I love to garden and eat what I grow there. I got started in the kitchen early, learning to cook creatively at the apron strings of my Mother, and I have never stopped.
A scourge...or a feast!
The dandelion. It may be common but it is very useful. Almost all parts can be eaten. The greens can be used wherever spinach or stinging nettle are used. Dandelion greens are best eaten in the spring as they turn tough and bitter as the get older. Pick the flowers as you need them. Toss them in a salad or deep fry (heaven forbid in our fat fearing society). If eating fresh, cut the heads as close to the stems as possible. The flowers will close up immediately after you pick them. Put them in a bowl of water and pick them out just prior to putting them in a salad.
Use only dandelions that have not been tainted by pesticides and herbicides (such as lawn fertilizers). Now go out and pick those dandelions out of your lawn and fry (did I say fry?) yourself up a nice mess of dandelion flowers. Your body will love the high levels of vitamins A and C not to mention the iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and copper. Your body will love you and so will your neighbours!
Dandelion Salad with Poached Egg
Serves 2
2 cups of dandelion leaves
2 eggs from the Home of Happy Hens
home made croutons
Dressing
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Vinegar Works Balsamico Bianco
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Clean dandelion leaves;
2. Poach eggs for 3 minutes in boiling water with 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar;
3. Combine mustard with vinegar; beat in oil. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Arrange dandelion leaves artfully on a plate. Garnish with croutons. Pour dressing over and top with a poached egg.
Well, if this ain’t delicious and nutritious.
...or, top with poached salmon!
Vinegartart 
or there is also Sirop de Pissenlit which I made when I spent a year in France. It’s kind of like a cross between a honey and a simple syrup
a fistful of dandelion flowers
1 litre of boiling water
..cook in boiling water for 1/2 hour and then let sit covered overnight
…squeeze dandelions into the water and take out (?)
1 kilo of sugar
1/2 lemon slliced
…add to dandelion water and cook on low heat until it makes “la pearle”
Or at least this is what I have translated from a little note I wrote to myself over 15 years ago.
Sounds like it could be an interesting drink – a splash of Sirop de Pissenlit with some sparkling water and ice. In fact, since we have a veritable grocery store of dandelions here at V-Farm, I think I will make it today. I will let you know how it turns out.