Melondy Phillips
Staff Writer
Spring has announced its presence with a beautiful display of budding trees and green grass ornamented with bright yellow “weeds.” These weeds have been used as medicine for centuries by Chinese and Arabian physicians, and it’s believed that these delightful yellow flowers made their way to the Americas on the Mayflower. In addition to being used for human food and medicine, dandelions are also one of the first natural food sources for honeybees each spring.
On a nice spring day, I’ll take a bowl outside and start gathering a mess of flowers. I feel sure that at least some of the people in the cars that pass by are thinking “doesn’t she know there is an easier way to get rid of those weeds?”
All parts of the dandelion are edible. The leaves and roots are more commonly used in herbal medicine since they are highly nutritious. Dandelions are packed with vitamins (A, C and K), minerals (calcium and potassium), antioxidants, and carbohydrate inulin, which is a type of soluble fiber that supports healthy gut bacteria. Dandelions are also good for the liver and detoxification.
The roots of the dandelion can be dried and made into tea or roasted and ground into a healthy alternative for coffee. A tincture made from the roots has a long list of health benefits including alleviating edema, supporting healthy liver, enhancing energy, helping ease urinary tract infections and more.
The young tender leaves are a healthy addition to salads. Soaking the freshly harvested leaves in a couple of cool water baths helps pull the bitter juices out and cleans off any dirt present. More mature leaves can be a bit fibrous and are better cooked. I like to dehydrate and powder the leaves. The powder is placed into clear capsules, which are stored in a glass jar, for a quick boost of potassium when legs cramps hit.
The flowers are good in salads, baked goods, jelly and can be candied. They can also be used for making skin salves, aperitif and wine.
If I plan on using the flowers for jelly, I’ll remove the green base from each flower (the sepal) and save the delicate yellow petals. This gives the finished jelly a lovely yellow hue and sweet flavor.
For many applications, the sepal can be left on, it’s just my preference to remove it.
An infused oil made with dandelion flowers is good for skin issues as well as soothing sore joints and swollen muscles.
Dehydrating the flower, leaves and roots is a good way to store the herb for later use.
A few random facts about dandelions:
They can help control blood sugar and blood pressure and may fight inflammation.
They may stimulate new skin growth and increase the production of collagen and skin hydration.
Laboratory studies revealed that dandelion root extract had the ability to slow down the growth of liver, colon, stomach, breast and prostate cancers.
Dandelions grow on every continent except Antarctica.
This pesky “weed” was once cultivated for medicinal uses.
The roasted roots produce a coffee-like flavor without any caffeine, and it’s FREE.
The common English name of dandelion derived from the French name “dent de lion”. This means lion’s tooth because of the shape of the leaves.
The tap root for a mature dandelion can stretch down more than 10 feet into the ground.
Dandelions are connected to making wishes.
The scientific name for dandelion is Taraxacum. The Greek roots “taraxos” means “disorder” while the root “akos” means “remedy.”
Dandelions are generally considered an invasive weed.
The wind can carry the feathery seeds of dandelions up to five miles.