365 IN 365 - What I Added To My List This Week: Dandelion Greens!

Jennifer Armstrong is the creator of this series of posts, published bi-monthly, entitled 365 in 365. These posts will help guide us all as we accept the 6D opportunity to diversify our plants in order to nurture and nourish our microbiome and thus improve our health and wellness.

In the spirit of exploration, I decided to seek out some leafy greens that I don’t regularly eat. This week at my local Farmer’s Market I found bright green bunches of dandelion leaves - something I’ve also noticed sometimes at the grocery store. These were deliberately grown by the farmer, not plucked out of the lawn, by the way! I did a little research when I brought them home and learned a couple of things.

1. They’re notoriously bitter! It’s advised to select smaller, younger leaves for the least amount of bitterness. They can be eaten raw, but cooking will mellow them somewhat. Many traditional recipes I found online use different acids (lemon juice, vinegar) to modulate the bitterness, and some add sweetness in either refined or whole food forms, and some use fat and or salt.

2. Dandelion greens are nutritional powerhouses - bursting with vitamins and minerals, and bringing a fair amount of protein to the plate. A quick search on the Web will point out all their healthy properties.

After cutting off the ends I gave them a quick rinse and a rough chop, and then steamed them for 5 minutes and divided them onto two plates. One I garnished with some chopped cherry tomatoes and “Ruby Red Onion Vinegar ” from California Balsamic, and the other plate I dressed with a simple sauce of tahini and lemon juice and a few chopped black olives. The second option was a whole food solution for adding fattiness and saltiness - other whole food solutions might include nuts and miso, for example.

These greens took a fair bit of chewing (maybe a longer cooking time would soften them more) and that might have been helped by a smaller chop. I like bitter flavors so I enjoyed the taste. Of the two preparations I preferred the fatty dressing with the tahini, which I think may have balanced the bitterness a bit better than the vinegar alone. After taste-testing them separately I mixed both plates together and ended up eating the whole thing!

So, will I make dandelion greens a regular part of my diet? I don’t know that I would go out of my way to get them, but I certainly won’t hesitate to put them in my basket again if they’re available. I’m also now more likely to give dandelion tea a try, which I’ve seen at the natural foods store. This was a fun and tasty experiment, and another step closer to 365!          

About Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong has spent her life making things; she has had a long career of writing books for children, decades of gardening, painting, making music, and cooking. A 2023 graduate of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies course in Plant- Based Nutrition, she has also combined her interest in sustainability with her love of food by learning how to can and dehydrate, saving as much of the local harvest as possible for use throughout the year.  She lives in upstate New York.

Jennifer is both a blog writer and event moderator at 6D Living. Her blog post series 365 in 365 will explore how we can all diversify and improve our microbiome. Jennifer is also an administrator for our public, world-wide event of the same name. This free event is a year long community activity with one goal only - get more people on the planet a wider variety of plants.

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