they are both already cooked.

torpedoman · « **Reply #10 on:** February 28, 2011, 03:37:46 PM »

Quote from: powderman on February 24, 2011, 02:32:21 PM

I've heard of folks taking the flowers and rolling them in flower of dipped in batter and deep frying them But I've never tried it. What about the root??? POWDERMAN.

Dried roasted and ground the root makes a respectable chicory coffee

The Hermit · « **Reply #11 on:** February 28, 2011, 06:32:11 PM »

Mine are still under 2 feet of snow. I dig a big mess of them before they flower and eat in a salad. Then, I harvest the flowers for wine as by then, the leaves are getting bitter. Nature provides for us.

The Hermit

powderman · « **Reply #12 on:** March 01, 2011, 03:32:17 PM »

TORPEDOMAN. Thanks, I'd wondered about that.
BUGFLIPPER. To my knowledge the only poison in the poke plant is the berries, not the leaves. Doesn't anybody else eat the sardock, or maybe call it sourdock?? POWDERMAN.

Bugflipper · « **Reply #13 on:** March 01, 2011, 07:29:43 PM »

I really don't know powderman. My cookbook states root, stalks, berries and mature leaves are poison. The old timers had a certain date to pick by before the poison came up to the leaves. There after 3 changes of water during cooking. I just go by the cookbook which supports the old wives tales. But my sheep will eat the berries, leaves and stalks without getting sick. So the old info can be a little off. I just cook it the old way just in case.

Ranger J · « **Reply #14 on:** March 02, 2011, 08:48:39 AM »

I usually mix poke and dock leaves and boil them with at least one change of water. I know people that eat the stalk of the poke plant when it is not too old. They also change water a couple of times. I've eaten Polk leaves all my life with no bad results but have seen people eat them for the first time and get sicker than a dog. Eating any wild plant for the first time should be done in moderation.

RJ

burntmuch · « **Reply #15 on:** March 02, 2011, 11:18:11 AM »

So do you guys just use the leaves or do you or can you eat the stems too.

Ranger J · « **Reply #16 on:** March 03, 2011, 03:19:43 AM »

Unless your family has a positive history of eating the stems you would be better off sticking to the leaves and don't pig out on those the first time as they are tasty. My wife said that she once thought, while a kid, that spinach was just for those who couldn't get 'greens'. My grand mother took me when I was young on a greens gathering trip and as I remember she picked several other kinds of plants in addition to dock and poke. As I remember lambs quarter and stinging nettle were two of them. Wished I had paid more attention then.

RJ

Bugflipper · « **Reply #17 on:** March 03, 2011, 03:31:17 AM »

Not trying to take away from the dandelion topic but here you go on the stems. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/796575/polk_salad_wild_growing_perennial_that.html?cat=32 I only eat them when they are green. Mature plants have red stems and are woody. I do eat mature leaves off of huge plants and pull the leaves into 2 pieces to get the stem out of the leaf since it is hard. It would not matter on young leaves. This article compares them to mustard or turnip greens. That is inaccurate to my taste. They are more like spinach. But then again I boil them 3 times so they may really be stronger but I could be cooking the bitterness out.

If you were talking about dandelion I just chop the root off so it will grow back and throw everything green in the pot.

powderman · « **Reply #18 on:** March 04, 2011, 04:15:08 PM »

Before my wife and I married we were at her Moms house in Lou. There was sardock growing in her back yard and I asked if I could have some. They had never had greens, city folk. She told Patty, make sure he eats some first, said the same thing about mushrooms later.
Another day we were at the Ohio river and I started gathering greens in a big grocery bag. An old black gent came over and asked what I wa doing, I told him I was gathering sardock for greens. He said, mister, I was raised in the country and I never seen anybody eat them things, are you serious?? I assured him I was and gave him a bag so he could gather some too. On the large CLEAN leaves I gently pinch at the bottom of the leaf and strip it leaving the tough stem. Add poke and dandelion leaves and it's mighty fine eating. My Dad used to add lambsquarter too, but I can't remember what it looks like. POWDERMAN.

jrfrmn · « **Reply #19 on:** March 05, 2011, 08:13:41 PM »

Quote from: Bugflipper on March 01, 2011, 07:29:43 PM

I really don't know powderman. My cookbook states root, stalks, berries and mature leaves are poison. The old timers had a certain date to pick by before the poison came up to the leaves. There after 3 changes of water during cooking. I just go by the cookbook which supports the old wives tales. But my sheep will eat the berries, leaves and stalks without getting sick. So the old info can be a little off. I just cook it the old way just in case.

Your book is right! My Mother and Grandmother always said to pick only the young shoots each year before they turn purple in color. Everything else is poison. Which book do you have.

Bugflipper · « **Reply #20 on:** March 05, 2011, 10:22:28 PM »

It is an old homesteaders cookbook from the 1860's. It belonged to my great grandmother's family. Funny how things have changed. It is very interesting to read about food storage before refrigeration. One thing it says is to put charcoal dust in the duck's feathers, making sure to get good skin contact and it will keep 2-3 days at market if hanging under shade with a slight breeze. Now they claim fowl outside of the refrigerator for a few minutes will poison the whole family.

blind ear · « **Reply #21 on:** March 06, 2011, 09:25:41 AM »

I believe the charcoal dust was to keep the Blow flies from laying eggs. Have read where black pepper can be used the same way on a deer carcas if no cooling is readily available.

One way that was used to get quail ready to cook was to strig them through thier heads on a line in the shade and don't dress them until the bodys started to drop. ear

powderman · « **Reply #22 on:** March 07, 2011, 04:23:59 PM »

BUGFLIPPER. WOW, that would sure be an interesting book to read. POWDERMAN.

Ranger J · « **Reply #23 on:** March 08, 2011, 04:59:09 AM »

It's funny what people will or will not eat. My father came from Oklahoma in the 1930s to Illinois where he met my mother and got married. Mom's family hunted and ate morel mushrooms. My did said he watched the eat them for years before he tried them because he was sure they were all going to drop dead from them. Once he tried them he became a dedicated morel hunter and eater.

I have become interested in identifying and eating other eatable mushrooms other than morels the last few years. One of my favorites is black trumpets. I have friends that refuse to touch them as they are sure anything that shape and color are bound to be poison.

Once you put these on pizza or in spaghetti you will never go back to store bought mushrooms again.

RJ

jcn59 · « **Reply #24 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:21:56 PM »

Being a city person, I have been diligently poisoning my dandelions for several years. So if I decide to eat the new recruits this spring, do you suppose I will croak?

I AM going to try some even if I have to eat someone elses dandelions.

30calflash · « **Reply #25 on:** May 22, 2011, 06:02:33 PM »

I tried some a few weeks ago, first time. I went with getting the younger? leaves before they bloom. A slight bitter taste, not bad at all. FWIW I picked them instead of spraying them with some stuff that you have to go out of town to buy. Worked for me.
Is it worth chasing them down thru the summer or only early season worth taking? Just curious.