No Spray Zone

We've had interesting weather this year, to say the least. I don't consider it normal for the tulips to bloom in March in Kansas, but what can you do. . .

This year, we picked/are picking dandelion greens. Great-grandmas everywhere would be proud. The arguments against dandelions as food have become long and loud with recent generations.

"Are you crazy???"
"But aren't they bitter?"
"They're weeds, pitch 'em!"
"Are you sure that's safe to eat?"

So in answer to the multitude of questions and arguments, yes, I'm clearly crazy, but that's another post. Dandelions are known to be a bitter herb, but that's actually a GOOD thing. Our ancestors understood the importance of bitters to cleanse the body of toxins and transition it from heavy winter foods to the fresh spring and summer foods. Yes, in the day of the perfect lawn, dandelions are considered "weeds" or unwanted trespassers, but they are oh so useful, and if you don't spray chemicals on your lawn and garden, they are absolutely safe! If you do spray your yard, you can and should pick these useful weeds up at a premium at your local health food store.

There are ways to reduce the bitterness of dandelions:
1. Pick them very young, before the plant has a chance to flower
2. Wilt or blanch them and allow some of the bitterness to drain out
3. Serve them with just a hint of sweet to offset the bitterness that's left

Shame on me for not taking more pictures, but here's what we did with our bumper dandelion crop this spring:

Wilted Dandelion Salad with Sunchokes and Bacon
(served 8)

3-4 cups fresh, young dandelion greens
4 slices bacon
1/2 lb sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes)
sprig chives or green onions
3 Tbsp vinegar (we used a combo of apple cider and balsamic)
1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
dash of garlic salt
edible spring flowers (opt garnish - we used redbud and violet blossoms)

Thoroughly wash dandelion greens and set aside in colander to drain. Snip chives into 1/2" lengths. Cut bacon into small pieces and cook until crisp. Reserve 2 Tbsp of the oil. Thoroughly wash sunchokes and slice into bite size pieces. Whisk reserved oil, brown sugar, and vinegar together with garlic salt and black pepper to taste, add mixture to bacon pan along with sunchokes. Warm the sunchokes and liquid, then pour hot liquid over dandelion greens. gently stir greens to wilt them evenly. Toss wilted greens with bacon bits and chives. Serve with edible spring flowers as garnish.

Remarkably, the kids devoured this dish. I'll definitely be making it again this spring.

Dandelions are so full of nutrients, that we'd like to be able to take advantage of them all year long. I started planning for that today while I was out weeding the garden beds. Every dandelion plant that hadn't bloomed yet, was pulled and set aside for the kitchen. The plants that had bloomed went in the compost pile. There were plenty of both!

Once I brought my treasure inside, I thoroughly washed the dandelion greens and let them plump up on cold water while I made dinner. The nice, plump greens were rinsed one more time then cut into two inch long pieces, blanched for about 45 seconds, and plunged into ice water. Once cooled, I squeezed most of the moisture out of the greens and formed them into tight, handball sized balls and put them in the freezer to solidify. Later, I'll move the dandelion balls into a freezer bag. As we make soups and stews this coming year, we'll throw a ball or two of dandelion greens into the pot for a splash of color and nutrition. Thanks to my best buddy HeatherAnne for the green balls idea. She taught me to do it with kale and other garden greens when we started gardening together, and it's just perfect for the dandelions too.

And remember, kids.... Don't spray your yard! Don't throw those things out! Eat your spring greens! And cheers to our useful backyard friend, the dandelion!