Dandelions

[Guest guest]

With spring here and dandelions blooming I thought this was a good article. Dandelion - the Ubiquitous Forgotten Healer

By Sheelagh Mackenzie-Salas Those dandelions you see blooming prodigiously outside your window have a history as colorful as their blooms. Dandelion is found in the materia medica of all the major herbal traditions. It occupies an important place in Chinese medicine, in Ayurvedic medicine and in European herbal medicine. Dandelion heals us in a number of different ways and with some easy manipulations it makes a great food.

The ability of dandelion to heal has been known by us for a vast expanse of time, probably since the dawn of humans and perhaps even before that. Dandelion, an honoured food and medicine, how did it drop so far in its status to become an annoying weed in our minds?

That story began in the late 1600's in Europe. Doctors were discovering a lot about the workings of the human body, the circulation of the blood for example. They felt that old ideas of how the body worked were archaic and university trained doctors turned their backs on herbal medicine. In a bid for power and control these doctors, along with the clergy of the church, began the movement to take healing out of the hands of the women and this eventually lead to the burning of what is estimated to be millions of women herbal healers and midwives. This tragic piece of human history very understandably made people reluctant to seek out herbal remedies, including the healing abilities of dandelion. Dandelion and all herbs as remedies were no longer mainstream in Europe.

But because so many people in Europe in the 1700 and 1800s still lived rurally and had little access to hospital care, herbal medicine still had grassroots loyalty. And in the mass movement of Europeans to the new world, settlers brought with them many herbs to use as medicines. Plantain, chickweed, St. s wort and dandelion were among these medicinal herbs, which served the pioneers well, in a land where doctors and markets were few, far between or non-existent. These plants proliferated as intently as the settlers themselves, and in the case of dandelion, reached the west coast ahead of the human migration.

Forests were cut down and agriculture grew and became more mechanized, huge monocultures created problems as well as lots of food. Most people couldn’t see the costs. One of the costs was that by the late 1960s small backyard gardens and tiny mixed farms were made obsolete by factory food. This is when the dandelion really took a beating. We were all supposed to expect "perfect food" from the supermarket and our lawns were supposed to be "perfect". Everyone was trying hard to eliminate dandelions from their lawns and flower gardens, from their sidewalks and their roof gutters. How quickly we forgot (were encouraged to forget) that dandelion was a food and a medicine.

Luckily, the dandelion, so incredibly prolific, stood its ground, small sentinels waving their yellow banners as if saying it’s not enough, all that poison, to kill us all, and we will stand peacefully waiting for you to listen.

Dandelion has the ability to heal us. The leaf and spring dug root is a powerful diuretic and so can be used to alleviate fluid congestion.It is also high in potassium which is a mineral often lost from the body when allopathic diuretics are used. The fall dug root is a bitter tonic which stimulates the flow of bile from the liver and gallbladder. This increased bile flow increases the efficiency of digestion and acts as a laxative. The root or the whole plant (leaves and root) dug in the fall decrease enlarged liver, gallbladder and spleen. The inulin contained within the fall dug root is a blood sugar balancer and can be used in the treatment of adult onset diabetes. Dandelion root or whole plant can also be used as an antibacterial and antifungal medicine useful in the treatment of candida and other infections. The whole plant preparation is also known as a blood purifier or alterative which refers to the plants ability to alter the human system towards a state of balance and

health.

As a food plant dandelion needs just a few adjustments, mainly to decrease its bitterness to be a fine food packed full of minerals and vitamins. Gather the leaves (which are less bitter and more tender before flowering), chop and boil in water for 5 minutes, change the water and boil again for 5 minutes. Drain and use the greens in any of your recipes that call for cooked spinach or nettles. Think lasagna, spanakopita, potato and dandelion and cheese patties. You can also use the raw greens in fresh juices like apple and carrot. Dandelion and ginger juice is very good. Marinated dandelion crowns can be made by collecting 20 crowns (the part where the root meets the leaf) clean and boil for 5 minutes, drain and add more water and boil for 5 more minutes. Cool and put in a bowl and add oil, vinegar or lemon juice, garlic and braggs or soya sauce and let sit for at least two hours or overnight and serve like marinated artichoke hearts.

Since dandelion blooms abound right now I cannot resist ending this article by giving you a recipe for dandelion wine.

1 gallon dandelion petals 4 lbs sugar

1 gallon water 1 tablespoon yeast

4 oranges 1 lb chopped raisins

2 lemons 1 slice of toast.

2 inches fresh ginger

Pinch the flowers from the heads. Place them in a pot, add the water and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Simmer for 30 minutes. Strain and while still hot add the sugar, shredded ginger, shredded orange and lemon rinds and the juice of these fruits and the raisins. Stir and let cool. When nearly cool to room temp add a little water to the yeast to make a paste and spread that on the cold toast and float this in your liquid. Cover and leave for three days. Decant the liquid into a large jar and cover with a cheesecloth until bubbles almost stop, bottle and cork and let age for at least 8 months.

Sheelagh Mackenzie-Salas runs the West Coast Botanical School of Herbal Studies on Denman Island.

Suzi

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

http://suziesgoats.wholefoodfarmacy.com/__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

[] so i'm trying my first batch of dandelion wine, sort of by the recipe in

wild fermentation. has anyone here pickled the dandelion flowers? i imagine

the greens would ferment well, like cabbage or other greens?

any tips for good dandelion wine? is it necessary to remove all the green

from the flower?

[Mike] Funny, I was just about to start a batch of dandelion

wine/vinegar this week too! My copy of Wild Fermentation is on loan

at the moment, so I don't have that to refer to, but I'm gonna try

making water kefir with it and letting it sit a few weeks to see how

it is.

I was talking to an older guy just the other week about this and he

said he used to make huge batches of dandelion wine all the time. His

recipe is to steep the flowers for about 45 minutes, drain, and then

add sugar and yeast. He said honey was the best sugar source in terms

of flavor. I think he was referring to generic dried yeast.

I asked about just leaving the flowers in for the fermentation and he

said that in that case you'd want to remove the little green things

just below the flower to prevent them from making the brew too bitter,

but it sounds like he always used the steeping/draining method.

I wonder if it would work without adding yeast or heating the flowers?

Well, I've got dandelions to spare, so I guess I'll do an experiment

to find out. I'll just toss a bunch of dandelion flowers in a jar with

water and sugar (good honey is expensive, so I'll use refined cane

sugar for the experiment) and see what happens.

I have so many dandelion plants available that I'd like to make quite

a few batches testing different methods. I'll definitely try some

side-by-sides to test the effects of removing the bitter parts below

the flower versus leaving them.

Any ideas for a more natural yeast source than buying dried stuff?

I've pickled dandelion flowers in the past, just once as an

experiment. I just packed a jar full of them and filled the jar with

rice vinegar. It's been about three years now and I still have the

jar. It's not very exciting to eat. It's just vinegary mushy

dandelion flowers! But the preservation was successful, which isn't

exactly surprising!

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

>

>I wonder if it would work without adding yeast or heating the flowers?

> Well, I've got dandelions to spare, so I guess I'll do an experiment

>to find out. I'll just toss a bunch of dandelion flowers in a jar with

>water and sugar (good honey is expensive, so I'll use refined cane

>sugar for the experiment) and see what happens.

>

>I have so many dandelion plants available that I'd like to make quite

>a few batches testing different methods. I'll definitely try some

>side-by-sides to test the effects of removing the bitter parts below

>the flower versus leaving them.

>

>

>Any ideas for a more natural yeast source than buying dried stuff?

>

Well, thats what im gonna do too, experiment. i started some today,

according to the wild fermentation recipe which also includes a couple whole

oranges and lemons, and raisins or other dried fruit (he suggested golden

raisins to not spoil the dandelion yellow color - all i could find was dried

mango so i used that!) i tried picking the green bottom part off as much as

possible, but it is an extremelely time consuming process so i ended up just

throwing them in as is. im letting the whole thing steep for a few days,

hope its notn too bitter.

as for yeast source, i imagine that heidi would say you could add some

yeasty liquid from a previous ferment like kefir beer or kombucha or other

wine. i dunno though, i'm gonna throw in a packet of wine yeast just so it

works this time. some of the online recipes said to not wash the flowers and

reserve some till after the steeping to impart yeasts into the brew.

let me know how your expermenting goes --

on a side note about wild yellow flowers, i clipped a whole bunch of yellow

rocket (mustard green " weed " ) today so it wouldnt go to seed all over my

garden, and im fermenting the greens now. just had to try ...

anna

[Guest guest]

anna santini wrote:

>

> as for yeast source, i imagine that heidi would say you could add some

> yeasty liquid from a previous ferment like kefir beer or kombucha or

> other

> wine. i dunno though, i'm gonna throw in a packet of wine yeast just

> so it

> works this time. some of the online recipes said to not wash the

> flowers and

> reserve some till after the steeping to impart yeasts into the brew.

Oh, wine yeast should work fine too. I use kefir yeast because I

like it! Also, for those who care, wine yeast is sometimes grown

in barley malt (ditto for beer yeast), which is an issue for

some of us. If the yeast is " kosher " it's ok though.

One thing though: the wine recipes usually say to make

sure there is some acid in the mix ... I'm not sure of the

reasons but it likely has to do with preventing mold. Hence the

oranges or lemons, maybe.

True *wine* should have alcohol that is pretty high up there,

which means using a lot of sugar and a good hearty yeast

(wine yeast ...!). Kefir won't produce anything very alcoholic,

plus the bacteria are there so it gets more acidic.

This year for the first time ever though, we have no dandelions!

The ducks ate them all!!!!

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

Ok...Now you've got me interested. I'm not a wine drinker so could I make a

quick kefir dandelion juice type thing? Or do the dandelions need time to melow

out?

Jasmin

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

>

>Ok...Now you've got me interested. I'm not a wine drinker so could I make a

>quick kefir dandelion juice type thing? Or do the dandelions need time to

>melow out?

>

>Jasmin

Well, the dandelions arent really a sugar source, so you'd have to add some

sort of sugar to feed the kefir grains. the whole flower head, with the

green part, is somewhat bitter i think. maybe making a tea with the flowers

steeped for a while and then use that for water kefir? dunno.

anna

[Guest guest]

anna santini <annas88@...> wrote: maybe making a tea with the

flowers

steeped for a while and then use that for water kefir? dunno.

anna

That's what I was thinking of doing. I guess I'll see if it tastes ok. I just

thought it sounded fun.

Jasmin

---------------------------------

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