The little “sunshines” beneath your feet can put a lot of sunshine in your step. Doted with more nutrients than spinach or kale, they are also a wonderful beginner’s foraging venture due to few lookalikes. Dandelion is a highly beneficial, versatile edible, likely waiting in your yard!

IDENTIFICATION: Usually recognized by its friendly, bright yellow flower, its low lying, jagged-edged, long, hairless leaves grow in a basal pattern (around the base of the plant). When cut, they ‘bleed’ a white, milky sap. The yellow flower, or its fluffy head of seed (when the flower has fulfilled its cycle), sits atop a long hollow stem.

USES: The entire plant is edible and nutritious. The green leaves can be used (raw or cooked) as you would any dark green, such as spinach or kale. Packed with nutrients, their flavor is a bold and bitter, like a strong kale or arugula. They make perfect additions to any salad, sandwich, smoothie, or cooked dish. Fresh, bright yellow flowers can be used as garnishes in a salad or any dish. Roots are often used for detoxing teas.

HARVESTING: Dandelions are one of the first greens to come up in the spring and one of the last to leave, thus easily found anytime the landscape boasts green! (Click here to view foraging calendar). Since all parts of the plant are edible and useful, each part comes with its own unique harvesting procedure and timing:

Leaves. The younger the leaves, the better chance they are to be tender and less bitter. Simply find the smaller leaves and pluck them off the basal arrangement of leaves, or use a scissors to snip the desired leaves. It is best to just take choice leaves from each plant leaving most leaves behind for the health of the plant, and for a better culinary experience.
Rinse the desired leaves to remove any dust and critter residue, then pat dry. Leaves can be used immediately (raw or cooked) or put into a freezer bag and froze until a future use.

Flowers. The underdeveloped flower bud (when firm and solid with no give when pressed between fingers, and no white fluff showing when split open) can be pickled and used as a garnish (Poor Man’s Capers). Fully bloomed, bright fresh yellow flowers can be used for garnishes or some make dandelion jam. The flowers, at any stage, can simply be plucked off the hollow stem, but once the flower goes to seed and starts drying up and developing wind-born seeds it is no longer viable for an enjoyable meal.

Roots. The dandelion grows from a long taproot. The roots can be dug up with a spade by splicing the earth straight down (90 degree angle from the earth) about three inches away from where the plant merges with the ground. Insert the spade fully, then gently open the earth by pulling back on the spade and repeating from different angles around the root until the soil is loose enough to successfully pull up the taproot.

Shake off the excess dirt, cut root from the greens and then soak in a bucket of water for about ten to twenty minutes. Using a soft brush, clean the roots to rid them of all dirt and rinse thoroughly. Pat and air dry. The roots then can then be cleaned up with a small sharp knife eliminating the fibrous off shoots, and are ready for preparing according to the way you want to use them: fresh as a vegetable dish, or diced and dried for a detox tea. See recipe ideas below:

RECIPES:

• Dandelion Detox Tea
• Greens (stir fries, smoothies, sandwiches & salads)
• Dandelion Hearts
• Poor Man’s Dandelion Caper Buds

BENEFITS: High in vitamins A, C, and K and many minerals, it also promotes healthy blood sugar levels. Dandelion has detoxification properties.

ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Dandelions are a prolific plant and quickly reproduce by means of their numerous, wind-surfing seeds, so over-cultivation is at low risk for this plant. Often found in disturbed areas like lawns, trail sides, and along forests’ or fields’ edges, they do come with an environmental risk of chemical exposure.

Ensure where you are harvesting is a place free of chemicals such as those used in lawn treatments or field oversprays. Chemicals such as roundup can stay in the ground up to 20 years according to some studies, thus making it most wise to avoid harvesting anywhere chemicals were likely used.

POSSIBLE LOOKALIKES: The dandelion has some lookalikes, but no known toxic lookalikes, and are known to be edible.

• Sow-thistle (often has spiny leaves, solid stems, and multiple flowers per stalk where the dandelion has one flower per each hollow stem).
• Catsear (has hairy leaves, and their flower has a more obvious radial, center point rather than how the dandelion has a full tufted flower, and the catsear stem often comes in larger numbers, is branched, and is solid and not hollow like the dandelion).

WORDS OF CAUTION: Like most healthy greens, dandelion contains oxalic acid (can inhibit the body’s use of calcium causing kidney stones in prone individuals). As a part of a balanced diet, this will pose no problem, but simply eating them cooked will break down the acid. It is said that intaking of Lemon juice will counteract the oxalic acid’s effects. Dandelion is also a natural diuretic (in high amounts will cause your body to shed water). Like all foraging, ensure your collection site is free of any chemicals or animal waste, and wash thoroughly before consumption.

DISCLAIMER: This page is intended to inspire and raise awareness of the natural word, and is not a replacement for a field guide or expert experience, nor is it intended for medical treatment or advice. 

Always be 100% sure of your identification before ingesting any foraged food.Always cross-reference the information you find on the internet with an expert, a foraging group, and several reference books. 

Proper identification is entirely a forager’s responsibility. . . and it is not to be taken lightly.  Wild food, much like cultivated food, will produce unique results in each unique person as allergies and reactions are an ever present reality. 

 The experiences noted on this website are personal, but shared for your enjoyment and exploration, but are not to replace professional experience.  This disclaimer is not to create fear, but rather to instill a healthy respect for the responsibility of foraging and utilizing nature in a responsible way, both for the longevity of nature and yourself, as it can only be achieved by you, as this website, owner, nor its affiliates cannot be held responsible for your actions or use of the information provided.