How to Eat a Dandelion

Dandelions have many nutritional benefits, making them very healthy to consume. There are many ways to incorporate dandelion flowers, leaves, and roots into a meal. This meal will include dandelion root coffee and dandelion salad.

When digging your dandelions make sure you dig deep down to get as much of the root as possible.

WARNING: Make sure your dandelions have not been sprayed with weed killer or anything poisonous.

First cut off your roots from the dandelion and soak them in water. Then rub them and repeat this process until they are clean.

After the roots are clean and dry cut them up into smaller chunks.

Heat the oven 350° F(177° C). Place your roots on a pan and cook them for 10-15 minutes. Keep a eye on your roots and move them around every 5 minutes. The roots should smoke a little and give off a chocolaty aroma while cooking. When they look like charcoal and snap apart easily they are done.

Now grind the roots just like you would do with coffee beans.

Mix the dandelion root into boiling water, after a few minutes turn off the heat. Next drain the roots out of the coffee, I used a coffee filter sitting in a sifter. You could also use your coffee maker to do this.

First you need to wash the green to get any dirt off of them. I soaked mine in water, rubbed them, and repeated until they were clean.

Cut off the stems of the greens. Next cut the green into appropriate sized pieces.

Note: Dandelion greens have a slightly bitter taste so I recommend adding in some lettuce and dressing.

Carefully remove the green part of the dandelion and cut off any stem.

Note: The green part can be very bitter so I recommend removing it but it is optional.

Lastly place your dandelion root coffee in a cup and plate your salad.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable, happy eating!