12 Things to Make with Dandelion Flowers

[Marianne]

I only knew there is a dandelion cultivar that is grown for it's roots. They are dried and roasted for a coffee of sorts.

We've dug dandelion roots before. It was plenty of work to get a small bucket full, lots of rinsing, then the roasting and chopping. By the time it was done, we had about a pint jar full. And the coffee/tea didn't taste good at all. We had dug ours in the late, late fall. I wonder if the spring roots would have tasted better.

 

[Marianne]

The salve and syrup are on my to-do list! Funny how people just consider dandelion a common weed mostly

Yes! I dry/wilted some flowers and have them soaking in some olive oil now. I haven't decided if I'm going to do enough to make soap, or the salve or what. But as soon as I find some energy, I'm going to go pick some ingredients for dandelion vinegar.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Marianne - Have you been sun drying them? I need to get on picking some that we have here and was curious to know if sun drying was the way to go, or putting them in the dehydrator?

 

[Marianne]

@Marianne - Have you been sun drying them? I need to get on picking some that we have here and was curious to know if sun drying was the way to go, or putting them in the dehydrator?

No. Actually, you can just put them on some paper towel or a dish towel in an out of the way spot in the house and let them dry that way. Unless your place is pretty humid.
I was in a hurry, so after I washed them, I put them in my dehydrator on the lowest setting for a couple of hours, then just left them there for 24 hrs. They were ready to go, pretty wilted, but not completely dry.
There seems to be conflicting info out in the 'verse about drying the flowers. Some sites say the flowers should be completely dry (less chance of mold issues if they happen to be damp somewhere), other pages say that you'll lose some benefits if they're too dry, so just wilt/dry.

 

[CrealCritter]

One of my son's reaches down picks a flower and eats it. But this one of my son's that about eat us out of house and home as a teen.

 

[Marianne]

I've been known to do that, too. I get the 'raised eyebrow' look from my husband then.
The petals are mild tasting, it's the green part that's bitter. I've battered and fried the blooms before. Nice! I could eat a platter of those.