Gramma Golden

Have you been attempting to stay a step ahead of the number of dandelions in your yard this year?  Well, you might as well give up that battle and try some recipes for dandelions since there is an abundance  of them growing in yards and along roadsides.

According to http://www.learningherbs.com/dandelion_recipes.html, there are some tasty dandelion dishes…… Dandelion Lemonade for one. The recipe suggests that you spend a few minutes outside in the sunshine in your favorite dandelion patch gathering fresh dandelion blossoms. You’ll need about 2 quarts of flowers to make a gallon of lemonade in this dandelion recipe. Bring the flowers inside and place them in a gallon jar. Fill the jar with room temperature water and add the juice of 4 lemons. Add fresh honey to taste, and chill. You can strain the flowers out after a few hours or just leave them to fall into the glasses when you serve the lemonade. Also, for your information, dandelion blossoms steeped as tea can help relieve headaches, menstrual cramps, backaches, stomach aches and even depression.

The second recipe is for Dandelion Fritters. You should pick the dandelions in the sunshine when they are open and when you have time to make the fritters right after gathering. Bring your basket of flowers inside, find a bowl, and mix together one egg and one cup of milk. Stir in a cup of flour and your fritter batter is ready to go. Now, prepare a skillet on the stove with gently warmed olive oil – keep it over medium heat. Take one of the flowers and hold it by the greens at the base of the flower petals. Dip the petals into the batter and twirl until the flower is covered. Drop it into the skillet, flower side down. Continue dipping and dropping flowers, checking the first ones every once in a while to see if they are brown. When they’ve lightly browned, flip them over and brown them on the other side. When they’re brown on both sides remove them from the skillet and drain the excess oil on a paper towel. For a sweet treat, drizzle them with maple syrup, honey, jam, or powdered sugar. For savory fritters try dipping in mustard or adding some savory herbs to the batter.

So there you have it!  I don’t know about you but for me, however, I’d rather take my real lemonade made with real lemons outside, sit in a comfy chair in the sunshine and watch the birds fritter about the yard instead of spending my time preparing recipes from dandelions. But then again, that’s me.