One evening this past spring, I was outside at the picnic table, looking out over a yellow field that should have been my lawn. It was a cool evening - a bonus after the faux summer that always occurs somewhere between the last cold snap in April and the sudden heat in mid-May. I remember thinking, I should be mowing this, but it was so nice, and I was so lazy, the dandelions received a reprieve.
I was thinking, they grow so wild and free and everywhere, it's a shame you can't do much with them, and I decided to research the uses of dandelions. I was amazed at what you can do with them.
For instance, you can use the milky sap from the leaves as a balm for bee stings, pimples, and to remove warts. You can make tea from the plant. The greens are edible, as are the flowers. If you're Ray Bradbury, you can step outside of the sci-fi realm and write a classic novel entitled Dandelion Wine. And speaking of wine, you can make it, but it's important to let it age.
Dandelion tea has uses as a diuretic. It also soothes the digestive system and certain urinary tract afflictions. It reduces swelling of the liver due to chronic hepatitis, and apparently, is good "all-over" remedy for the body, but certainly, don't use holistic methods without consulting your physician first.
Dandelions are loaded with the vitamins and minerals B-1, B-2, B-5, B-6, B-12, C, E, P, and D, biotin, inositol, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc and are higher in beta-carotene than carrots, and are an excellent source of iron and calcium.
Best of all, you can make wishes on them - but you must scatter the entire seed head and keep your wish a secret, or it won't come true.
And if after all this, you decide to eradicate the weed/flower/vegetable from your lawn, keep in mind that if you pull them and break the taproot, you're actually helping the plant reproduce. Further, they don't need cross fertilization, so a flower can actually fertilize itself. How's that for efficiency?
Personally, I think I might harvest mine next year. If I could dredge up a market for all the possibilities this simple weed possesses, it could be quite profitable! I wonder if there's a market for wishes...
Dandelion Wine
Yields: About 1 gallon
Ingredients:
1 gallon dandelion blossoms
1 gallon hot water
Juice of 1 lemon
3 oranges, peeled and sliced
4 lbs of sugar
1 cake of yeast
Combine water and blossoms in a crock. Let stand for 24 hours, then strain.
Then add the rest of the ingredients. Let the mixture set for 3 weeks, then bottle.
Age the bottles for at least 2 months.
5 comments:
Well I must say this is an interesting piece of information. Maybe I could save money by using this for diretics instead of taking pills. But guess not. Too bad it couldn't take the place of fosomax or blood pressure pills. Paula
Nothing like a lazy summer night/day and making Dandelion wishes, my favorite wishes of all, even better than birthday cake wishes. This was cool and made me think of time spent outside playing rather than being in front of this evil machine, lmao. Thanks! Brandy
http://journal.aol.com/brandyp0509/Myworldmyrant/
When I lived at home we would make a nice spring salad out of a mixture of early greens from my mother's plant beds and sometimes dandelion greens. I liked them. My mother says they used to eat them in salads every spring and her mother said they were like a "spring tonic". I've never tried dandelion wine, but we made some homemade pear wine last year that we're still enjoying, and I think I'd like to try making the dandelion wine. Thanks for the recipe. I have had dandelion tea and it tastes pretty good.
Lori
This is really facinating. Its good to know that dandelions are good for something other than weeding up my lawn! LOL
marsha
Your journal is so much fun. I am learning and yet, I'm enjoying. You write as if you're having a conversation with someone. It's very fetching!
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