Dandelions have a way of showing up whether they are invited or not. One day the lawn is green, and the next it looks like someone scattered handfuls of yellow buttons across the grass. Today, most people reach for the mower. In the past, however, many people reached for a basket.
Old newspapers were filled with advice on how to turn the common dandelion into something useful for the table and pantry. The leaves could be eaten fresh in salads, cooked with bacon, mixed with sorrel, or tucked into sandwiches. The roots were boiled, sauced, or fried. Even the blossoms found their way into punch, root beer, and, of course, dandelion wine.
These recipes remind us of a time when weeds were not always treated as enemies. Sometimes they were dinner. Sometimes they were medicine. And sometimes, if the neighbors were feeling ambitious, they were quietly fermenting in a jar somewhere in the kitchen.
Below is a collection of dandelion recipes and household uses gathered from newspaper articles published between 1906 and 1950.
The Greens
Dandelion greens are both delicious as a salad and cooked. First, clean the leaves thoroughly.
For older leaves, put them in boiling water. Let parboil for about 10 minutes, remove from the boiling water and ten place in water in which ham hock or bacon has been cooked, and boil. Salt and serve.
For fried greens and onions, wash freshly picked dandelion leaves. In a large frying pan heat drippings or butter. Add chopped spring onions. Season with salt and pepper. Cover tightly, cook for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Serve.
For salads, use fresh, young leaves. Clean thoroughly and serve with your favorite dressing.
To Cultivate Leaves for Salad
In England, where the dandelion is comparatively uncommon, it is raised carefully in gardens as a potherb and salad plant. To grow successive crops of dandelions through the summer the plants are not allowed to bloom, so that the roots continue sending up successive rounds of leaves until frost.
Market gardeners are now following the example of the English, and dandelions are grown through a depth of sandy soil or under earthen pots. This makes the leaves delightfully white, crisp, and tender, and incidentally less bitter. (Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. May 14, 1916.)
Less Bitter Salad
There are many people who do not like a salad of dandelion leaves. The bitter flavor of this plant will not be so noticeable if equal quantities of dandelion and lettuce are used, or, better yet, one-third dandelion to two-thirds lettuce. Serve with French dressing. (Source: New-York tribune (New York, N.Y. May 13, 1906.)
Dandelion Apple Salad
Cut tender young leaves of the dandelion in small pieces. Add an equal quantity of tart apple cut into cubes and one teaspoonful of celery salt. Mix the salad well with either boiled or oil dressing, and serve it on dandelion leaves. (Source: The Milwaukee Leader. Milwaukee, Wis. June 4, 1919.)
Dandelion and Sorrel
Wash and shred dandelion and sorrel leaves, but keep separate, as the dandelions require longer cooking. After they have stood in cold water for an hour, put the dandelions in a large saucepan of boiling salted water. Stew until tender, then add the sorrel and simmer until the liquor disappears and the leaves are tender. Chop or beat with a wooden spoon, and season with salt, pepper, and butter to taste. Nutmeg may be added if desired. Serve with a garnish of hard-boiled eggs, the whites in rings and the yolks rubbed through a coarse sieve. (Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 30, 1911.)
Stewed Dandelion Leaves
Wash and lets freshly picked dandelion leaves stand in cold water for an hour. Drain, put in saucepan with boiling water to cover and cook twenty minutes or longer until tender. Turn into a colander, drain, pressing thoroughly to get out all the water, then chop. Put a tablespoon of butter or good drippings in a frying pan and when melted add a tablespoon of flour; stir until blended, then add leaves, and salt and pepper to season. Moisten with broth, toss until well heated and serve. (Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 21, 1912.)
Dandelion Roots
The strong, fleshy roots of the dandelion make a palatable dish resembling salsify. They are at their best from June to October. Scrape and boil the roots in salted water until tender. Make a good white sauce, using either milk or stock, and seasoning with a little onion. Add the roots cooked tender and serve hot. Or, scrape and boil in salted water, to which a dessertspoonful of vinegar has been added. When tender, but still quite firm, drain, dip in batter, fry and serve sprinkled with fine chopped chervil and garnished with sliced lemon. (Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 30, 1911.)
Dandelion Leaves and Bacon
Clean carefully, leafy by leaf, a half peck of dandelions. Let stand in a pan of cold water, after cleansing, for an hour or longer. Put into a saucepan, cover with boiling, lightly salted water, and cook ten minutes.
Drain in a colander and return to the saucepan, with a pound or less of bacon, two onions sliced, a teaspoonful of salt and pepper to season.
Pour on fresh boiling water to cover, put on the saucepan lid and cook until tender and nearly dry. Pile in the center of a hot dish, slice the bacon and lay in a circle round the dandelions. Serve with boiled potatoes. (Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 21, 1912.)
Dandelion Sandwiches
Ave ready a number of tender dandelion leaves, washed, dried and chilled. Pound in a mortar or chop fine cold cooked meat, poultry or fish preferred, mixing with a little butter, salt and pepper to season. Spread this mixture on thin slices of bread and butter, put a few dandelion leaves on top and cover with more buttered slices. Cut into squares, triangles or fingers and serve. (Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 30, 1911.)
Root Beer
Put one pint of bran in a kettle with a gallon of soft water, some twigs of spruce, eastern hemlock tree, or cedar, a little sassafras, with roots of dock and burdock, plantain and dandelion. Boil and strain, ten add a tablespoonful of ginger, a half cup of molasses and a cup of yeast. Do not add the yeast until the mixture has cooled to lukewarm. Fill jugs full, so that in fermentation they may run over. Leave uncorked. When fermentation ceases, cork and keep in a cool place. (Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 21, 1912.)
Dandelion Punch
Two quarts dandelion blossoms, 4 quarts boiling water, 3 pounds sugar, 2 oranges, 1 lemon.
Pour boiling water over the blossoms and let stand overnight. Strain and add sugar. Let come to the boiling point, pour over the oranges and lemons sliced thin. Let stand for three days and strain before serving. (Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. May 22, 1950.)
Dandelion Wine
Pick just the blossoms, cutting the stems off close to the flower, or the wine will be bitter. Put a gallon of the blossoms in a kettle with a gallon of water. Let it stand for three days, add the yellow rind of three lemons and three oranges, boil fifteen minutes, then strain. When lukewarm, add the juice of the lemons and oranges, four pounds of white sugar and one yeast cake. Stand in a warm place for a week, strain and stand for three weeks longer, then bottle. (Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 21, 1912.)
Dandelion Wine 2
The cheerful-faced dandelion is still offering great medicinal advantages to whomsoever cares to avail himself of nature’s free dispensary. For the wine, pick the blossoms and stems, and over three quarts of them pour four quarts of boiling water and let stand over night. Strain in the morning. Take three lemons sliced fine, three and one-half pounds of granulated sugar and cup of raisins cut open, and add to the liquid. Better add a little water to dissolve the sugar and let it come to a boil before adding to the rest. Pour into a covered jar, allowing it to stand twelve days, and stirring every day. Strain again, let the liquid stand for a month, then bottle. (Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 30, 1911.)
