Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published March 9, 2005

Dandelions are more than just lawns' scourge

Though cursed by lawn lovers and alternately squirted with weed killer or gouged out of the earth with knives, the lowly dandelion has a strong fan club. Hailed as a delicacy, cooks from varying nationalities treat it with tenderness and respect.

My encounter with the dandelion people came after I wrote a tongue-in-cheek column on my experience in trying to prepare a salad from the dandelion crop in my backyard. To many readers this was serious business and letters arrived all filled with friendly advice as well as family recipes. They came from a variety of national backgrounds, German, Pennsylvania Dutch, Italian and Swedish. A male gourmet cook insisted he preferred freshly prepared dandelion salad to steak.

Before greens were available in modern supermarkets all year round, a mess of dandelion greens was the first taste of fresh growing plants our ancestors enjoyed as winter ended. For the youngsters of an earlier generation the anticipation of that first early spring outing ranked high on the list of festive occasions.

The name dandelion is of French origin and means lion's tooth; sometimes called a common plant, at other times a wild flower, and again a pesky weed, the dandelion is persistent in its growing habits and versatile in its uses.

From the flowers in full bloom, a wine, said to be better than champagne, is made. Tonics, medicines and a caffeine-free beverage much like coffee are made from the roots. But the most popular use is to hunt the tender new leaves to use in salads. One writer included a quote from her Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook. "This lowly weed attains its full glory on Maundy Thursday. Serving a dish of greens on 'Green Thursday' of Holy Week is one of our most cherished and deeply-fixed traditions."

The first rule of dandelion picking is to find them before any sign of a flower bud appears for once they have developed to this point they have a bitter flavor. I was advised to look under shade trees where leaves are piled high. This is where very young plants with stems bleached almost white can be found.

The second rule once you find the greens is to cut deeply into the root, lift out the cluster which will remind you of endive. Shake well to get rid of as many bugs as possible. Then comes the tedious chore of washing repeatedly. Once they are washed thoroughly all the writers emphasized the importance of cutting the leaves into very small pieces.

After all this work I must give a word of caution. Never use dandelions that have been exposed to weed killer. Dandelion seeds are available to plant in your home garden.

Bacon, vinegar sugar boiled and poured over the greens was the simplest wilted salad but other suggestions used boiled potatoes and one writer insisted on mashed potatoes. Hard boiled eggs were often mentioned as an added ingredient.

Even though it has been 40 years since the dandelion column brought such a response I never see a dandelion that it doesn't all come back. It still amazes me that people had such strong feelings about that little weed they would sit down and write their thoughts about the dandelion.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.