It is a wonder that there is a whole book about one of my favorite flowers, crowded with facts and recipes. . Dandelion is a lot more nutritious than brocali, can prevent illnesses such as cancer, and can heal if made into a salve. Actually brought to our country by immigrants long ago, many nursery catalogs used to offer you a choice of 5 different varieties of dandelion. Dandelions yield taraxacin, which stimulates the liver and gall bladder, increasing the flow of bile and is a tonic for impaired digestion. According to Dr. Peter Gail, Americans have many misperceptions of dandelions.
Dandelions are about the best wild vegetable resource in the world.
They are free, abundant, nutritious, and very palatable when collected at the right time, in the right way, and prepared groperly. Most gradually fell out of favor but still thrive in our gardens and lawns, waiting to be rediscovered and added to our menus. James Beard, Craig Claiborne, The Frugal Gourmet, Bert Greene, and the U.S. Govern- ment all consider the dandelion as food. The Chinese revere dandelions and consider them one of the six most important plants in their herbal medicine chest. Americans in general wish that dandelions would go away and die.