dandelion fritters with cheese

The dandies have come out in full force and our yard looks like it's covered with a thousand tiny suns. (okay, maybe more than a thousand)  We've had bouquets in the house, been wishing on puffs, eating leaves, picking flowers and digging roots.  The dandelion is such a useful plant.

Dandelion "honey" is one of my kids' favorites, and they've been requesting it and dandelion bread already.  I was in the mood for something a little more savory the other night so instead I made some fritters.

The kids gathered a basket of nice, full, dandelion flowers and I cut some chives from the herb garden.  We had some leftover corn in the fridge and some cheddar cheese so they went into the mix as well.  I stirred it all into a batter and deep-fried them.  The result was a fritter that was crispy on the outside and puffy on the inside with a mildly sweet/oniony flavor.  They were really good with a little dip in ranch dressing.

dandelion fritters

2 cups dandelion petals, greens removed (I cut mine off as seen here)

1 cup finely grated cheddar

1 cup cooked corn (I bet other veg would be good too)

1/4 chopped chives

mix into batter:

1 egg

1 cup flour

3/4 cup milk with 1/2 tsp vinegar added

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Stir until everything is good and goopy.  It shouldn't be runny, but if it is, add a bit more flour.

Drop mixture using a table spoon into medium-hot oil in a sturdy pan.  They cook quickly.  Flip when they're a deep golden tan.  Place on a wire rack or towel to drain.

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You can wash your dandelion petals if you'd like.  If you trust the source to be free of pesticides and pet "traffic" you can skip it.  We pick from a clean area so we generally skip it.

The dandelion petals give pretty little flecks of color to not only fritters and breads, but cookies, ice cream, and more.  My husband isn't a fan of the dandelion-covered yard but I'm hoping to change his mind through food...he'll eventually see it my way.  Maybe.

Happy Weekend, everyone!

wordless Wednesday

Delicious Dandelions

This time of year I start to get really eager for fresh produce.  Given our late and short growing season (it snowed here what, 2 weeks ago?) I often look to the woods for ingredients to spice up my cooking.  I love finding something in the wild to try but this time the wild was our yard.  I have eaten dandelion greens before but had never tried anything with the flowers.  We have a bumper crop right now and hubby was threatening to mow the yard/jungle so I figured the time was ripe to get pickin'.

The boys and I headed out with a large bowl and got to work harvesting the flower heads.  In some areas of the yard I noticed several tiny ants in the flowers so I picked the flower with the stem attached so I could give them a good shake before popping the head off into the bowl.  It seemed to work.  We had a few stragglers but not too many and since I planned to expose the petals to heat I wasn't worried about any extra "protein" that might be included.

After we picked about a gallon of flowers I got to work.  I dumped the flowers out on a piece of newspaper, and pulled out a paring knife, my cutting board, and my cheese muslin.  The goal is to remove the bitter green parts, using only the petals for cooking.  There are a few different methods of harvesting the petals that I have read but what worked best for me was to cut the bottom off of the flower and unroll the green bit, dropping the petals into a pile.  If you cut it just right it works like this, but often I still had to pick bits of green out. 

It took me over 2 hours to process enough petals for 2 batches of jelly and 1 loaf of bread.  If you're going to try this, get comfy, enlist some help, put on some music, something to help the time go by quicker.

When I had one cup of petals I started the bread.  I found the recipe on Fat Of The Land and it was really easy to throw together.  (he also has a recipe for deep fried dandelions which sounds amazing.  Anything deep-fried is good with me.  Just ask my thighs) The bread was slightly sweet and reminded me a bit, texturally, of zucchini bread.  The petals added a really lovely bit of color.  The kids gobbled it up.

(and so did I)

I will definitely make this again.

I found the jelly recipe at Simply Canning and it's pretty straight-forward.  The idea is to make a tea by steeping the flower petals and using this infusion in the jelly.  I wrapped my petals in cheese muslin, like a big tea bag, poured boiling water over it, and let it steep for about 5 hours before making the jelly.  The resulting color is a beautiful golden yellow and though I've read that you can add food coloring, I don't see why that would be necessary. 

The taste is very similar to honey.  It's a bit milder than the honey we get, but defiitely honey flavored.  I'm thinking I'd like to try making some dandelion ice cream...can you imagine having some of those pretty petals and that honey flavor in homemade ice cream?  Oh yeah...

What's your relationship with the dandelion?  Love it or hate it?  Have you tried some recipes yourself?

Happy Friday everybody, I hope you have a great weekend.

Wordless Wednesday