So we’re here today picking dandelion flowers.
We’ll be using them to make dandelion fritters and dandelion smoothies.
So this is dandelion.
You can always tell it by those bright, yellow flowers.
And dandelion also has leaves that have sharp teeth along the edges.
And the name comes from the French for "tooth of the lion,"
so dent-de-lion, tooth of the lion.
The leaves are good; they’re a little bitter.
Dandelion also has a smooth, round stalk.
And when you break it, a little milky sap
will come out, the latex.
And each of these dandelion flowers has a period of about three days
before it turns into a puff ball, that little seed head.
So this is coltsfoot and this is the toxic
look-alike to dandelions.
Coltsfoot has this scaly stem here,
whereas a dandelion does not have those scales along the stem.
So this is a typical coltsfoot leaf.
It doesn’t look like a dandelion leaf.
So what I look for are the biggest flowers.
And you just need the flower.
And that’s the part we’re going to be
making into fritters.
And the first thing we want to do is take
the green parts off the dandelion flower.
I like to add dandelion flowers to a smoothie
because it really adds a boost of nutrition.
Dandelion flowers are full of antioxidants
and really good for you.
OK, so now we’re making dandelion fritters.
You take the dandelion flowers, and we want to rinse them first.
Now we make the batter.
So we take our dandelion flower and we dip it in the batter,
and we just put it right in the hot oil.
There we go.
And then you flip them.
And blot them a little bit.
I love dandelions.
Most people consider them weeds, but a weed is
really a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it.
So we’re ready to try our dandelion smoothie.
Nice.
And our dandelion fritters.
I like to eat them just like this.
I also like to eat them with a little bit of cinnamon sugar.
Oh they’re yummy.
