FEATURES: Please, do eat the dandelions

Most people think dandelions are weeds, but Jane Jensen thinks dandelions are dandy.

"Dandelions are just such a misunderstood plant, and underappreciated," the Fruit Heights woman said.

While other folks are treating their yards with herbicides to get rid of a yellow-flowered foe, Jensen allows some dandelions to grow in her yard.

"They have amnesty in my garden," she said. "I'll dig them out of the flower beds, but in the garden they are protected. They're beautiful plants, and produce beautiful leaves."

It's the leaves, not the flowers, that she really likes.

"As a young person, I majored in nutrition at Utah State University, and I remember noticing that dandelion greens are so good for us," she said. When it comes to vitamin A and iron, she says, "Dandelion greens are at the top of the list."

Spinach has been touted as a source of iron ever since Popeye burst onto the cartoon scene, but dandelions do have more muscle.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data Laboratory's database lists one cup of spinach as having .81 milligrams of iron, compared to dandelion greens' 1.71 milligrams. Dandelion greens also have more than twice the vitamin C, more than three times the calcium, and more fiber.

A bitter experience

The first time she ate dandelion greens, Jensen wasn't thrilled.

"I tried them steamed once, and they were icky -- like wilted spinach, and bitter. I didn't like them, so I didn't think I could use them," she said.

Jensen gave dandelions another chance when she started selling organic produce from her garden to Omar's Living Cuisine, a restaurant in Sugarhouse. The owner asked if she could supply dandelion greens, and he started serving a dandelion salad, based on a traditional Lebanese recipe, as a Saturday special.

Now Jensen eats the leaves mixed in salads, and makes a green drink out of them.

"I put a couple of peeled oranges in the blender with water and a big handful of dandelion greens," Jensen said, noting that she drinks the concoction two or three times a week. "It sure gets the colon working."

She still thinks dandelion greens have a bitter taste, but says, "I've acquired a taste for them, and they taste delicious to me."

Craig Steinmetz, the owner and chef of Artisan Grille in Ogden, says the key is picking small leaves.

"They become a little bitter as they get bigger," he said. "The younger ones are more tender and tastier, and toward the base of the leaf can become a little bit more bitter."

He hasn't served them in his restaurant, because it's hard to get enough to keep on the menu, but he has eaten them mixed with other salad greens.

"They go nicely with a raspberry or citrus dressing," Steinmetz said. "You can even use an Asian dressing, or balsamic dressing goes well with a mixed dandelion green salad. ... Put tomatoes, carrot and cucumber in, and it can be really nice."

Michael Piep, assistant curator of the Intermountain Herbarium at Utah State University in Logan, says the sap in dandelions turns bitter in the heat of summer, so they're better in spring.

"I eat them quite a bit. They're a wonderful spring green, very healthy for you and full of antioxidants," he said. "Dandelions were brought to North America as cultivated vegetables, and one of the reasons is that they come up very early every year, and they're very high in nutrition."

Like other dandelion-eaters, Piep has his favorite ways of eating them.

"I favor taking the leaves and steaming them like you would spinach, and serving with a little bit of vinegar and salt, but I also put leaves in my salad," he said.

Gary Willden, a professor at Weber State University, says students in his Outdoor Survival class dip the blossoms in a cornmeal batter and drop them in hot oil for a minute.

"They're tasty little things," he said.

Health food

Some people may be tempted to mask the bitter taste, but Charles Kane says it's part of what makes dandelions a healthy food.

Kane, author of "Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest" (Lincoln Town Press, 2006), says the bitter taste starts saliva production, stimulating gastric secretions to aid digestion. The leaves also have some diuretic properties, he said.

Dandelion roots can be split down the middle and dried into a powder to take in capsules or drink in a tea, according to Kane's book.

"It's useful for chronic indigestion," he said, by phone from Tucson, Ariz., adding it can also help with liver inflammation. "If someone takes it for several months, usually their LDL cholesterol goes down, and the HDL, or good cholesterol, improves.

Piep says he doesn't care for the taste of the root.

"It's like eating a somewhat bitter parsnip," he said. "The root is frequently cut up and dried, and used as an additive in coffee, like people use chicory."

A gift

All parts of the dandelion can be eaten, but not all dandelions.

"You don't want to eat dandelions you pick out of the lawn, if you've been spraying or fertilizing, because dandelions have the tendency to collect and concentrate chemicals," said Piep.

Jensen says in these tough economic times, folks might want to think twice before spraying their dandelions. She remembers reading that Europeans were "reduced to eating dandelion greens" after World War II.

"I think they're God's gift to man," she said. "I'd say they were lucky to have them -- they will nourish you better than anything we grow.

"In the days ahead, someone might ask, 'Where's my next meal coming from?' and the answer may be, 'You're standing on it.' "