eating dandelion heads

[ChrisGreaves]

I have read the web pages on the use of dandelion heads, leaves, and roots.
I would like to hear from Loungers who have actually eaten the heads - as a snack, as a meal, raw, or cooked.

I should add that I use no toxic applications in my garden (except for the town's piped water!)

Thanks.
Chris

[Argus]

Nope, but I've tasted dandelion wine.
One way of getting rid of them, I imagine.

[HansV]

The French for dandelion is pissenlit (literally pee-in-bed), which doesn't sound particularly delicious...

[Argus]

Let's shift focus of this thread before Chris returns.

The French for dandelion is pissenlit (literally pee-in-bed), which doesn't sound particularly delicious...

Can't remember ever doing that. (But as I said, not eaten them, knowingly; and yes, they are known for that, among other things.)

[BobH]

Thanks for the laugh, Hans!

[bureau.jacques]

The dandelion salad, alias "salade de pissenlit" is a serious subject! This dish is one of the classics of "cuisine lyonnaise" of international renown thanks to Paul Bocuse. We eat the leaves at the very beginning of spring when they have been blanched by frost. The best way to prepare them is with a sauce made of small grilled bacon, the fat of the bacon is used as an accompaniment. You can add a sliced ​​hard-boiled egg. Delicious...

[John Gray]

And there was me thinking that Chris' salad days were over...

[ChrisGreaves]

Let's shift focus of this thread before Chris returns.

Dandelion on you!
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

This dish is one of the classics of "cuisine lyonnaise" of international renown thanks to Paul Bocuse. We eat the leaves at the very beginning of spring when they have been blanched by frost. The best way to prepare them is with a sauce made of small grilled bacon, the fat of the bacon is used as an accompaniment. You can add a sliced ​​hard-boiled egg. Delicious...

Hello and thanks Jacques.

"Lyonaisse" on account of where you get to on a train from Gare de Lyon, I suppose, rather than a French pun on "Lion". Right?

I harvest the leaves by grabbing the tops of the leaves of young plants, and slicing them off with a sharp knife. I get a few blades of grass in the mix, but figure that the cellulose is just good roughage.

I have not yet taken the time to make sauces, although that may be fine in a restaurant. For me it is more a winding-down of activity before lunch - five minutes sitting in the lawn picking dandelions, and then inside for a quick dicing and a small tin of tuna, sardines or, I suppose, home-made beaked beans.
Hard-boiled egg makes sense - a bit of animal protein to go with it all.

I will post a photo-essay after lunch
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

And there was me thinking that Chris' salad days were over...

I didn't come to Bonavista to vegetate!
Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

"Lyonaisse" on account of where you get to on a train from Gare de Lyon, I suppose, rather than a French pun on "Lion". Right?

Jacques is from the beautiful city of Lyon, as you can see under his user avatar...

[ChrisGreaves]

Bonavista_20200530_114255.JPG

My first full lunch. I am using just over a dozen heads, after three days of 1, then two, then four dandelion heads to see if I developed a reaction. Likewise a less-than-plateful of young leaves.

Bonavista_20200530_114556.JPG

I have diced the heads on my chopping board. (I was thinking of saying "I have frenched them, but there is no Gare de Belgium, that I know of.

Bonavista_20200530_115012.JPG

And here they are after being mixed up with shredded sardines from a tin then spread on crusty home-baked bread.
'Twas yummy.
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Bonavista_20200606_130801_HDR.JPG

Another day, another dandelion lunch. A margarine tub with fresh heads. I have found that the white plastic retains yellow colouring from the heads. Were I a purist I would keep one tub for the heads.

Bonavista_20200606_130835b.jpg

Here is a tub of luscious green leaves.

Bonavista_20200606_163133_HDR.JPG

And here we are - diced E-W and N-S about one inch wide cuts. I sometimes add a diagonal cut if I am not pressed for thyme.
Cheers
Chris

[bureau.jacques]

superb! congratulations...

[ChrisGreaves]

I have read the web pages on the use of dandelion heads, leaves, and roots.

Please see also "Hate salad or veggies? Just keep eating them. Here's how our taste-buds adapt to what we eat".
Three years later I am still promoting eating dandelion leaves. To the most common question "yes, but are they as nutritious as spinach/lettuce and all those greens in the supermarket?" I hazard a guess and say "More so!". There follows the question "So why aren't they being sold in the supermarket?" I suppose that that's because there is no profit in selling something that can be harvested in your own back yard for free.
Cheers, Chris

[John Gray]

Chris, why are you reviving a number of four-year-old threads?
Have you run out of combative ideas?

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris, why are you reviving a number of four-year-old threads?

Hi John. It's what I do.
I use technical forums as a data base of items of interest. I suspect that roughly half of my visits to Eileen's Lounge et al. involve searching for something that I think has been mentioned, or else I am looking for a link I posted.
This morning I emailed a nutritionist in Newcastle (location of my first bout of employment) and thought of dandelions; hence this morning's search, and why not add to my database while I am there?

Have you run out of combative ideas?

Never!
Last year, to take one example, you would have found me reviving threads from three years previous
Cheers, Chris

P.S. I also figure that long after the original posting, anyone wondering about dandelions will have access to today's article. C

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris, why are you reviving a number of four-year-old threads?

More to the point, why are YOU reading threads that are more than a year old?
Nothing on the telly?
Cheers, Chris