Table of Contents
- Lookalikes and Identification of Taraxacum Officinale
- Edible Uses of Common Dandelion
- Medicinal Uses of Common Dandelion
- Alternative Uses of “Blowball”
- Growing Taraxacum Officinale
- Common Dandelion – Taraxacum Officinale in Summary TL/DR
Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a widely recognizable edible and medicinal herb that is most common throughout the temperate regions of North America and Europe. Dandelion being easily identifiable is often the gateway plant to exploring foraging. It’s especially dandy for beginner foragers, being generally safe to eat and thanks to the entire plant being edible except for the seed fluff.
Dandelion’s folk names include but are not limited to blowball (seedhead appearance), lion’s tooth (leaf appearance), priest’s crown, milk witch (milky sap), and wild endive. Medicinal folk names include piss-a-bed (diuretic effect) and canker-wort.
Lookalikes and Identification of Taraxacum Officinale
There are less edible lookalikes in our area including yellow hawkweeds, but for the most part lookalikes are edible. Coltsfoot and salsify come to mind as lookalikes with some edible uses. We also have some rare native dandelions in Cottage country, Ontario that are easily mistaken for Taraxacum officinale. I have only noticed these natives once or twice, and only after uploading the photos to iNaturalist and having the AI suggest a local cousin of the common nonnative plant!
Here are some pictures of the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) to help with plant identification:
Parents and guardians may want to warn children to be cautious even when handling such a seemingly innocuous plant. Dandelion sap is not a pleasant substance to accidently get in your eyes and that has landed families in the ER before.
Edible Uses of Common Dandelion
The most obvious way to eat dandelion is as a nutritious leafy green added to a raw salad mix. You’ve probably had it in salad mixes from the grocery store. The leaves are the least bitter before the plant is flowering. Make sure to clean them well, and be certain that the area you’re harvesting the plant from hasn’t been sprayed with toxic herbicides or pesticides.
My favorite way to eat dandelions is to batter the washed flowerheads in pancake mix and fry them up in oil or butter. Tempura and similar batters are options too. That potent floral taste you might remember from childhood (um, anyone pop a dandelion flower in their mouth as a kid and immediately spit it out, or is that just me?) is significantly toned down by cooking the flowers.
Here’s a bullet list of edible ideas:
- Dandelion wine (flowers) – Recipe below!
- Dandelion jelly (flowers)
- Salad greens
- Sauteed greens
- Fresh leaves juiced in moderation
- Young buds prepared like capers
- Seeds for sprouts or microgreens
- Seeds used like poppy seeds, raw or toasted
- Seeds used to make dandelion seed milk
- Fritters (battered flowers)
- Used like carrots in stews et al or for pickling (tender roots)
- Coffee substitute that tastes nothing like coffee (dried, powdered roots, harvested late fall, can be combined with roasted acorn and roasted rye in equal pts)
- Dandy Blend Instant Herbal Beverage with Dandelion is the most popular commercial blend (affiliate link to Amazon)
- Tea (combines well with chicory or burdock root)
- There are many commercial dandy teas available on Amazon too!
Rich in Vitamins A, B, C, Riboflavin and inulin (a dietary fiber that may improve gut health).
Here’s a dandelion wine recipe inspired by Euell Gibbons and Ray Bradbury. You can also make red clover wine by this recipe, simply substituting red clover flowers for dandelions flowers. You will need:
Dandelion Wine
- a pristine, sanitized crock, a pot, and cheesecloth
- 1 gallon fresh flowers
- 1 gallon boiling water
- patience
- ginger root (optional)
- juice of 3 oranges
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 lb white sugar
- yeast cake and rye bread or your preferred
starter - tons of patience
Take 1 gallon of fresh dandelion flowers gathered on a dry spring or summer afternoon.
Put the flowers in a crock and pour 1 gallon of boiling water over them.
Cover your crock and let the flowers steep for 3 days.
Strain the steeped juice through a cheesecloth, squeezing the flowers to get all the liquid dandelion goodness out. Make sure both your supplies and your hands are thoroughly clean – or you may go through all this work just to end up with a spoiled, moldy brew!
Put the strained dandelion juice in a cooking pot with a thumb of ginger root thinly pared (optional), the juice of 3 oranges and 1 lemon.
Stir in 3 lb sugar and bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 20 min.
Return the juice to the crock and allow it to cool.
Spread 1/2 cake of yeast on a piece of toasted rye bread and float it on top. Cover the crock with a clean towel and keep it in a warm room for about a week. I imagine you can use any of your preferred starters for this step. Dandelion kombucha anyone?
Finally, strain and allow the dandelion wine to age for at least 3 weeks, preferably months. Or red clover wine, if you go that route.
If you love making wild concoctions like this, check out this classic wild edibles book for more recipes:
Stalking The Wild Asparagus (Field Guide Edition).
Medicinal Uses of Common Dandelion
Dandelion is primarily said to support these body systems:
- Cardiovascular
- Digestive
- Integumentary
- Urinary
Medicinal tags include
Common usage includes the rhizome and roots as a bitter tonic and mild laxative. I often use the roots for tea/coffee or add a tincture of dandelion root to my coffee to support my liver. The fresh juice is more potent.
And as a diuretic, the leaf also shows up in tea mixes for fluid retention for conditions like edema or premenstrual symptoms like bloating. However, if your cleansing organs (liver, gallbladder, kidneys) are not healthy, consult your doctor before taking dandelion. Generally diuretics should be avoided in those cases.
Dandelion is commonly used in healing salves and other recipes. If you are interested in using dandelion in a salve, check out the dandelion blossom oil recipe and instructions from The Herbal Academy so you can safely preserve the herb for use in some herbal medicine recipes.
You can also try using dandelion’s white milky latex repeatedly on a wart to get rid of it. Just keep in mind it can be a very irritating substance, and you wouldn’t want to accidently get it in your eyes.
Alternative Uses of “Blowball”
If you are pulling dandelions, they are a helpful addition to a compost pile.
The collected seed fluff can be used as a highly flammable tinder.
The flower can be used to produce a yellow dye and the roots make a magenta dye.
Eastern tiger swallowtail on dandelion flower
Growing Taraxacum Officinale
In the off chance your yard isn’t already filled with them – they’re easy to grow! The seeds can be sown directly in the fall for early-spring greens, or about 6 weeks before the last frost in Spring. Another option is winter sowing. While they’ll grow in poor soil, moist and rich alkaline soil is favored, and they prefer full sun. They also do well in raised beds and containers. Since dandelions aren’t native here, growing them as a garden vegetable same as lettuce is possibly the best option. The wild real estate in your lawn can go to planting native plants, the real power house action for bees!
Despite the online buzz about dandelions being for the bees, they are reportedly of a lesser quality nutritional source for native bees and pollinators. It’s still a decent idea to leave some blooming as a food source for early spring pollinators, when flowers are sparse. Around Ontario, willows and red maples are our first native spring nectar sources for pollinators including bees, followed quickly by many native spring ephemeral flowers. It’s an easy step up from leaving the dandelions / no mow to joining a native plant gardening group and getting into some serious pollinator gardening action – then you’ll be making huge strides for local wildlife. Leaps compared to just leaving the dandelions!
There are a handful of native dandelions you can browse on iNaturalist – the ones without the pink IN/Introduced label. Rare finds, with lots of hybridization! While technically the common dandelion is considered introduced and naturalized in North America, some consider it borderline native. It is technically native to Asia and Europe.
Blog posted updated December 21, 2024, originally posted April 17, 2016.
Common Dandelion – Taraxacum Officinale in Summary TL/DR
Common dandelion, known scientifically as Taraxacum officinale, is a well-known edible and medicinal herb found widely in temperate regions of North America and Europe. It is many a beginner foragers first edible due to its being highly accessible, easily identified and the fact that almost the entire plant is consumable (minus the fluff!)
They have typically bright yellow flowers which open during the day and close at night, and they have a hollow stem filled with milky latex that rises from a basal rosette and central tuber. Note the milky latex can cause eye irritation, so handle with care. While there are some lookalikes like yellow hawkweeds that may be less edible, most lookalikes are similarly safe to eat.
Dandelions can be eaten in almost endless ways. The young leaves are commonly used in salads. Additionally, the flowers can be battered and fried for a tasty treat. Other edible uses include but are in no way limited to dandelion wine and jelly, sautéed greens, fresh leaves juiced in moderation, and grinding the dried roots for a coffee substitute.
Medicinally this herb supports multiple body systems including cardiovascular, digestive, integumentary, and urinary systems. Its medicinal actions include alterative, bitter, and diuretic. The roots can be used for a bitter tonic, and the leaves are often included in tea mixes for fluid retention issues. Note that allergies are possible, and diuretics shouldn’t be used by people with certain medical conditions. (See Warnings below!)
The parts can also be used in alternative ways such as for compost material, making dyes for crafts, and the fluff as a very flammable tinder. They are easy to grow; seeds can be sown in fall or early spring. Dandelions aren’t picky about soil and prefer sunny spots.
Despite popular belief that their early spring flowers are crucial for bees, they are reportedly less nutritive for North American native bees and pollinators compared to native flowers. I recommend both leaving some dandy blooms and planting native species that are more beneficial to local pollinators. Perhaps consider a red maple tree for your yard. Common dandelions are considered introduced and naturalized in North America, and they are native to Europe and Asia. There are however some rare native North American species related to it.
Overall, common dandelions are super versatile and have numerous applications from culinary uses to herbalism.
WARNINGS
This herb is a diuretic. Diuretics are generally safe, but they can be risky for people with other medical conditions or who take certain medications. Please consult your doctor if you have any health conditions.
Some people are allergic to the milky latex of dandelion or the plant itself.
And the Usual Cautions:
1) Most medicinal herbs, if edible, are meant to be eaten in moderation, even sparingly. Some require extra preparation. Tannins are toxic if consumed in excess. Before taking any new supplements, you should consult with a healthcare professional.
2) People can be allergic or sensitive to nearly any plant; try new herbs one at a time at your own risk. For instance, saponins commonly cause stomach upset.
3) For serious medicinal use, I must recommend receiving a diagnosis and working with a reputed health care provider. I generally do not post specific treatments and dosages because I think that is best between you and your health care provider, and ideally monitored.
4) Anyone pregnant, nursing, or taking prescription drugs should talk to a health care professional before adding new food items to their diet.
5) Many plants have look-a-likes, and sometimes they are poisonous.
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REFERENCES
My new favourite foraging book is Sam Thayer’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: of Eastern and Central North America (The Sam Thayer’s Field Guides) Paperback – June 1, 2023 and this plant IS featured as one of the edible wild plants in this area. I highly recommend this guide for your bookshelves!
wiki/Taraxacum_officinale
https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/3615
The Herb Book: The Most Complete Catalog of Herbs Ever Published (Dover Cookbooks)
The Good Living Guide to Natural and Herbal Remedies: Simple Salves, Teas, Tinctures, and More
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs
Reader’s Digest Magic and Medicine of Plants
Native Plants, Native Healing: Traditional Muskagee Way
How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts (Native American)
Edible and Medicinal Plants of Canada
Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use
Indian Herbalogy of North America: The Definitive Guide to Native Medicinal Plants and Their Uses
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