School Holidays Dandelion Boredom Buster

[Mumbles]

Have just been having a general browse online and discovered that the entire dandelion plant is edible and apparently quite nice. My front garden has been rather neglected and is currently covered in them so I am going to get my 4 year old picking them all while on easter hols from nursery and going to do the below recipe - should keep her entertained for a while (and me entertained seeing her dads face when he realises hes eating weeds from the front garden!)

Dandelion Fritters

Ingredients
2 cups or so of prepared and washed fresh dandelion flowers
1/3 cup all purpose flour or rice/almond flour for gluten free option
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup corn meal
Dash of sea salt
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
Generous amount of high heat cooking oil such as vegetable or coconut oil
Maple Syrup or Mustard for dipping, optional
Directions
Dandelion fritters are fun to make & delicious to eat!
Dandelion fritters are fun to make & delicious to eat!
Note: To prepare the dandelion flowers for fritters, first remove the green, leaf-like bracts found underneath the flowers. Wash dandelion heads.
In skillet, warm oil on medium heat.
Combine flour(s), baking powder, corn meal, and salt. Add the egg and milk. Stir well to combine.
Holding one flower at the base, dip the flower head in the batter and rotate to coat both sides.
Gently place coated flower heads into the skillet, flower side down, to prevent hot oil from splashing.
When they are lightly browned, flip to brown the other side.
When they are brown on both sides, remove from the skillet, and place on paper towel to drain.
Allow to cool before eating.
For a sweet treat, drizzle fritters with maple syrup or honey. For savory fritters, try dipping in mustard.

[noviceveggrower]

Hi, just be careful as they make you wee a lot. A dialectic I think is the word. Could be wrong word am doing this on OH Ipad and it keeps having its moments.

[Bill HH]

Apparently Dandelions are supposed to be a diuretic and is sometimes called "Wet the bed" So you might want to sleep in a different bed from your husband tonight.

[noviceveggrower]

Apparently Dandelions are supposed to be a diuretic and is sometimes called "Wet the bed" So you might want to sleep in a different bed from your husband tonight.

I nearly got the word right.

[Mumbles]

thats handy to know, will make sure its a morning activity!

[Bill HH]

I nearly got the word right.

How do you know if I got it right though?

[Bill HH]

It may be just a myth, best thing is to test it out on him first.

[Mumbles]

that is a very good point Bill, will do that

[Glutton4...]

They are a diuretic. It is known in other countries, too, although I can't remember which (France? possibly), and is named accordingly.

The most annoying thing to me, is that if you pick the flower heads, and don't destroy them, they will still set seed. How dare they!?

[Martin H]

I knew that the French call it pissenlit, but I didn't know till just now that the Italian is piscialletto and an English folk name is Piss-a-bed. What did we do before Wikipedia!

[ancee]

We used to have a rhyme at school about 'Dandelion wee the bed' but, fancy restaurants are now serving them as a delicacy and seed suppliers can't keep up with demand and have run out of seeds to sell to people eager to grow and eat them! What a world hey? incidentally my tortoises used to love them more than life itself - eager creatures they were

[Nicos]

The young plants are sold here on market stalls as salad leaves.

This time of year we get to see lots of old biddies bums up in the ditches hunting for young dandelions!

Now that's a lovely image eh?..

[alldigging]

Flowers galore! Time to start picking them for wine!