-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
To put it simply:
Our backyard was overrun with dandelions. I've always been a little grossed out by the idea of trying dandelions but this year decided, what the heck, let's do it!
Dandelion Bread (original recipe from http://foodstorageandsurvival.com/make-dandelion-bread/)
- 4 cups flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 -2 cups dandelion petals
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cups honey
- 2 eggs
- 2 2/3 cups milk
- Wash flours. Separate Petals from the green- though if you get a small amount of green in there, that's okay.
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Combine dry ingredients: petals included, in a large bowl
- In a separate bowl, milk the milk, eggs, honey and veg. oil
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix well
- Pour batter into 2 greased bread pans. Bake for 20-25 min. Lower the temperature of the oven to 350 F and continue baking for another 20 minutes.
What I learned:
- I'm not the first to say this, nor will I be the last. There is nothing disgusting about dandelions. The bread tasted great...although I think our baking powder was a bit old. Mine also turned out a little dark...I'm learning.
- Allergy sufferers beware: My husband and I both have seasonal allergies that acted up like CRAZY while we were separating the flower petals!
- Separating the petals is a bit time consuming and tedious, so give yourself lots of time to try out this recipe.
- Apparently dandelion greens are bitter tasting
- Be careful about where you are picking your dandelions from...you wouldn't want to pick them from areas in which people have sprayed to get rid of them...your backyard is the safest.
- All parts of the dandelion are edible.
Dandelion Other:
- 27+ ways to use Dandelions
- Dandelions: Friend or Foe
- Dandelion Recipes
- Dandelion Cookies! I want to try this. Check out this great site, it has lots of great recipes, including some for use with dehydrated foods.