Can you really eat these?

The initial impression was sweet and robust… then, the bitterness set in. My companion quickly spat it out, scraping it off his tongue in one of his signature moves. I usually enjoy the bitterness of salad greens, but this was too much! Maybe it was just the surprise of it? I didn’t know, but I didn’t eat another one.

Oops, silly me!

Turns out, I shouldn’t have picked greens from a plant with a fat yellow flower. Apparently, those are the bitterest, though they can be sauteed like rapini (one of my favorites.) The best are the young crowns that haven’t gone to flower yet. So I’ll try again, this time going to the unkempt baseball/soccer field for my harvest. No doubt, this will be an excellent activity for my small, but opinionated, fellow researcher.

Dandelions are highly nutritious, but you should not eat them from chemical-treated lawns or soil, of course.

One page recommended frying the flowers, just like onion rings or fritters. Sounds delicious! I am definitely going to try again.

Some links about eating dandelions.
http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/unappreciated-dandelions/
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Dandelion.html
http://www.rwood.com/Articles/Dandelion_Greens.htm
http://landscaping.about.com/od/weedsdiseases/a/kill_dandelions_2.htm

Oh, yes, and my garden’s finally coming up! I am so excited — my radishes are theoretically almost ready to pull up. I’ll do a test pull in a few days with photos.

Sorry about the garden-hijacking of the blog. I have a bunch of new bath and body stuff to post — some new tutorials — and will get back to the regularly scheduled program soon.

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