FREE FEED: Dandelion

DANDELION

taraxacum officinale

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone in Australia who isn’t able to identify dandelion at a pinch. We generally know it when we see it, the bright yellow flowers, rich green leaves shaped like a lions teeth and it’s incredible fluffy seed head which invites us to blow, with child-like joy, unassumingly ensuring it’s survival by spreading it’s seeds on the wind.

When I first learned about the medicinal and nutritional properties of dandelion (of which there are many), I got overly enthused, being the plant nerd that I am, and starting picking dandelion almost daily from the orchard area on the property we were living on. I was putting it in everything - salads, curries, blanching and tossing with olive oil and garlic, pasta, eating the leaves raw. I was hooked. I was completely smitten by its neutral flavour and proud that I was spiking almost every family meal with this heavy-hitter of the weed world. The only problem was, I was unwittingly picking flatweed (hypochaeris radicata) which also, quite fittingly goes by the name of false dandelion. Flatweed is edible too but doesn’t pack as big a punch as dandelion. Giving myself the benefit of the doubt, they do look similar, although they have a few distinctly differing features with flatweed being hairy and throwing up multiple flowers on each stalk - characteristics not shared with dandelion. I had embarrassingly influenced many friends and strangers to start eating flatweed too under the pretence that it was dandelion, but once I realised my error and first tried dandelion, there was absolutely no mistaking it.

Dandelion is bitter. It’s certainly no iceberg lettuce but I have an inkling (or at least this is what I tell myself to make it bearable) that it’s superb nutritional value is down to this bitterness. I think we need to embrace the full spectrum of flavours, harsh bitterness included to thrive. For me this has been about coming to a place of nourishing my body and knowing that there are many interesting flavours to experience from plants. This brings it back to the nuts and bolts of conscious consumption. I experience the bitterness of dandelion and in that moment it may not be the most pleasant taste but I know my body is being nourished and I am having an interaction with the plant which has more enduring benefits, beyond just the sensation experienced through the taste of the plant.

The health benefits of dandelion are many. They are one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables ever tested by the USDA and are renowned for having wonderful cleansing/detoxing effects. Full of essential minerals such as iron and calcium - chocablock with antioxidants and vitamins. It also has a long history of herbal use across the globe, having been both cultivated and spread unknowingly far and wide. I can imagine that the majority of people living in Australia at this moment in time could find dandelion growing not far from their home - it’s just such an adaptive and successful plant and for this, it demands our respect. It is faithfully offering up it’s medicinal benefits at a time when we need all the support we can get from our plant companions.

You can eat all parts of the dandelion. We chop the leaves finely and mix into salads usually but can also add them like a spinach to any hot food. To mitigate the bitterness we just ensure that they’re well integrated into a balanced meal through having plenty of other flavours jostling for attention. The flowers are a delicious edible edition to any meal whilst we’ve also harvested the huge tap root of dandelion and roasted them before grinding up for a coffee-like drink. This is a fabulous foraging activity to do at this time of year although in our experience, it can be difficult to find a patch with enough specimens which are big enough to warrant pulling up. In any case, the roots are fantastic as a digestive and for gut and immune health.

We offer dandelion root in our Cleanse Tea blend which is available on the menu at the Nourished Sovereign. The dandy root sits alongside an exceptional array of other organic herbs (Oat Straw, Hibiscus and Rooibos), handcrafted to help you feel balanced by working with the kidneys, liver and lymphatic system. We also stock Fern and Sea’s incredible dandelion chai which is caffeine-free and leans on the medicinal powers of dandelion root also, to make for an uplifting experience.

So we’d encourage you to get out and get acquainted with dandelion in all it’s bitter beauty! Just be sure to make sure you’re picking the right thing - although grab a few flatweed leaves whilst you’re at it.

Andy @ the Nourished Sovereign

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