I didn’t intend for this to be a 2-part series, but after looking out into my backyard and seeing what you see in the photo above (the picture doesn’t do it justice!), I got so motivated to find ways to use all those dandelion blossoms! So, like with everything else, I consulted my trusty friend, Mr. Google, for help. Have you ever spent hours looking for something and walking away in disappointment, only to turn around looking for it again a week later, and it’s right there? No? Well, maybe it’s just me 😉
But that’s what happened when I went searching for recipes for dandelion flowers. Last week, I found so many ways to use the greens, but all the recipes I found for the flowers were all sweets – jams, syrups, cookies, etc. This time when I went on my search, I knew I wanted something that could be served with/for dinner. Something substantial and nutritious.
Just an FYI: dandelion flowers pack a real hefty nutrition boost to whatever you add them to. They’re chock full of beta-carotene, vitamin C, iron, and other nutrients! The blossoms specifically are very good for the heart, they promote blood circulation, and the pollen has antibacterial properties.
And then it happened; I hit the jackpot of dandelion flower recipes when I came across this awesome post from Eat the Weeds. It had all sorts of different ideas to try, so I focused my efforts on three recipes that I made that day: Coconut Dandelion Blossom Muffins, Cream of Dandelion Soup, and Dandelion Blossom Burgers – we had the soup and the burgers for dinner that night, along with a dandelion greens salad, of course! 🙂
So, that afternoon, I took Baby Y out to the backyard where we picked a whole bunch of dandelion flower heads – well, I picked, he just kind of grabbed at what he could and pulled until he got something, probably wondering why on earth I was allowing him to continue. It was a beautiful sunny day, just perfect for foraging!
After our play time and flower picking, we went inside and I washed the flowers. Ok, here is where you will do what I say, not what I do! I made the mistake of washing the flowers before removing the petals – it makes sense, right? Wrong! Those little suckers hold onto so much water, it was so difficult to grab hold and remove the petals without them all sticking to my hands, so it was a little frustrating in the beginning, to say the least. Honestly, next time, I probably wouldn’t even wash them at all since I know exactly where they came from. I would just inspect each flower before I removed the petals and blow away any bugs I saw.
Alright, onto removing the petals! This was definitely a learning experience 😉 After some trial and error, I learned that you have to squeeze the green base very hard between your thumb and index fingers until you feel the petals release, then roll the base between your fingers to loosen the petals, and pull out the petals with your other hand. I also read later that it may be better to pick them when they aren’t fully bloomed – when the petals are kind of sticking straight up, since it’s easier to grab hold of the petals that way.
Squeeze the base really hard to release petals
Roll between your fingers to loosen
Pull the loose petals off the base
It’s really quite easy once you get the hang of it, but it is Time. Consuming! I can honestly say that it really was worth it though 🙂 From the bowl’s worth that I picked, I got around 3 cups of loosely packed petals – perfect! One cup for each of the three recipes! Just for reference, I counted about 50 flowers for each cup of loose petals (yes, I actually sat there and counted them…you’re welcome 😉 )
Alright, I know you’re just here for pictures of the recipes, so here you go! Click on the individual links for each recipe! Enjoy 🙂
Coconut Dandelion Blossom Muffins
Dandelion Blossom Veggie Burgers
EDIT: Since writing this post, I have also made some beautiful and yummy dandelion syrup! Check it out at the link below!
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Love this! Thanks for all the great tips on using the flowers — I’ve only ever used the greens, so I’m excited to harvest some flowers for some spring cooking (saving some for the bees, as you suggested 🙂 Great series!
The flowers are the most fun part! Grab your kids and have them help, they’ll love it! 🙂
I’m definitely going to have to try some of these recipes. My husband has problems with his liver and I’ve read that dandelions are great for your liver so I’ve been looking for good dandelion recipes. I cooked some dandelion greens the other day and they were soooo bitter so I’m excited to try these recipes.
Yes, dandelions are supposed to be really good for the liver, as well as a good blood detoxifier! Check out Part 1 of this series for some easy ways to incorporate the greens into recipes – they really are so versatile and can be added to just about anything 🙂
http://naturesnurtureblog.com/2012/04/22/dandelions-friend-or-foe-with-recipes/
…and my sincerest well wishes for your husband’s health 🙂
Wow. this is fantastic, Sarah! More wonderful ideas! Someone left a comment on my blog about dandelion flower jam, which I thought I might look into, but I just the muffin idea, too! Now can I ask, did the flower petals lend any specific kind of flavor? Perhaps you get into that in the actual recipe posts, I should scroll down and read them. thanks for sharing all of this, good tips all around and Im excited to get back out to our field next door and get those blossoms and use them, too… as soon as it stops raining. 🙂
God bless!
Glad you like the posts, Nicole! Yeah, I’ve read about the jam, although I’m more inclined to make a syrup, since you need pectin to make the jam – something I don’t usually have around. To be honest, the flower petals just barely gave a subtle sweetness, kind of like the subtlety of honey. In all reality, this was originally a recipe for bread, which I just baked in muffin tins LOL – so it’s a pretty good base recipe to play around with. The original also used sugar, which I substituted with raw honey, which probably affected the level sweetness as well. At the end of the day, I was more interested in the nutritional punch that these petals pack, than the actual taste. But I’m definitely going to experiment more with these…maybe adding more petals would help bring out the flavor more.
Looking forward to your future dandelion adventures! 🙂
Those look yummy, do they have a taste? I would love to try them here but afraid of stray cats or animal doing their business on them!
It’s a really faint, sweet taste…not overpowering, which I like. Kind of like honey. And they’re packed with nutrients, so they really boost the nutrition value of whatever you use them in. Yeah, you want to be careful where you forage for them to make sure they’re not exposed to pesticides, animal waste, or roadside exhaust, etc.
Mate, this site is going gangbusters, I’m so impressed!
Those muffins look ace.
Amazing I’ll have to try that
🙂