Mad About Dandelions

I mentioned a post or two ago how thrilled I was to see so many dandelions around – it’s just as well I am thrilled as we certainly seem to have an abundance of them in our garden! I know that this might seem like an odd thing be thrilled about, but you see, I don’t see weeds when I look their pretty yellow heads, I see potential! Apart from learning about how interesting these plants are in one of our OHC times, I have also discovered that the flower petals can be made into the most delicious things. Free food is the term I think! I thought that I would share two recipes with you – one that we have made and one that I plan to make :o)

Dandelion bread was what we made last year – DE-LISH and oh-so-pretty! So here we are:

Dandelion Bread

4 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 – 2 cups dandelion petals*

1/2 cup sunflower/vegetable oil

3/4 of a cup of honey

2 eggs

2 2/3 cups of milk

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C or 400 F. 

Combine all the dry ingredients including the petals. 

In a separate bowl: Mix oil, honey, eggs and milk

Stir in the dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour the batter into 2 greased loaf pans and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. If it is not done, lower the temperature to 180 degrees C or 350 F and continue baking, checking every 5 minutes.

 Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

~ thank you Lisa for posting this recipe ~

*Remember to wash the blossoms before trimming the petals and be sure to only gather blossoms that have not been treated with weed killer!

Now for a recipe that I want to try out Dandelion Jelly! Apparently it is just gorgeous to look at an gorgeous to eat. 

Photo Credit: Food.com

There are lots of recipes for Dandelion Jelly but I thought Lisa’s recipe {with a few modifications of my own gleaned from other recipes} from Olive Plants Around My Table looked good.

Dandelion Jelly

2 cups dandelion blossoms*

1 quart water

1 packet powdered fruit pectin

5 1/2 cups sugar

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

rind of one lemon finely chopped {optional}

In a saucepan, bring the water and blossoms to a boil.

 Boil for 4 minutes. 

Strain, reserving 3 cups of the liquid. 

Discard blossoms.

 In a large kettle, liquid and pectin. Stir well.

 Bring to a full, rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. 

Add sugar all at once. Return to a full rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly.

 Remove from heat; add lemon juice and lemon zest.

 Skim off foam. 

Pour the hot liquid into hot, sterilised jars, leaving 1/4 in. head-space.

 Adjust lids.

 Process for 5 minutes in a boiling-water bath.    

Yield: about 6 half-pints.

* When harvesting dandelions, please be sure they have not been treated with chemicals. Also, thoroughly rinse and dry them before cooking.

So there we go! I hope that you can look at dandelions a wee bit differently now that you can see that they are not just a pesky weed :o)