First, you collect the blossoms! Dandelion stems are very bitter, so you cut off all the stem, leaving only the flower (plus green flower bit/thingy underneath it, so that the flower holds together!).
Then, rinse the blossoms in lightly salted water.
Pat them dry on paper towels.
For the batter, mix 1 cup flower, 1 cup milk, 1 egg (beaten), and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Then dip the flowers:
And fry them in hot oil! We didn't *quite* put enough oil to make them deep-fried, but you do need a fair bit of oil.
Blotting off any extra grease is always important when frying things, I find.
Annnnd here is the finished product!!
They were great! A lovely, fluffy texture and simple but good flavour. We didn't feel a need to put anything on them, and just ate them plain!
I really want to get more into foraging this year. I'm starting out with one of the most easy to find plants, dandelions, but we've had our wild edibles plant books out a lot lately, and have taken more out from the library. On walks we've been identifying edible plants, and I think we're going to start taking a book or two with us on walks, to figure out what the plants we can't easily recognize are...
Far beside the fact that I think finding and growing your own food is a MUCH better way to do things than buying stuff from a supermarket, I just find it immensely fun. I'll gleefully dance around outside, gathering yummy food, and have been more involved so far this year in gardening than I've ever been before. I love cooking, and I find I also really, really love being part of the growing and/or finding process in the food that I cook. I'm looking forward to many gardening and foraging adventures this summer...
Peace,
Idzie
Thanks for sharing this Idzie, those look great! My yard is FULL of dandelions right now so I think I'm gonna try this tonight :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome!! My Grandma used to make these! We had dandelion greens in salad all the time too. Thanks for the reminder about frying them.
ReplyDeleteLovely Idzie!
ReplyDeleteFor May Day we'll dance around the maypole and maybe try to gather up some dandelion blossoms --I love the photos.
Have you tried Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum & albidum)greens? They are popping up around here and are yummy raw and cooked... they go well with morels (however, I never can find morels... so sad.)
Happy May Day.
One of my favorite ways to eat dandelions! I love to drizzle honey on them while they're still hot! :-)
ReplyDeleteSounds great! I have a ton of dandelions in my yard right now and this sounds like a perfect way to utilize them. I wonder....can the dandelions be picked and saved until the next day or do they need to picked fresh for this recipe????
ReplyDeleteOoh thanks for the recipe. My 15 month old's favourite thing to do lately is pick all the dandelion flowers and hand them to me. We'll have to give this one a try!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of that before, but they look pretty yummy! Might just have to try it :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Awesome... they look yummy! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! My 12 year old is newly into edible plants and has tried eating dandelion buds and blossoms raw (he confirms that the young buds taste like honey just like he read, but said the blossoms don't taste great) and he told me he's made dandelion coffee out of the roots (he said it was quite good - have you tried it?) but I don't think he's done any frying! I'll have to show him this.
ReplyDeleteI have been told, also, that drinking acorn coffee was common in the UK during the second world war when everything was rationed; I haven't tried it, but we have tons of oaks around here. If you have lots of oaks up there, you might want to try making acorn coffee!
I love this post and the rest of your blog! We have never tried dandelion flowers - but we love to use the greens in lentil soup. It's such a wonderful herb and it would be nice if more folks used it instead of battling it in their yard! Other herbs to try are purslane, chickweed, sorrel - these are all great in soups and salads! Anyhow your post reminded me that I've been wanting to forage more and the kiddos will will love to do this with me :) take care!
ReplyDelete*flour
ReplyDeleteSuper duper yummy! I'm going to have to try this. My 8 year old just earned $5.30 picking dandelion flowers at 2¢ a flower!
ReplyDelete