Dandylion coffee

[Biddlesby]

I was weeding around the raspberries earlier and gathered about five dandylion roots. How do I make them into coffee (I'm sure I read about it before on here but I can't find it), what else can you do with them (including the leaves and flower) and when is the best time of year to forage?

I hope I don't start too much of an argument over whether they are poisonous or not.

Many thanks.

 

[spamel]

What I do is just dry roast them, then grind it and use it like filter coffee! Dunno if this is correct but it tasted pretty good. I know some folk here sun dry them before roasting, but I haven't tried that yet.

The leaves can be used in salad when they are nice and fresh, but dandelion is a diuretic; it does make you wet the bed, just like mum said!!

 

[Ed]

What I do is just dry roast them, then grind it and use it like filter coffee! Dunno if this is correct but it tasted pretty good. I know some folk here sun dry them before roasting, but I haven't tried that yet.

Yep, thats it. You can also experiment with lightly roasted and dark roasted, try them mixed.... everyone has different tastes so experiment till you find one you like.


Ed

 

[Biddlesby]

Right, the oven's heating up.

I keep being told that plants with a milky "sap" or similar are poisonous, but the dandylion roots seem to secrete some milky fluid when split open.

 

[Bushpig]

Do both the leaves and the root havea diuretic effect?



Booosh

 

[spamel]

As a general rule you should avoid things with a milky sap. Of course, there are always exceptions to rules, and dandelion is one of them.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

My mum and I had a go at dandelion root coffee a few years ago. We put the roots on a tray in the Rayburn at a low temperature....then forgot we'd put them there. We found them about 3 days later, all crispy and brown/black. But they smelled good, so we ground them up anyway and they made a lovely mild, smooth coffee.

According to Food for Free, (Richard Maybe) some of the Dandelion's alternative names are "wet-a-bed" and suchlike. Dandelion does have a diuretic effect, but only mild so not a problem in normal quantities.

 

[match]

Most of the diuretic effect of dandelions is in the green parts, but it does have a mild effect from the roots. Saying that, I'm fairly sure that coffee is considered a moderate diuretic anyway, so you won't notice the difference when you drink this instead

To make, I dig the roots up, scrub em clean with a rough brush/wire scourer, but don't bother peeling them.

Put the oven on a low heat (100 deg C or below) and put them on a baking tray - bake for at least one hour - they should go hard, dry and look like twigs - it doesn't matter if they go a bit brown, as the roasting adds some flavour - too dry though and they'll taste a bit bitter.

Grind up in a coffee grinder, and use as you would coffee in a cafitiere (i.e around 1-2 dessertspoon per person, leave to steep for slightly longer than coffee.

It has a mild coffee-like taste, slightly nutty, slightly bitter like coffee.

My favourite thing to use it for is instead of coffee in mocha - mix it with hot chocolate and the nuttyness adds a whole new dimension!

 

[moduser]

Plus there is no caffine so you can drink it in the evening