So as I mentioned the other day in my post about using the wild onion grass, Mark and I are both foraging newbies. So for the second attempt at foraging, I went for another plant that I was 100% confident I could identify. Really, all of us who have ever lived somewhere with a yard can probably identify the pesky dandelion.
My backyard was full of them, and I almost felt bad pulling them out of the ground when I saw honeybees landing on them. The only reason I did, was because the yard needed a good mowing, and if I didn’t use the dandelions, no one was going to. So, I scooted around the yard on my lunch break, and picked the leaves, flowers, and unopened buds. Here’s what we did with them!
The greens are pretty straightforward. I cleaned them really well, then sautéed them with some butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, and some of those wild onions that I still had left in the fridge. I’ve heard that dandelion greens can be quite bitter, but also heard that if it was early in the season, that probably wouldn’t be such a problem. That was wrong. They were bitter. And maybe that’s just because we weren’t used to eating them, and seasoned foragers wouldn’t have thought they were too bad. But next time I try to cook them, I’m going to blanch them in some lightly salted water, which is supposed to remove some of the bitterness.
Next, for the flowers. Some people eat these raw in salads, or I believe make tea with them once dried. But I saw a video on TikTok that I just had to try. This guy soaked the flowers in a saltwater brine to remove any creepy crawlies, then tossed them in flower, added an egg and some salt, and fried them up in a pan, almost like a crab cake or something. I did the same thing, and can see how that might be good. But neither Mark nor I finished our cake. They weren’t very flavorful, and I think the flour/egg/flower ratio was kind of off, because they were kind of dry and doughy. Next time, I would try them with less flour and more egg, and probably put them on a nice toasted bun with some aioli and a tomato slice.
Finally, I heard that you can make dandelion capers with the tight buds that haven’t opened yet! So I currently have some of those brining in the fridge in some cider vinegar, salt, water, a little sugar, and a few other spices. I’ll let you know how those turn out later!
As with just about everything on this blog, it was a learning process. The good news is, it wasn’t a terrible enough experience to make me not want to try again. In fact, I already noticed a few bright yellow blooms popping back up in the yard… See you next time!
Mark & Beth's Homegrown Adventure 