DANDELION

Proper Use

Harvest leaves, flowers, and roots in the season when they are most vital. In early spring leaves quickly shoot up and gather sunlight. This is when they are most tender and can be eaten fresh, cooked, or dried for tea. As the leaves age and are exposed to sunlight, they can become intensely bitter. To preserve leaves for tea, harvest on a dry day. Use a rubber band to bundle small bunches then hang to dry, or dry leaves in single layers in baskets. Store in a glass jar for up to a year.

​

Buds appear at the base of the leaves in early spring. These can be eaten fresh, cooked or pickled. Buds open into flowering heads. These are best gathered for food or medicine on sunny days when they are dry and fully open, usually in April or early May. Drying the flowers is nearly impossible since they go to seed quickly.

​

Root medicinal properties vary a little from season to season. In spring, they are more bitter and have optimal medicine as a digestive stimulant. In the fall, they are sweeter and higher in a carbohydrate called inulin, which is excellent for diabetics. Be mindful that when you dig dandelion even the smallest piece of root left in the ground will grow into a new plant.

Only large, fleshy and well-formed roots should be collected, from plants two years old, not slender, forked ones. Roots produced in good soil are easier to dig up without breaking, and are thicker and less forked than those growing on waste places and by the roadside.  Dig up in wet weather, but not during frost, which materially lessens the activity of the roots. Avoid breaking the roots, using a long trowel or a fork, lifting steadily and carefully. Shake off as much of the earth as possible and then cleanse the roots.  Cut off the crowns of leaves, but be careful in so doing not to leave any scales on the top. Do not cut or slice the roots or the valuable milky juice on which their medicinal value depends will be wasted by bleeding. 

Pharmacopeial grade dandelion leaf must be composed of the dried leaves collected before flowering. It must contain not less than 20% water-soluble extractive.

​

Pharmacopeial grade dandelion root must be composed of the dried root and rhizome collected in the autumn when its inulin content is the highest. The root must contain not less than 40% water-soluble extractive with reference to the oven-dried material.

​

• Unless otherwise prescribed: 3-4 g of cut or powdered root and herb three times daily.

• Decoction: Boil 3-4 g cut or powdered root and herb in 150 ml water.  [The decoction instructions in the German Standard License monograph are as follows: Boil 1-2 teaspoonfuls (2.4-4.4 g) and strain after 15 minutes, twice daily in the morning and evening.]

• Infusion: Steep 1 tablespoon cut root and herb in 150 ml water.

• Dry native extract 4:1 (w/w): 0.75-1 g.

• Fluid extract 1:1 (g/ml): 3-4 ml.

• Tincture: 10-15 drops, three times daily. [The Commission E-recommended tincture dosage of 10-15 drops, three times daily, does not correlate closely with the Commission E daily dosage of 3-4 g dried root and herb. No justification can be found in the literature for such a low tincture dosage, in drops as opposed to milliliters. Most herbal references recommend 5-10 ml, three times daily, which relates to the Commission E daily dosage of 3-4 g dried root.]  The tincture made from the tops may be taken in doses of 10 to 15 drops in a spoonful of water, three times daily.

• Succus: 5-10 ml pressed sap from fresh plant.

Formulary

• The young leaves of the Dandelion make an agreeable and wholesome addition to spring salads and are often eaten on the Continent, especially in France. The full-grown leaves should not be taken, being too bitter, but the young leaves, especially if blanched, make an excellent salad, either alone or in combination with other plants, lettuce, shallot tops or chives.

• Young Dandelion leaves make delicious sandwiches, the tender leaves being laid between slices of bread and butter and sprinkled with salt. The addition of a little lemon-juice and pepper varies the flavor. The leaves should always be torn to pieces, rather than cut, in order to keep the flavor.

• Goats will eat it, but sheep and cattle do not care for it, though it is said to increase the milk of cows when eaten by them. Horses refuse to touch this plant, not appreciating its bitter juice. It is valuable food for rabbits and may be given them from April to September forming excellent food in spring and at breeding seasons.

• The young leaves may also be boiled as a vegetable, spinach fashion, thoroughly drained, sprinkled with pepper and salt, moistened with soup or butter and served very hot.  As a variation, some grated nutmeg or garlic, a teaspoonful of chopped onion or grated lemon peel can be added to the greens when they are cooked.

• In Berkshire and Worcestershire, the flowers are used in the preparation of a beverage known as Dandelion Wine. This is made by pouring a gallon of boiling water over a gallon of the flowers. After being well stirred, it is covered with a blanket and allowed to stand for three days, being stirred again at intervals, after which it is strained and the liquor boiled for 30 minutes, with the addition of 3 1/2 lb. of loaf sugar, a little ginger sliced, the rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon sliced. When cold, a little yeast is placed in it on a piece of toast, producing fermentation. It is then covered over and allowed to stand two days until it has ceased 'working,' when it is placed in a cask, well bunged down for two months before bottling. This wine is suggestive of sherry slightly flat, and has the deserved reputation of being an excellent tonic, extremely good for the blood.

• ​The roasted roots are largely used to form Dandelion Coffee, being first thoroughly cleaned, then dried by artificial heat, and slightly roasted till they are the tint of coffee, when they are ground ready for use. The roots are taken up in the autumn, being then most fitted for this purpose. The prepared powder is said to be almost indistinguishable from real coffee, and is claimed to be an improvement to inferior coffee, which is often an adulterated product.

• In the hepatic complaints of persons long resident in warm climates, Dandelion is said to afford very marked relief. A broth of Dandelion roots, sliced and stewed in boiling water with some leaves of Sorrel and the yolk of an egg, taken daily for some months, has been known to cure seemingly intractable cases of chronic liver congestion.

• A strong decoction is found serviceable in stone and gravel: the decoction may be made by boiling 1 pint of the sliced root in 20 parts of water for 15 minutes, straining this when cold and sweetening with brown sugar or honey. A small teacupful may be taken once or twice a day.

• Dandelion is used as a bitter tonic in atonic dyspepsia, and as a mild laxative in habitual constipation. When the stomach is irritated and where active treatment would be injurious, the decoction or extract of Dandelion administered three or four times a day, will often prove a valuable remedy. It has a good effect in increasing the appetite and promoting digestion.

• Dandelion combined with other active remedies has been used in cases of dropsy and for induration of the liver, and also on the Continent for phthisis and some cutaneous diseases. A decoction of 2 oz. of the herb or root in 1 quart of water, boiled down to a pint, is taken in doses of one wineglassful every three hours for scurvy, scrofula, eczema and all eruptions on the surface of the body.

​

GALL STONES 

• 1 oz. Dandelion root, 1 oz. Parsley root, 1 oz. Balm herb, 1/2 oz. Ginger root, 1/2 oz. Liquorice root. Place in 2 quarts of water and gently simmer down to 1 quart, strain and take a wineglassful every two hours.

• For a young child suffering from jaundice: 1 oz. Dandelion root, 1/2 oz. Ginger root, 1/2 oz. Caraway seed, 1/2 oz. Cinnamon bark, 1/4 oz. Senna leaves. Gently boil in 3 pints of water down to 1 1/2 pint, strain, dissolve 1/2 lb. sugar in hot liquid, bring to a boil again, skim all impurities that come to the surface when clear, put on one side to cool, and give frequently in teaspoonful doses.

LIVER & KIDNEY​

• 1 oz. Broom tops, 1/2 oz. Juniper berries, 1/2 oz. Dandelion root, 1 1/2 pint water. Boil in gredients for 10 minutes, then strain and adda small quantity of cayenne. Dose, 1 tablespoonful, three times a day.

​

​MEDICINE FOR PILES

• 1 oz. Long-leaved Plantain, 1 oz. Dandelion root, 1/2 oz. Polypody root, 1 oz. Shepherd's Purse. Add 3 pints of water, boil down to half the quantity, strain, and add 1 oz. of tincture of Rhubarb. Dose, a wineglassful three times a day. Celandine ointment to be applied at same time.

​

DANDELION BUD PICKLES

• Early spring dandelion buds

• 1/3 cup sweet onion, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• apple cider, brown rice or white wine vinegar

• tamari or soy sauce

Place onions and garlic in the bottom of a 16 oz. mason jar. Fill the jar with dandelion buds so there is 1-2 inches of clearance on the top. Cover buds with a mixture of 25% tamari or soy sauce and 75% vinegar. (For me this was about 10 ounces). Cap and let sit for at least 2 weeks – no refrigeration necessary. Stir every couple days to ensure all buds are covered with vinegar.