Edible Flower Power
Wild Spring Food: Recipes
Did you know there is something with incredible healing power growing right outside your door?
It is highly nutritious, lowers inflammation, blood sugar and blood pressure, reduces cholesterol, purifies the liver of toxins, clears and improves skin, aids digestion and the immune system, helps strengthen the bones and is known to prevent cancer.
WOW!
Every single part of this plant can be used medicinally, and you can also eat every single part!
WOW!
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?!
And if that wasn’t enough, it's growing in most of North America and Europe in your backyard… for freeeee!
Yet…
What if I told you this incredible gift from nature is widely hated by humans, to the point they will spray cancer-causing glyphosate all over their lawns to eradicate it. Which causes harm to not only themselves, but to their pets, their children, and the many pollinators like bees that depend on it for food.
This bright, sunny, strong, determined, prolific and powerful plant is my favourite plant ally.
If I could only have one plant in my apothecary, I would choose her.
Have you been able to guess who she is yet?
The beautiful, precious, bright dandelion.
Her roots reach deeply into the soil, she is rooted and strong. She is radiant and shares herself in abundance without holding back. She is the colour of the solar plexus and demonstrates this energy with her strong will; she is bold and not afraid to be herself. She is determined and will grow in the hardest places; cement, packed gravel are no threat for her. She will grow in protest to conformity of the green lawn, almost to say, “I am here, whether you want me or not, I belong here, I am enough.’
All of her qualities are given to us in abundance when we consume and work with her.
The medicine that grows abundantly around us is the one we most need.
Dandelion helps to replenish our bodies with vitamin A, C, K, E, B vitamins and minerals. She helps to cleanse our overburdened livers from toxins. Just like she breaks up the soil to extend her tap root deep into Mother Earth, she breaks up congestion and stagnation in our lymphatic, urinary, and digestive system.
As a plant spirit essence, she helps us to regain our will, our strength to be ourselves, even when the world seems to disapprove of our medicine.
From an Ayurvedic perspective, dandelion lowers pitta and kapha and can increase vata. However, the recipe I share is tridosic because the vata influence is reduced by the butter and flour. If you are having weak digestion or high kapha, skip the flour and just dip in eggs or do the blanched leaves.
Wild Recipes
Every day, I try to eat something wild to remind my cells of their authentic nature. Wild foods that have not been tampered with hold the energy of our pristine origins, unlike GMO foods, which confuse our bodies. Our bodies recognize wild foods like a loving grandmother who tends to us and nourishes us on more levels than just the body.
Wild foods feed the soul and the body.
The whole act of gathering is a sacred act of reconnection with our humanity, with the green world, and with our natural pace. It crosses boundaries of time and space and brings us back to a simpler time when we had the knowledge and the ability to provide for ourselves, when we knew nature more intimately than brands/logos from corporations.
When a tree was not just a tree, but a dear friend that offered itself to us as a gift: giving us wood, food, medicine, shelter and friendship.
Although humanity may have shifted, the plants are still there, waiting for us to come back.. back to them, to nature, to our senses (pun intended).
How to Prepare Dandelion
My favourite ways to prepare dandelion are:
Blanching the leaves
Breading and frying the flower heads
Making a pesto which will be shared in another post.
Cooking the Leaves:
Ask for permission and talk to the plant, introduce yourself, say hi..
Collect the leaves when they are just coming up. Collect as many as you like, but collect here and there from each plant so you don’t take all of them from one plant. The smaller leaves will be less bitter. I harvest at any time, I enjoy the bitter taste.
Thank the plant for offering its life to you.
Cut the leaves and place them in a pot with a small amount of water.
Bring to a boil for a couple of minutes until the leaves are wilted. Takes 1-3 minutes, happens quickly.
Stain and serve, you can add olive oil and lemon juice to add more flavour and reduce vata.
You can use this as a side dish to fatty dishes or those that are oily to balance the bitter taste. It will increase your digestive processes, clear heat from the system and subtly detox as well.
I also use the leaves when I make pesto. I use half dandelion leaves and half spinach.
Cooking the flower heads:
I collect the bright yellow flower heads during noon, when the sun is strongest. I process them quickly because they can wilt rather fast. You will need 1 egg and some sort of flour. You can use wheat or almond flour, or even blend them. I have done each and they are all yummy.
Wash them if needed.
Beat the egg in a bowl, dunk the flower heads (with their stems removed), one by one.
With the egg on the flower head, dunk it into the flour one by one.
to cook you can use butter, ghee or coconut oil. Bring your pan to a high heat like you would for pancakes and let the pan heat up.
When the pan is hot and the butter/oil is sizzling, add the flower heads. With space between them.
Fry for a few minutes until the flour batter is golden brown.
Use almond flour if you want to make it gluten-free or need more protein in your diet. You can also just dip the flowers in egg and fry them that way, or make an omelette.
I love having these flowers as a side dish to add a special wild food flavour, and they are a great snack. Experiment and let me know your inventive ways of using this wild food.
Wildharvesting Tips:
Harvest in a clean, unpolluted area, not by roads or where sprayed. Take only as much as you need and leave more than you took, so the plant can spread.
Enjoy these recipes that honour the plentiful energy of spring. Spring is the best time to enjoy the bitter taste. Bonne appetite!
Feel free to share and let me know how you enjoy them.
Other fun news!
I am currently on my way to India to do Panchakarma and to work in an Ayurvedic Hospital. I will be writing about my adventures. If you know someone who would be interested in what I write about, please share.
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Your article is as nourishing as the plant 💛☀️💛
Great job. I love how you put this. Well done.