Dandelion Salad

I enjoyed a fresh dandelion salad today, and I want to share the experience with you.

My finely-honed gardening skills have allowed several nice patches of dandelions to grow. (Skill-set required: Avoid stepping on, peeing on, mowing over, and spraying on all dandelions.)

At this stage of growth, the flower blossoms are great for eating fresh or fried, dried or fermented. Today I'm picking them for a fresh salad.

Here I've picked a large handful of blossoms. I tried to leave at least one blossom unpicked at each plant location, hoping to allow the spread of my spring delicacy.

I've also added a small handful of creeping charlie for interest.

I rinse the herbs in cold water, garnish with tomatoes, and dress with a splash of balsamic vinegar and creamy ranch dressing.

What a nice presentation!

The vinegar adds a tart-sweetness that compliments the slight bitterness of the dandelion, and the ranch dressing adds a comforting richness, enhancing the warm feeling that comes from eating healthy foods.

Good foraging!

Herbal Sauté

A beautiful spring-like day, although it's still just the first week of March. My lawn, however, is brown, dead-wintry grass...except for my dandelions, ground ivy, and henbit.

So, let's harvest some of my wild herbs and make a healthy, tasty, unique lunch!

First, I scout my available resources. Here's a small, but healthy patch of young dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).

A young dandelion plant will be less bitter than it would be when it begins to flower and go to seed. The flowers, though, are not at all bitter, and they offer just about as much nutrition. I did find one bright yellow flower to add to my lunch, and one unopened flower bud. The flower buds are actually my favorite...they have a texture that reminds me of a bit of meat.

Here's some ground ivy, creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea). It's very young, tender, with just a very slight minty taste.

Amongst the creeping Charlie, henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) is starting to reach out for the sun. Henbit is also slightly minty, with a purplish, square-shaped stem. It grows quickly, and I harvest the little bit that I can find before it gets older and less tender.

Okay, grab a pan and pick some tender dandelion leaves, creeping Charlie, and henbit. Rinse it in cold water and get ready to cook it.

You can see my one, lonely dandelion bloom, and just to the left of it is the one unopened flower bud that I found. This is a view of my freshly rinsed bunch of dandelion, creeping Charlie, and henbit.

While my skillet heats up I will gather some of the seasonings and condiments I'd like to try.

Garlic powder, onion powder are almost obligatory, as is ordinary salt and pepper. I'll sauté the herbs in olive oil, and I think the balsamic vinegar will add a nice highlight.

The skillet's heated to a medium heat and I've added my herbal mix. I immediately cover the skillet, letting the wet herbs steam for about two minutes.

After about two minutes, I take off the lid and stir the herbs several times as it cooked down. I don't want to burn the leaves, but I do want them tender, without being mushy.

It's ready! I present my lunch on our new dinnerware, accompanied by carrots and seedless red grapes.

Before sprinkling with the vinegar, I taste the sautéed herbs with just the salt, pepper, onion, and garlic.

It's good, and I could eat the rest that way and be satisfied. But, adding the balsamic vinegar is a real treat. It's tangy, contrasting well with just a slight bit of dandelion bitterness.

A very good lunch!

Reference Links

• Dandelion
• Creeping Charlie
• Herbal Teas
• Henbit

Herbal Teas: Creeping Charlie and Henbit

Just finished a couple of herbal teas, made from two different plants I harvested from my yard today.

First cup of tea: Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea)

Result: I like it!

The taste was richly "green", much like a well-steeped cup of green tea, smelling deeply of freshly mown grass, with a gentle taste, absolutely no bitterness. I usually must sweeten my tea, whether herbal, green or black. But I was intent upon giving my Creeping Charlie tea a fair shake, so I prepared it with no sweetening. It had a comfortable, "healthy" taste.

Second cup of tea: Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule)

Result: Acceptable.

This tea was a bit more stronger, with a decidely "dry" feeling. Again, I prepared it with no sweetening, but next time I probably will add sugar or honey. The taste was acceptable, but I really preferred the smoother taste of the ground ivy, Creeping Charlie.

Preparation:

I found both plants growing together in a sunny spot of our yard next to our driveway. They are very young, very succulent. I picked a handful of each and washed them together in a strainer held under running cold water.

I heated a potful of cold, filtered water on the stove while I separated the two types of herbs and chopped them finely.

Just as the water was beginning to boil, I put four teaspoonfuls of Creeping Charlie into an empty teapot (two teaspoons per cup of tea, plus "two for the pot") and poured in enough hot water for one cup of tea.

The covered teapot steeped for five minutes and then I poured the tea through a strainer (my teapot infuser) into a mug.

The same process was followed for the Henbit.

Potential Benefits of Creeping Charlie:

• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• Catarrh (mucous membrane inflammation, especially respiratory)
• Diarrhea
• Bile disorders
• Hemorrhoids
• Tonic (invigorating)
• Tuberculosis
• Lead Poisoning
• Ulcers
• Asthma
• Cancer

Creeping Charlie contains a high iron content and may be useful for its antibiotic or anti-inflammatory effects.

Caution:

Because the plant contains the essential oil pulegone, women who are pregnant or lactating should avoid it. And common sense requires that anything remotely approaching excessive use would be extremely unwise.

Potential Benefits of Henbit:

• Rheumatism
• Laxative
• Stimulant
• Diaphoretic (sweat-inducing)
• Febrifuge (fever-reducing)

Reference Links:

• Natural Standard
• Gardens Alive
• bobodod.wordpress.com
• Plants For A Future

Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea)

Creeping Charlie

Glechoma hederacea

My heart ran forth on little feet of music
to keep the new commandment.
(O feast and frolic of awakening spring!)
It would beguile the world to be a garden
with seeds of one refrain: My little children,
love one another; so my heart would sing.

But wisdom halted it, out far afield,
asked: did you sow this seed
around your house, or in the neighbor's garden
or any nearby acreage of need?
No? Then it will not grow in outer places.
Love has its proper soil, its native land;
its first roots fasten on the near-at-hand.

Back toward the house from which I deftly fled,
down neighbors' lanes, across my father's barley
my heart brought home its charity. It said:
love is a simple plant like a Creeping Charlie;
once it takes root its talent is to spread.

My Heart Ran Forth, Jessica Powers

Common Names

Also known as cat ivy, cat's foot, crow victuals, field balm, variations of "gill", ground joy, hayhofe, haymaids, hedgemaids, hove, lizzy-run-up-the-hedge, robin-run-in-the-hedge, run-away-robin, tun hoof, tunhofe, turnhoof, and wild snakeroot. In the British Isles, it was called alehoff and was used to flavor beer before the use of hops. It is sometimes called creeping jenny, but is no relation to the domestic ground cover we know as creeping jenny/moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia).

Creeping Charlie is part of the mint family (Lamiaceae), purposely grown in England as ground cover. Small purple flowers and dark brown nutlets add color and interest to the plant.

It seems that success has doomed this plant to the status of "weed". Not too long ago it was called the best medical herb available for eye, throat, and skin problems. But now, because it can aggressively take over an entire lawn, it is ignored, poisoned, and tilled up.

Caution

There is a possiblility of livestock poisoning, especially in horses. Seldom fatal, but it can cause salivation, sweating, and difficulty breathing.

No adverse reactions are found for human use and consumption.

Description

Family - Lamiaceae

Round to kidney-shaped leaves along a creeping stem. Long slender pink to red-purple flowers are in whorls. 1-3 inches high. Shady woods. March through June.

Stems - Repent (creeping or lying flat and rooting at the nodes), herbaceous (soft and succulent). Flowering portions erect, to +30cm tall, glabrous (smooth, not hairy) or often strigose (covered with sharp, coarse, bent hairs, usually with a bulbous base) on angles.

Leaves - Opposite, petiolate (with leafstalks). Petioles densely retrorse (bent or directed downward) pubescent (hairy), reduced upward. Blades reniform (kidney-shaped) to orbicular (circular, like an orb or ring), to +3cm long (and wide), typically glabrous (smooth, not hairy) but also sparsely pubescent (hairy). Margins crenate (shallowly rounded).

Square stems distinguish creeping Creeping Charlie from Common Mallow or speedwells. Creeping stems that root at the nodes distinguish it from Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) and Persian Speedwell (Veronica persica).

Ground ivy is characterized by its coin-shaped leaves with scalloped (crenate) edges and square petioles and stems. All plant parts have a strong mint odor when crushed or cut. Ground ivy's orchid-like purple flowers appear for a short time in mid-May. The flowers can easily be overlooked as they are often exhibited below the turf canopy.

Food and Medical Uses

The entire plant can be used fresh or dried.

Mix the young leaves into salads. Cook like spinach or add to soups.

Add fresh leaves to stir fry or vegetable dishes.

Dip sprigs of fresh leaves in batter and fry, serving with salt and olives.

Make an herb tea from fresh or dried leaves. The herb has been added to beer in much the same way as hops in order to clear it and also to improve its flavour and keeping qualities. This species was the most common flavouring in beer prior to the use of hops from the 16th century onwards.

Pour one cup of boiling water over 1/4 cup of fresh herb, let stand for seven minutes, strain and sweeten to taste. It combines well with lemon verbena or mint.

Wash a few handfuls of Creeping Charlie, Red Clover, and White Clover in a strainer, and dry them in a warm oven, 180 degrees F, for about 2 hours spread out on a cookie sheet or a fine screen or grid. Shred and crush the results and store in a glass jar. To brew, put about a teaspoon of finely shredded tea for every 5 ounces of water into a tea ball or infuser, and brew for 10 minutes in hot water and add honey to sweeten.

Some old English recipes flavored jam with ground ivy and added young spring leaves to oatmeal, soups, and vegetables.

In the early 20th Century, ground ivy tea was used in Britain as a cure-all, and was frequently used for tuberculosis and as an antidote for lead poisoning.

The stems of the plant were also made into wreaths for the dead.

Reference Links

Dave's Garden
Help Fellowship
Herbal Remedies
Michigan State University Turf Weeds
Natural Standard
Plants for a Future
Virginia Tech Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science
Slash Food
Spondee.net
Pacific States Wildflowers, Theodore F. Niehaus and Charles L. Ripper, 1976 by Houghton Mifflin Company