{"id":1808,"date":"2019-09-18T23:38:19","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=1808"},"modified":"2019-09-18T23:38:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:38:19","slug":"dandelion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/18\/dandelion\/","title":{"rendered":"Dandelion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Taraxacum officinale<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout                                                     \nAsteraceae<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dandelion is a familiar plant to many urban and suburban\ndwellers. The acquaintance is usually pretty superficial though, often just how\nto recognize and kill it. Most people wouldn’t dream that the Dandelion is one\nof the most nutritious of green plant foods. It also has numerous other uses,\nis an important wildlife food and is beautiful as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This highly efficient plant has spread\nto all temperate areas of the world. The wind borne seed can travel huge\ndistances to colonize disturbed ground, such as gardens, roadsides, cultivated\nfields and waste ground. The seed has no dormancy period so can germinate\nimmediately and a plant can produced its own seed within three months of\ngermination. This might not sound very impressive compared to some annuals, but\nDandelion is a persistent perennial and doesn\u2019t really need to produce seed at\nall. Its deep taproot enables it to survive on poor soil and through drought.\nAs any gardener knows it also makes the plant hard to remove, as any piece of\nroot left in the ground can quickly become a new plant. Careless weeding can be\na form of propagation, rather than eradication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutrients: Dandelion leaves are much more\nnutritious than most common vegetables. They contain up to 14,000 i.u. of\nvitamin A per hundred grams, along with lots of Vitamin C, B vitamins and many\nminerals, including calcium, chlorine, copper, iron, phosphorus,  magnesium, silicon and sulfur.  They are also one of the richest plant\nsources of potassium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greens: Considering its great food value,\nit’s a shame that for most of the year it is too bitter for most palates and is\nonly really good in cold weather. It is usually eaten in spring, from the time\nit first appears above ground, until the flowers stalks appear. It may also be\ngood for a while in late autumn. In milder areas it may remain green and\npalatable all winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young leaves can be used in\nsalads, or cooked for 5 \u2011 10 minutes as a potherb. If they are too bitter,\nchange the cooking water at least once. Some people blanch the leaves by\ncovering them with a box for a few days, as this makes them less bitter and\nmore tender (it also reduces their vitamin content).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crown: The crown of the plant is also edible\nin early spring. Cut the green top off of the root, just far enough down so it\nholds together and then cut off the leaves. These are naturally partly blanched\nand are often still palatable after the green leaves have become too bitter to\neat. They can be eaten raw, boiled, or fried in tempura batter. If too bitter\ntry cooking in a change of water as above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter greens: The roots have been forced\nindoors like Chicory, as a source of winter greens. See (Cicorium<\/em>), for\nmore on this.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flower buds: You can find these huddled down\ninside the leaf rosette, soon after the leaves appear, waiting for warmer\nweather to make their appearance. These make good salad material, or can also\nbe boiled or steamed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roots: The dormant roots have been eaten like\nSalsify (Tragopogon).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green drink: I often add a few Dandelion\nleaves to a green blender drink. They can be used for this at\nany time of year. Their bitterness usually isn’t noticeable and they add a lot\nof nutrients. See (Symphytum<\/em>) for more on these <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coffee: The roasted roots have\nbeen used like Chicory, as a coffee extender or substitute. Done properly this\nis aromatic and quite good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicine: Dandelion is mainly of value as a\nnutritive tonic. The chlorophyll, enzymes and high vitamin and mineral content\nof the leaves make them one of the best spring tonics. These were thought to purify the blood and aid in the\nneutralization and elimination of toxins accumulated over the winter. They are\nalso a powerful diuretic, as suggested by the old common names Piss\u2011A\u2011Bed and\nWet Weed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very high vitamin A\ncontent of the leaves makes them a potent cancer preventive if eaten regularly.\nThe leaves, or their extracted juice, have been used to treat anemia and\nrebuild the teeth and bones. They have also been used as a poultice for wounds\nand skin ailments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roots have been used to treat\njaundice, hepatitis, gallstones, diabetes and hypoglycemia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubber: All Taraxacum<\/em>\nspecies contain large amounts of rubber latex and one species (T. kok\u2011sayghiz<\/em>)\nwas cultivated in the Soviet Union during World War Two as a source of rubber.\nIt provided that country with 80% of the rubber used during that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animal food: Though an introduced species,\nthe Dandelion is an important source of nectar and pollen for many native\ninsects. Many birds eat the seed. Both domestic and wild animals eat the\nfoliage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivation: If Dandelions don’t grow in your\ngarden they are worth cultivating, as they provide a reliable source of greens\nevery spring. Improved varieties are available, with larger more succulent\nleaves, but which retain much of the vigor and independence of wild plants.\nThey are easily grown from seed or root division, in most soil types. Be warned\nthey will self- seed freely, maybe more freely than you might like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garden uses: Dandelion is often a hated weed\nand huge quantities of toxic chemicals are used each year to eliminate it. At\nthe same time it is cultivated in some areas and sold in markets as a salad\nherb. It is fully equal to Chicory or Endive in flavor, yet easier to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plant is generally beneficial in the garden. It attracts\nbees and predatory insects, its deep roots break up compacted soil and bring\nnutrients to the surface. The whole plants are fine compost material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It thin it is time for plant breeders to create some\nornamental Dandelions. They are certainly pretty enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taraxacum officinale Throughout                                                      Asteraceae Dandelion is a familiar plant to many urban and suburban dwellers. The acquaintance is usually pretty superficial though, often just how to recognize and kill it. … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-useful-weeds","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Dandelion-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1809,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions\/1809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}