The Joy of Dandelions

By Brenda frick, Ph.D.

Nature celebrates the start of the growing season with a sprinkling of cheery yellow flowers, reflecting the richer warmth of the spring sun. The dandelion is a flower of first. For urban folks, dandelions are usually the first flower of spring. This makes them especially important for bees and other pollinators as they emerge flower-starved from a long winter. Dandelions are often the first flower we pick as children, and as mothers, they are often the first flowers we receive from our children. How timely that these tokens of affection occur in abundance at Mother’s Day.

Dandelions seem to polarize public opinion, especially when they occur in that most symbolic of environments, the urban lawn. CropLife, the trade association for pesticide manufacturers and plant biotechnology, claims that in Canada over one million packages of pesticide for domestic turf are purchased annually by private homeowners (generally packaged in combination with fertilizers). According to a report by Alberta Agriculture, people in cities use an average of 4 times as much active herbicide ingredient per acre of home lawn compared to what farmers use per acre of farmland. The vast majority of this is “turf herbicides”. The most common herbicide for urban use is 2,4-D. A great deal of this product is targeted against the scourge of the dandelion.

This practice is increasingly coming under scrutiny. Although CropLife and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency of Health Canadian maintain that 2,4-D can be used safely, the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) conducted an extensive review of pesticide research and found consistent evidence of health risks to patients with exposure to pesticides, including 2,4-D. OCFP recommends that patients “avoid exposure to all pesticides whenever and wherever possible. This includes …. exposures that occur from the use of pesticides in homes, gardens and public green spaces”. An increasing number of professionals are suggesting that a moratorium should be placed on cosmetic herbicide use, especially in urban environments. Groups that support such a moratorium include Allergy-Asthma Information Association, Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Nurses Association, Canadian Liver Foundation, Canadian Society for Environmental Medicine, Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Ontario College of Family Physicians. Cities such as Toronto and Halifax have banned cosmetic herbicide use.

While some people are trying to poison dandelions, and some are seeking less toxic methods of eradication, others are actively encouraging and harvesting dandelions as a valued crop. Dandelion is a cultivated crop in France, Belgium, Germany and China.

Herbal use of dandelions has a long history, including citations in herbals of China in the 7th century, Arabia in the 10th and Europe in the 15th. Today a variety of dandelion products can be obtained in health food stores, farmers’ markets and on-line. The uses proclaimed for dandelion are varied, and include use as a diuretic, for digestion, as a cleanser for blood and liver, and for joint pain.

Dandelion is also a highly nutritious food plant. Leaves are high in minerals such as potassium, calcium, copper and iron, and in Vitamins A (more beta carotene than carrots), B complex, C and D. Leaves can be used as salad greens, as a cooked vegetable, as a tea, or as an ingredient in more varied recipes such as soups or casseroles. Leaves can even be salted and fermented like sauerkraut or used in combination with other herbs to brew as beer.

Those who have tasted a dandelion leaf in mid-summer and been discouraged by the taste – try it again this spring, before the plant begins to flower. Or tear off the old leaves and eat the new leaves as they regrow. Like lettuce, the young leaves have a much milder flavour. In France, the roots are harvested in fall, and brought indoors to be forced into shoot production. Shoots grown in the dark are especially mild.

Dandelion roots are high in pectin and inulin, which foster the growth of friendly bacteria in the gut. Roots can be cleaned, chopped and boiled as a vegetable, or thinly sliced and stir-fried. Their high inulin content gives them a sweetness that develops as they are cooked. The roots may also be dried and ground for use as a caffeine-free coffee-like beverage.

Dandelion flowers can be made into juice, wine, or jelly. Flowers can be battered and fried, or made into pancakes or fritters. Dandelions are also used in products such as hair rinses or cosmetic creams. An abundance of dandelion recipes can easily be obtained in a “google search” on the internet.

Apparently people’s attitudes toward dandelions are beginning to soften. A greater appreciation of dandelions is bound to lead to an improvement of our health and our environment. Perhaps it can even lead to an improvement in our finances as we learn to market rather than exterminate these gifts of nature.

Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag., is the Prairie Coordinator for the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada at the College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan. She welcomes your comments at 306-966-4975 or via email at brenda.frick@usask.ca .

This article first appeared in The Western Producer, and is published here on the OACC website with permission.