Spring is the time of year to get out and pick your own salad and connect to the natural world. The dandelion greens are best eaten early in the season when they are young and tender. Bursting with caratenoids (plant vitamin A), vitamin C, iron and fibre, they are a true spring tonic! Avoid picking greens from lawns, some roadsides and golf courses that use fertilizers and herbicides. Basically, do not pick from an area unless you know its history. If you can't pick your own dandelion greens you can buy them at most supermarkets.
Serve with the Maple Dijon Vinaigrette I posted earlier. Using a sweet dressing will help to cut the bitterness of the dandelion greens. I mixed half dandelion greens with half salad greens but you can use all dandelion if you wish.
Makes 10 x 100 g servings – about 500 ml each.
2 liters dandelion greens, raw, chopped 8 cups
2 liters salad, field greens 8 cups
250 ml sunflower seeds, dried, unsalted - 1 cup
Dandelion flowers and/or buds
Method:
Wash greens by soaking in plenty of cold water. Remove dirt and debris. Cut into 5 cm (2 inch) lengths if desired.
Combine in large bowl with mixed field greens.
Divide salad among plates and top with a sprinkle of sunflower seeds and a tasty vinaigrette.
Optional additions: dandelion and pansy petals, sprigs of bergamot (bee balm), grated carrot, sliced cucumber etc. I often cheese curds to increase the protein and staying power of my salad. Thornloe Cheese is a northern Ontario cheese maker just north of New Liskeard, Ontario and they make wonderful cheese curds.
NUTRITION FACTS (per 100 g – 500 ml serving): 100 calories, 7 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 50 mg sodium, 9 g carbohydrate, 4 g fibre, 3 g sugar, 5 g protein. % Daily Values: 160% vitamin A, 25% vitamin C, 10% calcium, 15% iron.
16 comments:
Dandilion salad was a springtime favourite in our family. My grandma and aunt would collect the plant before even buds were appearing as once the bud forms the leaves get bitter. We would make the salad like a spinach salad. Oil and vinegar, cut up hard boiled egg and chopped onion (you could also add a few chopped mushrooms. Of course, salt and pepper to taste. I missed having my feed this year but I did think of it but didn't get around to it. I have seen cultivated dandilions in the grocery stores, so maybe I will try in then.
Hi Lisa! Took me a minute to find out who botany girl is! I bought some at Independent Grocer (Dollar YIG) and they were larger and milder than the ones in the yard now. Good though!
Yummy!!! Dandilions are just starting to pop outta the ground on the mountain right now. I'll have to get out and grab some before they bitter...Now is the time that Glacier Lilies are poppin outta the ground ...should be able to find some Red Aspen Bolete mushrooms on the lower mountain by now too..Maybe roast some pine cones for the nuts inside...ta da...mountain salad..hehe
I will be curious to hear about how good and easy it was to roast the pine cones. I have heard of this but not eaten them.
Did you roast the pine cones for nuts? I have heard about this but never done it so I am naturally curious.....
No go on the Pine nuts...they have to be harvested in the late fall. See below
The pine nut came to be a useful staple food because only after the people learned how to harvest the nut prior to the final ripening stage of the cone. The technology for achieving a pine-nut harvest was messy and complex, and it was practiced communally. In fact, pine-nut harvest defined the great social time of the year, being the greatest gathering of the people in the concentrated areas of sacred lowland pinyon forest. People went to the forests in the early fall before the cones had fully ripened and dropped. They began with "first fruit" celebrations that confirmed the sacred significance of the food and established their respect for the forests.
When harvest began, the men pulled cones from the trees using tools made from large willow branches equipped with a sturdy V-shaped hook at the end. Women and children piled the cones in burden baskets (usually large conical wicker baskets carried on one’s back with a cordage band across the forehead). At this point, the cones were just at the point of opening and were usually full of pine pitch.
In camps surrounding the forest harvesting grounds, the pine cones were processed. This began by roasting the pine cones around hot coals, turning them often, to cause them to open up. Then, the cones could be beaten lightly to cause the nuts to fall out. When a supply of nuts was available, these required further processing since the nuts were covered by a soft brown shell. Cracking this shell would be difficult and would injure the fruit inside The nuts were processed by placing them on a basketry tray with hot coals from the fire. Once introduced together, the whole mass was kept in constant motion, throwing them up and swirling the tray, until the shells were roasted to a hard, crisp dark brown. The coals were removed at this point and the nuts were poured onto a grinding stone where they were lightly pounded with a mano until all of the shells had cracked and falled free of the inner fruit.
Cracked pinenuts are yellow-orange, translucent and soft. They can be eaten at this point and are delicious. Far more pine nuts were harvested than could be eaten raw so they needed to be processed further. At this point, the nuts were returned to a winnowing tray and thrown repeatedly into the air to allow the cracked shells to be carried off by the wind. When the shells were all gone, hot coals were returned to the tray and the roasting process was repeated until the nuts were dry and hard, somewhat darker in color.
At this point, the nuts could be stored in large basketry storage containers for later use. Dried nuts could still be eaten without further processing but the usual procedure was to make a pine-nut flour by grinding them. They were returned to the grinding stone and the mano was used to pound them lightly until they were well fragmented. Grinding was achieved with small amounts quickly so that the fine flour could be pushed off the metate forward into a bowl or onto a tray. A soap-root brush light be used to move the pine-nut flour on the tray. When enough flour was available, it could be warmed in water to make a thick paste; then the paste could be reduced, by dilution, to make whatever consistency was desired. While pine-nut mush may not sound especially appealing, addition of berries, various leafy vegetables, and/or ground meat or fish made it a feast.
Found out they have to be harvested in the fall...see below
The pine nut came to be a useful staple food because only after the people learned how to harvest the nut prior to the final ripening stage of the cone. The technology for achieving a pine-nut harvest was messy and complex, and it was practiced communally. In fact, pine-nut harvest defined the great social time of the year, being the greatest gathering of the people in the concentrated areas of sacred lowland pinyon forest. People went to the forests in the early fall before the cones had fully ripened and dropped. They began with "first fruit" celebrations that confirmed the sacred significance of the food and established their respect for the forests.
When harvest began, the men pulled cones from the trees using tools made from large willow branches equipped with a sturdy V-shaped hook at the end. Women and children piled the cones in burden baskets (usually large conical wicker baskets carried on one’s back with a cordage band across the forehead). At this point, the cones were just at the point of opening and were usually full of pine pitch.
In camps surrounding the forest harvesting grounds, the pine cones were processed. This began by roasting the pine cones around hot coals, turning them often, to cause them to open up. Then, the cones could be beaten lightly to cause the nuts to fall out. When a supply of nuts was available, these required further processing since the nuts were covered by a soft brown shell. Cracking this shell would be difficult and would injure the fruit inside The nuts were processed by placing them on a basketry tray with hot coals from the fire. Once introduced together, the whole mass was kept in constant motion, throwing them up and swirling the tray, until the shells were roasted to a hard, crisp dark brown. The coals were removed at this point and the nuts were poured onto a grinding stone where they were lightly pounded with a mano until all of the shells had cracked and falled free of the inner fruit.
Cracked pinenuts are yellow-orange, translucent and soft. They can be eaten at this point and are delicious. Far more pine nuts were harvested than could be eaten raw so they needed to be processed further. At this point, the nuts were returned to a winnowing tray and thrown repeatedly into the air to allow the cracked shells to be carried off by the wind. When the shells were all gone, hot coals were returned to the tray and the roasting process was repeated until the nuts were dry and hard, somewhat darker in color.
At this point, the nuts could be stored in large basketry storage containers for later use. Dried nuts could still be eaten without further processing but the usual procedure was to make a pine-nut flour by grinding them. They were returned to the grinding stone and the mano was used to pound them lightly until they were well fragmented. Grinding was achieved with small amounts quickly so that the fine flour could be pushed off the metate forward into a bowl or onto a tray. A soap-root brush light be used to move the pine-nut flour on the tray. When enough flour was available, it could be warmed in water to make a thick paste; then the paste could be reduced, by dilution, to make whatever consistency was desired. While pine-nut mush may not sound especially appealing, addition of berries, various leafy vegetables, and/or ground meat or fish made it a feast.
Ok, we can all go nuts in the fall then. I should be able to get something locally to resemble pine nuts!
Salad is really one of the best Healthy Food Choices . I will try this one too
Get that diet nice!
Today’s Dietitian
Great informative post. Thanks for sharing with us.
Online Dietitian in India
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Online Dietitian
Thanks for Information
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