What is all the buzz about dandelions?
How many of you have seen the seed heads of dandelion, picked them then blew on the seeds to watch with wonderous awe to see how afar they would travel and where they might land? Some of my vivid childhood memories include picking buckets of the flowers for my friend’s mother as she used them in cooking and winemaking or picking the seed head, blowing on them, and watching the seeds float away. I must say seeds are fascinating but that is a whole other story.
What is it about dandelions that make them unique? Well, first of all, they are both a loved and hated plant. They are considered part of the aster family of flowers. Yes, I like flowers too and I have copious amounts of nature books to identify plant species. When I was browsing through my lone pine book “Plants of Coastal British Columbia” ( 2004 edition) I discovered that there are actually three species of dandelions.
Common Dandelion/Horned and Red-Seed
The common Dandelion is the one most of us know and the variety I am referring to in this post. It is an introduced species and grows prolifically I would say almost anywhere in low to mid-elevations which describes our community. There are many stories that talk of how the seed came along for the ride on the ships of the early explorers leading it to become a plant in BC. This long history also made this plant become food for coastal indigenous people. This common dandelion is the one people currently either love or hate. I am of mixed emotions. Being a bit of a naturalist, environmentalist, sustainably-minded, local eating person I feel like I should like them. Honestly, I have tried to eat them but almost got sick- the leaves are so bitter to me. I am a supertaster and if you know anything about the senses super tasters taste extremes...bitter does not sit well with me. Below I will have some links for ways to cook with dandelions. I might try just the flowers for tea and perhaps the dandelion fritter recipe in one of them but that will be my extent of cooking with them.
There is a lot of history with them as a food source and many authors claim dandelions have medicinal functions as well but that is not my area of expertise. I would never ever eat anything wild without an expert along to identify that I have the correct plant.
I do not like to eat dandelions but I do like them for my pollinating insects. Many environmental and naturalist sites will encourage people to leave the dandelions for the bees as they are a good source of food for the bees and we need food to keep the pollinating insects around.
To me, dandelions are a weed when they are growing where I do not want them - Ie valuable garden space. I do weed them but not until other flowers arrive as I want to be sure to have food for the pollinating insects. Take a drive around town- you will soon discover who likes and who hates dandelions. Some yards don’t have a single one around, some have a few like me, and some people in our community go to extremes like posting signs saying they are an experimental dandelion farm or they are feeding the bees. I have seen it all.
What is your thought- Do you love or hate dandelions? Would you eat dandelions? After all, they are free food.
Additional resources:
Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing revised edition Plants of Coastal British Columbia compiled by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon. 2004
Cooking with Dandelions:
I do not cook with dandelions. I have just provided this for entertainment information purposes.
All recipes.com is one of my favorite sites for never-fail recipes. Here is one unique one for a pesto
Great depression dandelion salad
3 ways to use spring dandelions- foraging