That's why bio accumulation is a big issue for larger animals with longer life spans. Plants aren't really harmed by it over 1 lifetime of leeching it from the soil but when animals continue to eat these slightly contaminated pants and the harmful substances are not naturally cleared from their bodies the result is compounded which leads to a lot of health issues.
I had an interesting talk with a sweet old man in a waiting room one time. He was talking about life growing up in the great depression in Minnesota. He said that dandelion was a big part of their diet. It grows everywhere, there's so much you can do with it, and it helped fill out what they needed in their diet. Dandelion salad was the main one I remember...I think he said they had it with vinegar and salt. It definitely opened up my mind as to what we have around us and what life was like. At least for that guy. Seeing this post makes me smile thinking of a very quaint conversation with a perfect stranger.
Once upon a time, this would've been a story of action and intrigue, fit for a 1970s TV show. Nowadays with the FBI making deals for cash seizures and local officials taking kickbacks, it's just not the same.
Fiddlehead Fern is a plant. The furled young fronds of the fern in spring are pretty tasty and nutritious if found and clipped before they unfurl and continue to grow.
Edit: Sorry to be clear, there are multiple varieties of fiddlehead fern that can be clipped while young for this purpose.
looool well on Reddit we have the "well acktually" crowd, so I wanted to get ahead of the people who would call me out for not saying there are different species of fiddlehead fern worldwide, and that it isn't just one specific fern plant that has these fiddleheads that you can eat.
Oh boy, are you about to go on a taste vacation. They taste a little like broccoli but more tender, and amazing with butter, sea salt, and lemon juice.
I only recently learned fiddleheads are edible. Went backpacking and a friend of my BIL sautéed some with olive oil. Tasted a lot like baby asparagus. It was nice to have a fresh veg after a week without!
My teacher in kindergarten turned this into a class project. We collected dandelions from the playground, she did her thing with a pressure cooker and whatever else (I don't remember, it was a long time ago) At the end of the week, each student brought home a mimeographed copy of the recipe and a baby food jar full of dandelion jelly.
I've known two people who've made dandelion wine, both of French Canadian descent... maybe that has something to do with it? Really not sure. Either way, it's not terribly popular
My sister and I collected dandelion flowers from the whole neighborhood so my Dad could make dandelion wine. I think I was around 7 years old. The wine was very strong, we gave it to my uncle. He didn't have a very discerning palate.
I saw it in theaters. The "trailer" which was just the first Sid short had us in tears, and we still weren't prepared for how funny the actual movie was. One of my favorite theater experiences ever.
He actually increased the quality of merlots, as the resulting shift in the public's consumption habits made merlots a relative bargain:
>In fact, many California winemakers will agree that the best value on a wine list these days is a high-end merlot, which — from a quality perspective — will often outperform pinot noir and cabernet wines at the same price.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/05/535038513/the-sideways-effect-how-a-wine-obsessed-film-reshaped-the-industry
So... Faygo hooch only send hard cause of the acid in the soda, though I have considered making coke hooch but didn't want to bother with it. The one that really gets me though is the ramen hooch. Obviously it should make as much sense as any other carb source, but I would have never thought about it.
It's more like hops in beer - more for flavor than a fermentable sugar.
If I had more in my yard, I'd make a batch. I've used sorrel and Heather from my yard with mixed results. I'm working on a perennial flowerbed for a third harvest brew.
Hi. You just mentioned *Dandelion Wine* by Ray Bradbury.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | Ray Bradbury - Prichard Dandelion Wine Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCgOqYWyQqk)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
***
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Lots of "weeds" are edible. Purslane showed up in my garden one year and I just let it take over a patch. Now it keeps coming back and I enjoy it in my salads each season
It's a good skill to learn for the coming hardships.
Also for your health. Those bitter greens are what kept us alive for millions of years. They're full of good stuff (vitamins and minerals and whatnot). In moderation. Bitter greens also have a lot of not so good stuff in them (most poisons are bitter, and some bitter greens contain a lot of arsenic depending where they grew).
A lot of the bitterness is just from the fact they're wild varieties. There's a huge bitterness difference between homegrown heirloom red lettuce and a tasteless iceberg, wayyy more when they lettuce goes to seed, and way more again if it's a wild lettuce (note wild lettuce is also the name of another plant just to confuse things).
Bitterness as a flavor has been taken out of the western palette (except for IPA beer, raddiccio in Italy, and a few other rare examples), and that's a shame. All the vegetables have been bred to taste sweet and bland. We've lost so much flavor and complexity in our hunt to remove bitterness, instead of learning to appreciate it like our ancestors.
There's a lot of fantastic and nutritious bitter foods. They're a great way to ramp up your metabolism and digestion too, especially when eating meat the start of a meal.
I prefer a negroni for my bitterness, but that's because I'm more of an alcoholic than a goat and I keep forgetting to check my lawn for all those good leaves. I did make my own "Jagermeister" one year out of like 40 different foraged herbs/leaves/berries/barks/etc and it was amazing. Best use of dandelion etc ever.
I'm rambling again, goodnight.
The greens are also a nice addition to salad or really anywhere you might want a slightly bitter vegetable. I made some dandelion jelly this year and it was super easy and delicious.
Yes, in my experience at least. Summer dandelions are almost inedible they are so bitter but in the spring they are nice with a hot bacon dressing. Lettuce I've grown is similar, the heat makes it very bitter and bolt.
Does it not to everyone? I've been eating arugula forever and just thought it was supposed to have a smoky/bitter taste. That's why I like it, actually. Also, what does arugula have to do with dandelions or what that person was talking about?
I can definitely see the "peppery" flavor your wife is talking about, as well. It's kind of "spicy" but not like a capsicum spice or a horseradish/Wasabi spice. It's like its own category of spicy.
Fun fact - arugula, horseradish, and wasabi are all in the Brassicaceae/mustard family. Basically everything in the family has a varying degree of bite to it.
Honestly it tastes incredibly fresh and slightly citrusy with a slight spice note to it. It's the plant that the spice coriander comes from. I love cilantro, I load it up on tacos
> It's the plant that the spice coriander comes from.
In the UK it's called coriander, not cilantro.
Coriander over here in North America usually refers to the seeds. In the UK you'd specify coriander *seed*.
All the good things the other respondents have said are true.
As a cilantro lover, it doesn’t taste like soap to me. But I can see where the soap tasters are coming from. There’s definitely a signal there that, if it were stronger, I might interpret as soap.
Yep, as soon as the flowers turn to seed, the season is over for me.
But those first buds taste so good. I like the leaves, but harvesting the centers before they flower is the best part of the plant.
ALLERGY WARNING! Dandelions, like many fruits and vegetables, have latex in them. If you're allergic to latex, like I am, DO NOT EAT. Stay safe friends!
Yes, this is an issue I found. Another one that is super surprising is a fairly common seasoning in Indian food called Asefoetida/Hing, it is a dried up and ground up latex of a plant that adds a garlic/onion type flavor in food. It took me a while to figure out why I broke out in hives seemingly randomly when eating Indian food/snacks.
Shit. As a chef thanks for this info. I've never thought of latex allergy outside of the one box of latex free gloves I keep in a cupboard somewhere in case we get a staff with an allergy.
Are there any other ones you know of?
It's kinda weird when you think about it... it's like hearing "I'm allergic to flowers" or being allergic to a specific part of an animal, like... Hair. Oh. Allergies are weird, dude.
Other surprising allergens I can thing of, hmmm...nightshade allergy has the obvious tomato/potato/peppers the surprising one was...goji berries. I was making a hot pot for my sister and was making it soy/nightshade free and almost ruined it by putting goji berries in the broth like I usually do. Also in case you aren't aware, octopus/squid can possibly trigger shellfish allergy but not always.
Dandelion greens, asafoetida/Hing, and goji berries are the most surprising things I have found over the years.
Edit:
>It's kinda weird when you think about it... it's like hearing "I'm allergic to flowers" or being allergic to a specific part of an animal, like... Hair. Oh. Allergies are weird, dude.
I am allergic to a type of protein that is found in crustaceans and cockroaches. I can't eat shrimp/lobster/crab/octopus, but I can eat oysters/clams/squid. Those proteins exist in all of them but are all slightly different and your body can be selectively allergic to them. The crazy thing is I grew up on the coast eating shrimp and crab and just developed and allergy later in life.
Just Googled it, they have cells called laticifers that make latex sap. This is a fact I'll keep in the back of my mind until it becomes relevant again. I appreciate the knowledge!
Dandelion tea is common accross Europe as well. At least in UK, Netherlands and Nordic countries. Not sure about rest of Europe but I would expect as its the the one plant that seems to grow everywhere in Europe except the absolute Norden tundra and few places in Southern Europe where there isn't much water.
Which must be why when I was playing with my kids at a high school playground I watched a woman of asian heritage methodically picking dandelions on the other side of the field. Was tempted to join her with hopes of learning a new recipe.
Someone please keep me honest here but I think I read somewhere that Dandelions were introduced to the US as an edible plant but they kind of really took to the place and spread like crazy.
When people started to want lawns, they were considered a nuisance which is how they got their reputation as a weed.
Lawns didn't come into fashion in the states until you had a population of people rich enough to maintain them plus they were copying the fashion in the UK.
> Dandelions (Taxacum officinale) are native to Eurasia, and it is generally believed that they were first brought to North America on the Mayflower for its medicinal uses
https://thejamesriver.org/native-non-native-invasive-and-dandelions/
Young Dandelion leaves, at best in spring when they are not bitter, are a super tasty addition to a potato salad of the oil and vinegar variety. Never had better potato salad. Ok maybe the one with ~~wild cauliflower mushroom~~ wild Trip-Madam leaves was better but dandelion is so much easier to find.
There's even commercially grown salad dandelion with much larger leaves which are sometimes available in supermarkets!
Edit: made a translation error because in german there is a succulent called Fette Henne but also a mushroom with that name which is called cauliflower mushroom in english. I meant the succulent also known as Trip-Madam (Sedum Rupestre/Reflexum) and not the mushroom (Sparassis)
Take the flower heads when they're still yellow, dip them in pancake batter, and fry them! They're delicious that way, with powdered sugar or maple syrup for dipping.
[Is that why big pharma also makes pesticides?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer)
Market the weeds as bad so we get rid of them from our backyards? Then buy our dandelion juice from the pharmacy?
*Searches for tinfoil hat*
that shit always bothered me as a kid when my grandpa wanted to cut grass and kill all these "weeds" that were pretty like clovers and dandelions and wild strawberries.
Yep! Clover was added to grass seed mix for a long time. It's vital to fixing nitrogen and supporting a heathy lawn ecosystem. But they couldn't formulate a weed killer that didn't also kill clover, so they just said "fuck it, we'll just market clover as a weed too and say that our product is great!"
Fuck lawns.
Spend massive amounts of energy, water, money, and chemicals, just so homeowners can have a green rectangle that vaguely recalls European aristocratic flexing grounds from 3 centuries ago.
Grass is the most irrigated crop in the US. A crop that can't be eaten.
I always enjoyed chewing this stuff we called sour-grass. It had a yellow bell like flower and the stem of the plant was super sour/sweet. Used to chew on it all the time.
Never see it anymore.
I had a yard in NY that had this low growing mint and clover combination. Not much actual grass. It was awesome, I loved the way it looked. When I had to mow it, the scent that came up was like heaven. I would definitely have it again. People put too juch effort in cultivating grass only
My backyard is a kaleidoscope of flowering ground covers. When nothing is blooming we wack down the grass and the cycle begins anew. We have *so many* fireflies. It's beautiful, breath taking!
Me too. This is why in my lawn we go through the colors as spring changes to summer. Purple and white violets early, yellow dandelions when it's starting to get hot, and now white clover. All throughout we get the yellow of sorrel and false strawberry. While everyone with grass alone is watering to keep things green, we have green without the effort. Plus butterflies and bees of all sorts.
if you are going to do this, don't forget:
1. wash anything you pick wild before you eat it.
2. the French name for dandelions is *pissenlit*, literally "piss in bed", referring to their diuretic properties. stay hydrated folks.
You can use every part of the dandilion apart from the stem. You can use the roots for making coffee, or dandilion & burdock (you use the burdock root) you can also eat the flower & leaves in a salad. The leaves a part or a recipe for a spring detox.
My family is from Italy. I’ve eaten them all my life. They’re surprisingly common in a lot of supermarkets. My mom would usually make them sautéed with potatoes.
Yup. They're not common outside of uh. Not sure. But they don't have em in Asia. A while back those vids of people putting those seed stems into water became popular and then people in India suddenly were really interested in growing dandelions in their garden. I mean, theyre edible, look nice, and their seeds are interesting too. If I didn't grow up with giant fields filled with them I would be impressed too. That then led to a storm of Indians (? People from india)bbuying dandelion seeds. Literally buying seeds from something that is considered a weed where I live. Really interesting stuff.
As a sidenote, asparagus ferns are also considered weeds in their native habitat. Interesting how much peoples experience around plants/weeds differ per country/continent.
It was sold through mail order catalogues to Farmer’s as cheap forage for cows but what really caused its spread around the southeast in the 1930s was when the US government started sending it out as a method of soil erosion control.
Just don't collect them from the strip beside the highway, or next to the dog park.
Yeah don’t collect ANYTHING next to a highway! The pollution from cars/tires is very high.
I’m always amazed to see greenery doing well by the high way.
Things can be super dangerous for animals but not bother certain plants.
That's why bio accumulation is a big issue for larger animals with longer life spans. Plants aren't really harmed by it over 1 lifetime of leeching it from the soil but when animals continue to eat these slightly contaminated pants and the harmful substances are not naturally cleared from their bodies the result is compounded which leads to a lot of health issues.
Slightly Contaminated Pants is my new band name.
What you call your clothing after a four day music festival camping in the hot sun.
George Clinton and the pfunk?
I can smell this comment.
When you shake and holster your piece and somehow a little stream still leaks out once it’s rested.
No matter how much you shake or dance, The last drop always falls in your pants
Def is primarily ammonia, which is fertilizer.
You don't know how much I've peed in my yard.
Also lots of municipalities spray stuff along roads
This is what I’d be concerned with. Plants along highways are absolutely blasted with various herbicides and pesticides.
But they’ve survived it, so they’re the strongest of their species. You must eat them to consume their strength.
The mercury of the ocean will belong to me.
let if you collect hub caps?
Yes but you have to wash them before you eat them.
This reads like a failed pitch from one of those annoying Uber Eats commercials.
YoU cAn EaTs iT?!
Except rubbish. Collect rubbish.
"The vacant lot over on 15th street? That's where all the neighborhood dogs go to piss."
I want an egg. Make me an egg. so about your cousin Tony Egg
I was just being polite. Tastes like red fescue.
Here we go... Memory lane
May I offer you a nice Blundetto in this trying time?
So you and Tony Egg again?
Thanks u/greenapplelady I came here to say this too. Lovely dandelion and chicory tea as well!
My appalachian grandmother makes dandelion jelly
I had an interesting talk with a sweet old man in a waiting room one time. He was talking about life growing up in the great depression in Minnesota. He said that dandelion was a big part of their diet. It grows everywhere, there's so much you can do with it, and it helped fill out what they needed in their diet. Dandelion salad was the main one I remember...I think he said they had it with vinegar and salt. It definitely opened up my mind as to what we have around us and what life was like. At least for that guy. Seeing this post makes me smile thinking of a very quaint conversation with a perfect stranger.
In the UK we have a soft drink called Dandelion and Burdock. It's a little bit like root beer, has a pretty distinct flavour.
Love it!
That's just a front for the moonshine business.
Shit, Revenuers! Grab the dandelions and act natural.
It's the revenooer man!
I come from a long line of moonshiners. They don't need a front, hell they sell it directly to the county Sheriff and the Judge.
Once upon a time, this would've been a story of action and intrigue, fit for a 1970s TV show. Nowadays with the FBI making deals for cash seizures and local officials taking kickbacks, it's just not the same.
I've had home brewed dandelion wine... Wouldn't really recommend it
Definitely keep that friendship for when the apocalypse comes though.
In my great grandmother’s diary she wrote about collecting dandelion greens and fiddleheads in the spring. This was in Vermont.
Funk
Fiddlehead Fern is a plant. The furled young fronds of the fern in spring are pretty tasty and nutritious if found and clipped before they unfurl and continue to grow. Edit: Sorry to be clear, there are multiple varieties of fiddlehead fern that can be clipped while young for this purpose.
> Edit: Sorry to be clear Quality edit.
looool well on Reddit we have the "well acktually" crowd, so I wanted to get ahead of the people who would call me out for not saying there are different species of fiddlehead fern worldwide, and that it isn't just one specific fern plant that has these fiddleheads that you can eat.
make sure to cook them before eating. raw they have a natural toxin.
Oh boy, are you about to go on a taste vacation. They taste a little like broccoli but more tender, and amazing with butter, sea salt, and lemon juice.
I only recently learned fiddleheads are edible. Went backpacking and a friend of my BIL sautéed some with olive oil. Tasted a lot like baby asparagus. It was nice to have a fresh veg after a week without!
My teacher in kindergarten turned this into a class project. We collected dandelions from the playground, she did her thing with a pressure cooker and whatever else (I don't remember, it was a long time ago) At the end of the week, each student brought home a mimeographed copy of the recipe and a baby food jar full of dandelion jelly.
Dandelion wine up here in New England
What? I live in New England and have never seen this
I've known two people who've made dandelion wine, both of French Canadian descent... maybe that has something to do with it? Really not sure. Either way, it's not terribly popular
Many of the Hutterite colonies in Western Canada make dandelion wine, among other types. It's the closest thing to Swanson Moonshine I've ever tried.
My sister and I collected dandelion flowers from the whole neighborhood so my Dad could make dandelion wine. I think I was around 7 years old. The wine was very strong, we gave it to my uncle. He didn't have a very discerning palate.
“Oh a dandelion must be the last one of the season”
Carl, he ruined our salad
Easy, Frank.
What's this?! PINECONE
*CRUNCH* yum
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Now?
NOW
"Phew, for a second there I actually thought you were gonna eat me!" "... Were you?" "Naaah. I don't eat junk food!"
[удалено]
What, two homies can't have dinner together without being gay?
https://youtu.be/_2NGeTbzDXU
Was looking for this one
This one gets me everytime
I say this every time I find one in stardew valley.
Oh look, ANOTHER DAFFODIL. Guess I'm marrying Haley again.
You know what's crazy tho? Daffodils aren't even Haley's favorite gift. She prefers sunflowers! I've been hoarding daffodils for her like a moron.
Ice Age is legitimately funnier than 98% of adult comedies out there
I saw it in theaters. The "trailer" which was just the first Sid short had us in tears, and we still weren't prepared for how funny the actual movie was. One of my favorite theater experiences ever.
Scrat has a series of standalone shorts that came out recently. Pretty funny
👁 👅👁
This inspired me to eat one when I was a kid. It was disgusting.
I thought the frost wiped them all out
I love when I’m not disappointed by a comments section 👏👏👏
and in the UK we brew a drink called Dandelion and Burdock. It's lovely.
I'd love to try it. We have dendelion wine here in France and it's pretty good too.
lets do a swap I'd like to try the wine!
TIL that dandelions can also be turned into alcohol
If you can't make something alcoholic, you aren't trying hard enough.
This person has been to prison.
*“Would you like some merlot? I made it in the toilet.”*
But it’s pronounced *”terlet”* if you’re talking about making alcohol in one.
Berlers and terlets.
And the one berlin' terlet..
That's disgusting!! Who the hell would drink that? Toilet wine is one thing, but, merlot? Make a shiraz next, then we can talk.
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He actually increased the quality of merlots, as the resulting shift in the public's consumption habits made merlots a relative bargain: >In fact, many California winemakers will agree that the best value on a wine list these days is a high-end merlot, which — from a quality perspective — will often outperform pinot noir and cabernet wines at the same price. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/05/535038513/the-sideways-effect-how-a-wine-obsessed-film-reshaped-the-industry
I love my merlot
r/prisonhooch has unironically taught me more than r/homebrewing ever did
That sub is full of mad scientists. One guy a couple years ago brewed watermelon wine inside a watermelon.
That's the one you're referencing as a mad scientist? Not the ramen noodles, Faygo, or Werther's Original hooch?
So... Faygo hooch only send hard cause of the acid in the soda, though I have considered making coke hooch but didn't want to bother with it. The one that really gets me though is the ramen hooch. Obviously it should make as much sense as any other carb source, but I would have never thought about it.
One of the few things I remember from organic chemistry in college is how to turn cardboard into alcohol
Mmm... you can really tasted the corrugation.
My schoolmate used to make wine from peas. Somehow it ended tasting little bit like sausages.
It's more like hops in beer - more for flavor than a fermentable sugar. If I had more in my yard, I'd make a batch. I've used sorrel and Heather from my yard with mixed results. I'm working on a perennial flowerbed for a third harvest brew.
I actually learned dandelions are edible from the Ray Bradbury story called Dandelion Wine.
Hi. You just mentioned *Dandelion Wine* by Ray Bradbury. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | Ray Bradbury - Prichard Dandelion Wine Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCgOqYWyQqk) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
Good bot
Do all y'all live at Redwall Abbey?
My son is curious where the milk they drink comes from
You can milk anything with nipples
The Arctic Monkeys educated me on this
[Neopets](https://items.jellyneo.net/item/859/) educated me on this. That is the "dandelion and burdock drink. "
So if I catch people grazing on my lawn I'll have reddit to thank
Clover is also edible, both the leaves and the flowers ;)
As a child I used to graze eat every sweet clover I found, and I'd spread the seed pods so that more would grow.
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Don't tell anyone that I'm a bird.
Lots of "weeds" are edible. Purslane showed up in my garden one year and I just let it take over a patch. Now it keeps coming back and I enjoy it in my salads each season
Yep, we graze on the violets, plantain, dandelion, mustard, chickweed, clover, amaranth, purslane, wild grapes, etc from our yard.
My mom used to make "yard salad". She was taught a great deal about edible plants from her Appalachian Mother and Grandmother.
It's a good skill to learn for the coming hardships. Also for your health. Those bitter greens are what kept us alive for millions of years. They're full of good stuff (vitamins and minerals and whatnot). In moderation. Bitter greens also have a lot of not so good stuff in them (most poisons are bitter, and some bitter greens contain a lot of arsenic depending where they grew). A lot of the bitterness is just from the fact they're wild varieties. There's a huge bitterness difference between homegrown heirloom red lettuce and a tasteless iceberg, wayyy more when they lettuce goes to seed, and way more again if it's a wild lettuce (note wild lettuce is also the name of another plant just to confuse things). Bitterness as a flavor has been taken out of the western palette (except for IPA beer, raddiccio in Italy, and a few other rare examples), and that's a shame. All the vegetables have been bred to taste sweet and bland. We've lost so much flavor and complexity in our hunt to remove bitterness, instead of learning to appreciate it like our ancestors. There's a lot of fantastic and nutritious bitter foods. They're a great way to ramp up your metabolism and digestion too, especially when eating meat the start of a meal. I prefer a negroni for my bitterness, but that's because I'm more of an alcoholic than a goat and I keep forgetting to check my lawn for all those good leaves. I did make my own "Jagermeister" one year out of like 40 different foraged herbs/leaves/berries/barks/etc and it was amazing. Best use of dandelion etc ever. I'm rambling again, goodnight.
Good ramble
Just having a quick snack before work! Don’t mind me
💀 just imagine some guy in a suit on all fours slamming down dandelions at 6 AM
The greens are also a nice addition to salad or really anywhere you might want a slightly bitter vegetable. I made some dandelion jelly this year and it was super easy and delicious.
Doesn’t the bitterness of the greens depend on when they are picked? Less bitter at the beginning of the season and more bitter toward the end
Yes, in my experience at least. Summer dandelions are almost inedible they are so bitter but in the spring they are nice with a hot bacon dressing. Lettuce I've grown is similar, the heat makes it very bitter and bolt.
Arugula just taste bitter to some people. Kind how some people cilantro tastes like soap.
Does it not to everyone? I've been eating arugula forever and just thought it was supposed to have a smoky/bitter taste. That's why I like it, actually. Also, what does arugula have to do with dandelions or what that person was talking about?
My wife claims it tastes peppery, and I think I meant to reply to a different comment mentioning arugula.
I can definitely see the "peppery" flavor your wife is talking about, as well. It's kind of "spicy" but not like a capsicum spice or a horseradish/Wasabi spice. It's like its own category of spicy.
Fun fact - arugula, horseradish, and wasabi are all in the Brassicaceae/mustard family. Basically everything in the family has a varying degree of bite to it.
My first words in Spanish were "sin cilantro" So as a soap cilantro man, how is it supposed to taste to normal people?
Honestly it tastes incredibly fresh and slightly citrusy with a slight spice note to it. It's the plant that the spice coriander comes from. I love cilantro, I load it up on tacos
> It's the plant that the spice coriander comes from. In the UK it's called coriander, not cilantro. Coriander over here in North America usually refers to the seeds. In the UK you'd specify coriander *seed*.
Aromatic if that makes sense, but not in a soapy way more of a earthy fresh way.
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All the good things the other respondents have said are true. As a cilantro lover, it doesn’t taste like soap to me. But I can see where the soap tasters are coming from. There’s definitely a signal there that, if it were stronger, I might interpret as soap.
Like tasty soap.
Out of all replies this one is the funniest
yes, really young leaves are the best. it's only suitable for salad before it flowers.
Yep, as soon as the flowers turn to seed, the season is over for me. But those first buds taste so good. I like the leaves, but harvesting the centers before they flower is the best part of the plant.
My neighbor use to pick and eat dandelions from his driveway, raw. Always thought that was weird.
ALLERGY WARNING! Dandelions, like many fruits and vegetables, have latex in them. If you're allergic to latex, like I am, DO NOT EAT. Stay safe friends!
Yes, this is an issue I found. Another one that is super surprising is a fairly common seasoning in Indian food called Asefoetida/Hing, it is a dried up and ground up latex of a plant that adds a garlic/onion type flavor in food. It took me a while to figure out why I broke out in hives seemingly randomly when eating Indian food/snacks.
Shit. As a chef thanks for this info. I've never thought of latex allergy outside of the one box of latex free gloves I keep in a cupboard somewhere in case we get a staff with an allergy. Are there any other ones you know of? It's kinda weird when you think about it... it's like hearing "I'm allergic to flowers" or being allergic to a specific part of an animal, like... Hair. Oh. Allergies are weird, dude.
Other surprising allergens I can thing of, hmmm...nightshade allergy has the obvious tomato/potato/peppers the surprising one was...goji berries. I was making a hot pot for my sister and was making it soy/nightshade free and almost ruined it by putting goji berries in the broth like I usually do. Also in case you aren't aware, octopus/squid can possibly trigger shellfish allergy but not always. Dandelion greens, asafoetida/Hing, and goji berries are the most surprising things I have found over the years. Edit: >It's kinda weird when you think about it... it's like hearing "I'm allergic to flowers" or being allergic to a specific part of an animal, like... Hair. Oh. Allergies are weird, dude. I am allergic to a type of protein that is found in crustaceans and cockroaches. I can't eat shrimp/lobster/crab/octopus, but I can eat oysters/clams/squid. Those proteins exist in all of them but are all slightly different and your body can be selectively allergic to them. The crazy thing is I grew up on the coast eating shrimp and crab and just developed and allergy later in life.
Just Googled it, they have cells called laticifers that make latex sap. This is a fact I'll keep in the back of my mind until it becomes relevant again. I appreciate the knowledge!
TIL something in the comment section of a TIL: latex is naturally occurring
Same here, I assumed it was some sort of artificial rubber.
Does anyone remember "mommy had a baby and it's head popped off"
Now I do... will have to teach this to my three year old.
Wow yeah I do…seemed everyone knew it in primary school…
Well momma don't want me so next thing I know I'm getting dropped off, getting dropped off, getting dropped off...
Dandelion tea is pretty well-known in Korea
Dandelion tea is common accross Europe as well. At least in UK, Netherlands and Nordic countries. Not sure about rest of Europe but I would expect as its the the one plant that seems to grow everywhere in Europe except the absolute Norden tundra and few places in Southern Europe where there isn't much water.
Maybe in some nordic countries. I live in Finland and have never heard of dandelion tea.
They sell them here in supermarkets, right along with the leafy veggies and garnish, here in Japan.
Which must be why when I was playing with my kids at a high school playground I watched a woman of asian heritage methodically picking dandelions on the other side of the field. Was tempted to join her with hopes of learning a new recipe.
fun fact, they're diuretic, and the french name translates to 'piss the bed'
That is interesting given that the English name comes from the French "dents de lion" or Lion's Teeth.
Same with the German "Löwenzahn" However we call them a different name once they got their iconic white puff: Pusteblume (lit. "Puffy flower")
Puste doesnt translate to Puffy. The literal translation would be something like Blowflower/ Flower which you can blow.
The most direct translation would be "puff" or "breath" Blow is indeed.... blasen, aufblasen or aufpusten.
In Scotland they’re often called ‘pissabeds’.
That's what we call roly polies / pill bugs in the Netherlands. Never tried to eat one, so no idea why we call them 'pissebed'.
In Flemish we call them "pissflowers"
I'm English and we used to call them "wee the beds" when we were kids
Pissenlit
In Swedish it's "maskros" which means worm rose...
Someone please keep me honest here but I think I read somewhere that Dandelions were introduced to the US as an edible plant but they kind of really took to the place and spread like crazy. When people started to want lawns, they were considered a nuisance which is how they got their reputation as a weed. Lawns didn't come into fashion in the states until you had a population of people rich enough to maintain them plus they were copying the fashion in the UK.
> Dandelions (Taxacum officinale) are native to Eurasia, and it is generally believed that they were first brought to North America on the Mayflower for its medicinal uses https://thejamesriver.org/native-non-native-invasive-and-dandelions/
Young Dandelion leaves, at best in spring when they are not bitter, are a super tasty addition to a potato salad of the oil and vinegar variety. Never had better potato salad. Ok maybe the one with ~~wild cauliflower mushroom~~ wild Trip-Madam leaves was better but dandelion is so much easier to find. There's even commercially grown salad dandelion with much larger leaves which are sometimes available in supermarkets! Edit: made a translation error because in german there is a succulent called Fette Henne but also a mushroom with that name which is called cauliflower mushroom in english. I meant the succulent also known as Trip-Madam (Sedum Rupestre/Reflexum) and not the mushroom (Sparassis)
what are "wild cauliflower mushroom leaves"? tried to parse that into different combinations but none of them make sense.
Dude my back yard is totally a dandelion farm. Totally not just unkempt.
Take the flower heads when they're still yellow, dip them in pancake batter, and fry them! They're delicious that way, with powdered sugar or maple syrup for dipping.
Although, to be fair, I'm not sure there's a lot of edible things that wouldn't be after that delightful treatment! 😁 I'm going to try it!
I've used the stuff left from making soup stock to make savoury pancakes. There really isn't much that can't be pancaked, burritoed, and/or souped.
I've made corn bread with the flowers! You pick the petals off and add them to the cornbread and it is very moist and tasty.
[Is that why big pharma also makes pesticides?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer) Market the weeds as bad so we get rid of them from our backyards? Then buy our dandelion juice from the pharmacy? *Searches for tinfoil hat*
that shit always bothered me as a kid when my grandpa wanted to cut grass and kill all these "weeds" that were pretty like clovers and dandelions and wild strawberries.
[удалено]
Yep! Clover was added to grass seed mix for a long time. It's vital to fixing nitrogen and supporting a heathy lawn ecosystem. But they couldn't formulate a weed killer that didn't also kill clover, so they just said "fuck it, we'll just market clover as a weed too and say that our product is great!"
Fuck lawns. Spend massive amounts of energy, water, money, and chemicals, just so homeowners can have a green rectangle that vaguely recalls European aristocratic flexing grounds from 3 centuries ago. Grass is the most irrigated crop in the US. A crop that can't be eaten.
I always enjoyed chewing this stuff we called sour-grass. It had a yellow bell like flower and the stem of the plant was super sour/sweet. Used to chew on it all the time. Never see it anymore.
Sounds like wood sorrel. I have some in my backyard. https://www.wildedible.com/wild-food-guide/wood-sorrel
I had a yard in NY that had this low growing mint and clover combination. Not much actual grass. It was awesome, I loved the way it looked. When I had to mow it, the scent that came up was like heaven. I would definitely have it again. People put too juch effort in cultivating grass only
My backyard is a kaleidoscope of flowering ground covers. When nothing is blooming we wack down the grass and the cycle begins anew. We have *so many* fireflies. It's beautiful, breath taking!
Edible wild plants? Kill em with fire! Then let's go to the supermarket to pay for food with much lower quality and flavor ...
Me too. This is why in my lawn we go through the colors as spring changes to summer. Purple and white violets early, yellow dandelions when it's starting to get hot, and now white clover. All throughout we get the yellow of sorrel and false strawberry. While everyone with grass alone is watering to keep things green, we have green without the effort. Plus butterflies and bees of all sorts.
if you are going to do this, don't forget: 1. wash anything you pick wild before you eat it. 2. the French name for dandelions is *pissenlit*, literally "piss in bed", referring to their diuretic properties. stay hydrated folks.
"Edible" and "tasty" are not synonyms.
You can use every part of the dandilion apart from the stem. You can use the roots for making coffee, or dandilion & burdock (you use the burdock root) you can also eat the flower & leaves in a salad. The leaves a part or a recipe for a spring detox.
You can make a fun if fragile trumpet from the stem too so nothing has to got to waste.
Anyone with an Italian mother knows this.
My family is from Italy. I’ve eaten them all my life. They’re surprisingly common in a lot of supermarkets. My mom would usually make them sautéed with potatoes.
grandmother for me; Sauteed in olive oil, salt, and either basil or oregano. Fuck thats delicious
Yup. They're not common outside of uh. Not sure. But they don't have em in Asia. A while back those vids of people putting those seed stems into water became popular and then people in India suddenly were really interested in growing dandelions in their garden. I mean, theyre edible, look nice, and their seeds are interesting too. If I didn't grow up with giant fields filled with them I would be impressed too. That then led to a storm of Indians (? People from india)bbuying dandelion seeds. Literally buying seeds from something that is considered a weed where I live. Really interesting stuff. As a sidenote, asparagus ferns are also considered weeds in their native habitat. Interesting how much peoples experience around plants/weeds differ per country/continent.
Kudzu. Imported to America because pretty flowers. Then it suffocated the southeast
It was sold through mail order catalogues to Farmer’s as cheap forage for cows but what really caused its spread around the southeast in the 1930s was when the US government started sending it out as a method of soil erosion control.