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July 23, 2008, 7:31 am
Flag as Inappropriate skatss  

I was watching Farmer's Almanac TV last night and they said that most Americans have an extremely healthful food growing in their yards but that they never think to eat it.

It's dandelions! You don't have to take my word for it, but if you look it up you will see that one cup of cooked dandelion greens has more calcium than a cup of cottage cheese but has only 34 calories.

It provides 12% of the fiber, 19% of the iron and 28% of the Vitamin C that the USDA suggests that we get in our diets each day.

A one cup servintg has protein, many minerals including potassium, magnesium and phosphorous as well as vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, B-6 and folate.

So now that you know that dandelions are so good for you, after looking at it as a weed and a nuisance after all these years -- would you be willing to start to grow it in your garden to eat?

If I had a garden I would! I hear that you can get a nice dandelion wine from it that's pretty easy to make.

How are you supposed to cook and clean them. I knew you could make a drink out of them, but have never been sure how to do it.

Wouldn't you know it. I don't have very many dandelions in my yard! Now I have a ton of these terrible vines that grow like crazy and wrap themselves around the fence, the tomato vines, the flowers. Wish I could make something out of them!

m I`ll have to look and see if I have any growing in my yard. I need to find out what they look like first though lol.

I think you cook the green parts of the dandelions, like you would a mess of greens. You can also find lambs quarters out in fields, again, they are greens. Only problem is I don't like greens!

You treat dandelion greens like regular greens or lettuce. Add it to a salad, juice it, or steam it. They can be rather bitter and strong tasting so start slowly.

I was never known to be the adventurous type regarding 'exotic' foods, so even if I knew what a 'dandy lion' looked like, I'm pretty sure, I'd have to pass on its rich offerings.

No note that if you cook these you will loose just about all the vitamin A and C.

I did a fast search online and found a few places that tell you how to cook dandelions.

The more I do research, the more it seems like a shame that we all have not been consuming dandelions.

I even have a friend who has been buying dandelion tee and has been drinking it for years. I forgot that she keeps offering it to me to drink.

I will accept a glass of it next time.