How to eat dandelion flowers: pickled buds and fritters

Dandelion greens are the part of the plant most foragers learn first. The flowers come a close second, and they are easier to like: the buds are crisp and faintly bitter, and the open blossoms taste sweet and a little honeyed. Two recipes follow, one for each stage.

Before picking

Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) has a single yellow flower head on each hollow, leafless stalk that bleeds white sap, and a rosette of toothed leaves with no hairs. Cat’s-ear and hawkbit look similar but carry hairy leaves or branched, solid stems. Positively identify every plant before eating it.

Pick away from roadsides, sprayed lawns and places where dogs are walked. People allergic to ragweed, daisies or chamomile may react to dandelion too, since they belong to the same plant family, so start with a small amount.

Pickled dandelion flower buds

Harvest the buds while they are still tight and closed, low in the center of the rosette, before any yellow shows.

You will need:

• 1 cup dandelion flower buds
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 4 to 5 garlic cloves
• Apple cider vinegar
• Tamari (or soy sauce)

1. Rinse the buds well and pack them into a clean pint jar with the onion, ginger and garlic.
2. Pour in apple cider vinegar to fill the jar halfway, then top it up with tamari.
3. Close with a plastic lid, or put a sheet of parchment under a metal lid, since vinegar corrodes bare metal.
4. Keep the jar in the refrigerator for three weeks before eating, and keep it refrigerated afterward.

Older versions of this recipe simply left the jar to stand for three weeks. It is not a tested canning recipe, and low-acid vegetables and garlic in diluted vinegar should not sit at room temperature, so treat it as a refrigerator pickle from the first day. Eat the buds in salads or sandwiches.

Dandelion fritters

Pick fully open flowers on a sunny morning and use them the same day. Hold each one by the green base and shake out any insects. The green bracts underneath are bitter, so trim off as much as possible while keeping the head in one piece.

Batter:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon honey

Whisk everything together. There are two ways to cook them. For individual fritters, dip each flower in the batter and fry it on a greased pan, turning once, until golden. For pancakes, stir a handful of blossoms into the batter and cook spoonfuls like ordinary pancakes.

A lighter version, closer to tempura, skips the batter. Put 1/4 cup cornmeal mixed with 1/2 cup flour in one bowl and a beaten egg with a pinch of salt in another. Heat a couple of inches of olive or vegetable oil in a small pot. Dip each flower in egg, roll it in the flour mix and drop it into the hot oil for a minute or so, until crisp. Drain on paper.

Serve them warm with a drizzle of honey.