About this blog

My photo
Wales, United Kingdom
Documenting one couple's attempts to live a more self-sufficient life.

Friday 8 February 2013

Foraged Food Friday: Dandelion leaves

Dandelion greens seem to be a staple of wild food, perhaps because the plant is fairly well known. Personally, I've always found the leaves too bitter to enjoy, but I've heard that if they're blanched they're much milder, so that has to be worth a try. Blanched in this context means grown without light, so the leaves end up pale and anaemic-looking.

If you're going to the trouble of depriving a plant of light for a while, this seems to me to be getting away from wild food. Even if the plant self-seeded (and they do, more than somewhat), this does seem to be an element of cultivation. On the other hand, if you move a bag of stuff that's been sitting in a corner for several months and happen to find a blanched dandelion or two underneath, well that's a different matter entirely.


Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), looking rather sorry for itself.
The brighter green leaves just behind are ground elder.

Having chanced upon this specimen of blanched dandelion, I picked a leaf and nibbled cautiously. Nope. Still way too bitter. You might like it - lots of people do, apparently - but it's not for me, and I'm not especially sensitive to bitter tastes.

When I said I'd eat a different food each week, I didn't say how much I'd eat, did I?

I'll try to find something tastier next week. Any suggestions?

Also harvesting this week:
Hairy bittercress, for soup
Also drinking/eating this week:
Blackberry wine
Sloe wine
Rhubarb squash
Blackcurrant fruit leather

Foraged food challenge summary page here.

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you tested it blanched! I've only tried nibbling unblanched leaves and it's horribly bitter. It's that time for eating Lesser Celandine leaves, didn't we discover last year that it was best to eat them before they are flowering? Sorrel is springing up all over the place here too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooh yes, Lesser Celandine! I'd forgotten that would be available by now. Last year I didn't note it down until late March, so I probably missed out on quite a lot.

      Delete

I don't know why Facebook thinks this is the most interesting text on the page - it's not, I assure you!

If you'd like to leave a comment, but it asks you to "Comment as" a load of options that don't relate to you, choose "Name/URL". You can type in your name and leave the URL blank.

Do leave a comment (unless the main point of your comment is to advertise your business, in which case it will be deleted). It's always nice to know I'm not talking to myself ;-)