TheViking said:
Hi...
Alick: if you read my post in the Plantlore-thread yesterday, you may know that eating Dandelion is not good for you!
Dandelion is toxic in bigger amounts!
I don't know anything about coffee making from plants, but I know that you must not eat Dandelion. Why RM is showing this plant as edible in his books, I don't know! :?:
TheViking said:
Hi...This quote is from a danish man who is very much in to the hole plant thing and has solid knowledge on nordic flora:
And to translate to english: Dandelion... I have never mentioned dandelionroots as edible. On the contrary they contain different connections which is definately not healthy for the human organism. Don't worry. You will not take any harm, of having tasted the roots; but don't eat them!
Well this is the info that I have been given and i'm gonna' stick to that.
I have never ever heard that dandelion is poisonous in such a way as being harmful to eat, drink or use as a medicinal herb! In fact I have heard the exact opposite : Dandelion is one of the most complete plant foods on earth. All the vital nutrients are conveniently contained in a single source, in quantities that the body can easily process and fully absorb herbalist Gregory Tilford.
Yes, dandelion has white sap which is a sign generally referring to poisonous stuff, but dandelion has been used for food and as a medicinal herb for centuries without doing any harm to people. I have eaten dandelion "a lot", as several others in this thread, and not one of my books states that dandelion is poisonous in any way.
I am running a course in bowmaking starting tomorrow and for the rest of this week, but in the coming weekend I'll check a reference book on medicinal and edible plants - the book is compiled by chemists and based on scientific work done on edible / medicinal plants used in Norway for ages. The book is at my mother in law's place and she has worked as a chemist for some 15 years or so.
Nyttevekstforeningen (
http://www.nyttevekstforeningen.no/) - the Norwegian organisation for useful edible and medicinal plants does not list it as being either dangerous or poisonous - on the contrary they mention it as being a useful plant.
The Swedish website on plants "The Virtual Flora" on
http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/welcome.html notes that dandelion is both nutritious and rich in vitamins.
That the Swedish Army manual does not list dandelion does not mean that is poisonous, as there are far too many useful plants out there to be mentioned within the pages of a field manual.
The Swedish survival book "Overleve på naturens vilkår" (Norwegian edition) by Lars Fält - one of Swedens most experienced survival experts and head instructor for the Swedish Special Forces, and also working together with Ray Mears - and Steffan Källman (also a well known army survival expert who has done scientific work on different survival aspects), lists dandelion (Taraxacum vulgare) as being edible and especially the roots being useful and very nutritious... (lots of carbohydrates - mainly inulin, which may be more readily available to humans by cooking. I can list the nutritional values if anyone is interested). Lars Fält and Steffan Källman are also the authors of the Swedish Army Survival manual. They were also deeply involved in starting the Swedish Survival Guild (
http://www.survive.nu/english.html) which incidentally has a pic of a dandelion somewhere on the front page.
Tom Brown, the well known (and controversial !) American survival expert also list dandelion as "one of the great all-around" plants for medicinal and food use.
Not to mention the "Dandelion Guru" Peter Gail -
http://www.edibleweeds.bigstep.com/homepage.html. He writes the following on his webpage (with regard to poisonous roots please note what he says about that) :
"Most of us are told that dandelions are edible when they are at their bitterest --when they are in flower like they are now. We taste a leaf, shrink back in horror, and never try them again. In truth, they are no more bitter than their relatives endive and chicory, and are so nutritious and health-promoting that it is worth learning to serve dandelions with foods that mask the bitterness.
Here are some more tips....
For the Leaves
Gather them when they are young, in the spring before the flower buds appear. After they have finished flowering, cut them back to the top of the roots, and harvest the young greens which come back all the way into November. They will be just as good as spring greens.
Dandelions growing in the shade are bigger and less bitter than dandelions growing in full sun. Harvest there whenever possible and plant dandelions under pole beans, tomatoes and other tall crops which will shade them.
Dandelions for sale in supermarkets most of the year are Italian Dandelions, which really are blue-flowered chicories, not true dandelions. They have the same healthful properties, but are coarser and more bitter.
Until you get used to it, you can mask the bitterness by serving dandelions between slices of bread, with sweet and sour or raspberry vinaigrette dressing, with meats, cheeses, pasta, seasoned tomato sauces, and fruits.
For the flowers
The flowers, separated from their bitter green bases, are sweet to the taste. Different recipes call for everything from the unopened buds through fully-opened flowers. Make sure you are getting flowers at the stage required by the recipe for the best results. If getting fully-opened flowers for dandyburgers, muffins, cookies, omelets, waffles, jelly or wine, gather them early in the morning when they are still closed. They are easier to process.
To get rid of the green base, hold the flower between your thumb and forefinger. Pinch hard at the base, while moving thumb and forefinger in a twisting motion. This will immediately loosen the yellow flowers from the green base, especially if they are freshly picked. Using this method, you can easily prepare a cup of flowers in five to six minutes.
For the Roots
Dandelion roots are so nutritious and health promoting because they are the winter storehouse for all the nutrients gathered and produced by the plant. Hence, dandelion roots are best gathered from October through March.
The roots are very efficient miners of all the minerals available in the soil. They are not discriminating. If they are present, the roots will suck up lead, mercury, and other minerals, as well as pesticides, in proportion to the amount that is present in the soil or air. Studies have shown that it is safe to collect dandelions 75 feet from the road, or behind a structure like a house or barn which blocks airborne pollutants from getting to them. Dig deep. Get long roots. These can be grated into salads or stir-fries as the Asians do, or roasted and made into a coffee substitute.
For a delightful beverage, air-dry the roots for several days uncut. Then cut the dried roots into one-inch sections, and roast on a cookie sheet at 250 degrees for 2 to 4 hours, turning regularly so that they brown evenly, until the odor coming from the oven smells like coffee. Grind as needed, and use as you would coffee."
Direct link to this quote is
http://www.edibleweeds.bigstep.com/generic.html?pid=8
And I think that I could check and list a whole lot of other resources on this plant, but now I really wonder, what is the name of the guy you refer to, and what is his background? Any website links - even in Danish ?