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Dandelions are one of the best edible weeds that you find growing in your backyard. It is an important food source celebrated in both eastern and western herbalism and loved by countless cultures. This plant grows all over the world (bar the tropics), including your backyard. See here for the distribution map in Australia.

In Sydney and South-East Australia the pesky weed flowers all year round and offers a continuous supply of greens. Read below to learn how to identify this incredibly beneficial treat!

Why I love dandelions.

I have a special connection with the plant. It was the first plant that I learned to identify as a young boy growing up on a farm. At the time it was still common practice (in regional northern Italy) to harvest the seasonal blessings that are dandelions. I remember my sisters and I as kids, being sent off out into the fields, harvesting bag and a small knife on hand, to collect the young shoots of dandelion during the first warm days of spring.

Such great memories that I carry dear to my heart, so much so that still now I teach everyone how to appreciate dandelions.

If you love folk stories you will smile at this one:
I once had a guest in my workshop who was quite challenged by the act of me waving around a dandelion as I was talking about how to cook it. It turns out that she had been quite traumatised as a child by school bullies who used to chase kids with wet-the-bed (dandelions), saying that if you get touched by the plant you would wet your pants.

We laughed about it and progressed, creating a positive lived experience with the plant even though the bullies taunts were based in truth, as the plant is indeed diuretic, although not quite that potent.

How to identify dandelions.

Have you ever picked a dandelion ‘clock’ and blown it in the wind? I still do, as I’m sure many other grown ups still do to make a wish. We spread the seeds so successfully that the plant is now one of the most prolific pioneers all over the world. We all know dandelions as the yellow flowers in the field and yet there are a number of doppelgängers. Nothing to worry about as the look-alikes are also edible, but to make sure you have the right one I’ll give you a few clues.

Flower: The yellow flower of dandelions grows on a single stalk. One stalk per flower. The stalk itself is hollow like a straw.

Leaves: The plant gets its name from the shape of the leaves. It is said that they are shaped like lion’s teeth. Dandelion in french is pissenlit ( wet-the-bed, see scary story above) or dent-de-lion, which means lion’s tooth. That said, there are a few plants out there in your garden that might just look very similar to a roaring lion, including flatweed AKA catsear (hypochaeris spp.) and sowthistle (sonchus spp.). Please have a look at the images below for a comparison. Flatweed lacks the sharp edges of the dandelion and both flatweed and sowthistle have several flowers per stalk, hence they are NOT true dandelions. Dandelion has a single flower per stalk while both flatweed and sowthistle have several flower per stalk. If you make a mistake don’t worry as both are quite respected edible plants themselves, they are just not true dandies :)

How to eat dandelions

Now that you know what to look for, what to do with it? Eat it!
You can eat the whole plant: roots as a parsnip in soups or roasted; greens in salads, frittata or stir-fry and flowers in fritters or infused in honey.

Let’s start with a recipe I developed with Marnee Fox for our Forage to Feast events:

Roast Pumpkin & sauté Dandelion salad with honey and balsamic dressing

Ingredients

1/4 Cup Pumpkin Seeds, Toasted in olive oil and garlic salt.
200g of Dandelion leaves washed
1.75kg butternut pumpkin, deseeded and cut into 2cm- thick pieces

Dressing
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1.Preheat oven to 250°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Place pumpkin in a single layer on trays. Toss in olive oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Roast pumpkin, turning once, for 20 minutes or until golden and tender. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
2.Toss pumpkin seeds in oil and garlic salt and toast in moderate oven until lightly browned (approx 5 minutes)
3. Chop or tear Dandelion greens into bite-sized pieces; leaves may also be used whole, and sauté with oil in a hot pan until cooked through. Set aside.
4.Make honey and balsamic dressing: Combine honey, vinegar and oil in a screw top jar. Secure lid and shake to combine. Remove lid. Shake until well combined. If honey is not so runny, warm in saucepan before adding to jar.
5.Place Dandelion and pumpkin in a large bowl or platter. Sprinkle with roasted pumpkin seeds. Drizzle with dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Serve up with a smile.

Next we present some basics, like how to make dandelion root coffee. It is super easy, have a look at the visual recipe here or click on the image<<

The basics are:

Harvest the root whole, you will need digging tools as it goes quite deep.
Clean the root thoroughly scrubbing away all of the dirt.
Chop up the root in even sizes.
Put in the oven at the lowest setting for about 45 minutes.
Keep checking on it because if you burn the roots your coffee will not taste good.
Store in an airtight container.

And what about the flowers?

Let me entice you with Dandelion flower fritters, Appalachian style or Dandelion flower jelly? See here.

WARNING: This is a bitter herb, and lots of people find it challenging. If you are not one for bitter flavours I suggest you cook it rather than have it raw. Nothing some salt, lemon or chilly can’t fix. That said, I think we should just bring back bitter greens in our nutritional landscape for obvious health reasons including digestive aid, vitamin and mineral intake and retraining our tastebuds (let us move away from sugar please!). See here for some words about it>

Dandelions as medicine

Dandelion is regarded as the King of Detox in herbal medicine due to its abilities as a mild diuretic and laxative.
Dandelion infusions are regularly prescribed in cleansing programs and are extremely beneficial as liver and kidney tonics, but there is so much more. Dandelions are respected as a good source of anti-oxidants; they reduce cholesterol; regulate blood sugar; reduce inflammation; lower blood pressure; aid weight loss; reduce risk of cancer; boost the immune system; aid digestion and keep your skin healthy. Have a look at this website for the details and scientific data of all of this, or just go here, for a full run of what is growing in your backyard.

Let’s finish off with a great recipe for dandelion infused oil. This simple home remedy is easy to do at home, just collect the flowers and infuse them in oil. The resulting balm can be used on irritated skin to soothe sore joints or just to keep your skin healthy and toned.

So much you can do!

If you are still not confident about the plant and would like to confirm identification I suggest you post a picture on social media and tag me in. See here for Instagram and here for Facebook.

Or if you want to get a booklet detailing dandelion along with 15 more common edibles, have a look here> Only $15 + postage.

And finally, if you really want to drill down to get all of the information about what is growing in your yard, I provide Edible Backyard Mapping.
I come to you, assess your yard, name the valuable plants growing there, map them and provide a full report with details on each including recipes and remedies. Details here>

Your garden is full of wonderful things. You just need a name and take the time to get to know them!

Woohoo! I love weeds!

5 recipes for your dandelion weeds.