Eating Dandelions: The Nutritious way to weed!

So call me crazy, but I like to eat Dandelion greens. Steamed and then mixed with lemon juice and olive oil = yum! Plus it's really good for you too. The leaves are high in vitamins A and C as well as calcium and give you more iron than spinach. Just be sure to never harvest them in areas sprayed with chemicals. Your back yard is probably the safest bet.

So here's my step by step guide on harvesting preparing and cooking your dandelions:

• The easiest way for harvesting I've found is to insert a strong knife around the roots and try to sever the roots, leaving the clump of dandelion plant intact for easy handling. This is also handy of you want to harvest the roots too. They can be dried and made into tea which can act as a diuretic and has detox properties. 
• Once you've collected sufficient dandelion greens (They shrink a lot so be sure to get 2-3 times more than you think you'll need) you can start to clean them. When I harvest them I do a preliminary screening; picking off old leaves and bits of sticks and grass. Then I trim off the ends so the leaves are all separate, and I take out all the little dandelion buds and other icky bits. Then I rinse them in cold water and vinegar to help get any dirt and little bugs off. 
• Once your greens are clean, transfer them to a pot and add a little water. Put it on low heat and let them tenderize for about ten minutes. Once they're dark green and aren't chewy, drain the water (you can reserve it-it's got a lot of nutrients in it! Drink it or feed it to your plants). 
• This part is up to you. I like to dress them with a bunch of lemon juice and olive oil because that's how my Greek neighbor taught me. But you can do a number of things. You could fry them up with onions and garlic and add ham,sausage or other veggies to cut the dandelion flavor. You could even eat them raw in salads, but do this in early spring as their flavor can get pretty intense later on. 
• Enjoy! It's a great way to control your weed population while also getting free nutritious food! Win win right?

But I like it just with lemon juice and olive oil!