The dandelion. Yeah, you know, that bright yellow flower better known as a nuisance. It’s probably one of the most common and recognizable varieties of edible weeds in the botanical kingdom today.
Just take a look in either your front or your back yard- they’re there. The name dandelion comes from the French term dent de lion or “lions’ tooth”. It has a multitude of other not so common English names such as: blow ball, cankerworm, milk witch, Irish daisy, lion’s teeth, monks’ head, priests’ crown, puffball, face clock, and the best one of them all – piss a bed or pee the bed (it’s an effective diuretic).
The entire plant is edible. A powerhouse of dense nutrition, comparable to most so-called super foods such as spinach and kale which has been used as a culinary pot herb, salad green and medicinal plant throughout Europe since the Roman times.
My grandfather was from Abruzzo, Italy and loved dandelion greens and wine. Most ethic explorers brought dandelions to North America for use as food and medicine. Despite its deep-rooted history as a glorious culinary green, in our day the dandelion has become suburbia’s worst enemy. Even with this yard-wide negative shift it is still considered a great source of food, beverage, and medicine to many that immigrated to the Americas.
Harvested year around in mild climates, rich in potassium, vitamin A, vitamin D, Iron, Zinc, and contains more Iron and Calcium than that go-to garden green, spinach. The raw leaves of dandelion are super bitter, that is why my Italian grandfather loved them raw, boiled, stewed, sautéed, and especially braised in a little balsamic vinegar.
Eating the crowns and flowers raw in salads or crispy tempura fried, have to be my go-to dandelion preparations. These nice sized dandelion fritters are in a very light and lacy tempura style batter, making these party poppers hard to keep up with! It makes me feel proud to have weeded my neighbours’ yard of the most useful wild edible weeds known to man.
Later that day I was fortunate and thoughtful enough to have served him his own weeds induced with a little weed, to make weeding more fun of course. The simple MILF style ranch dip will have all the neighbours begging you for more of those crispy country fried front yard flowers better known as a nuisance. Don’t worry, it’s considered hip to eat weeds. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Prep time: 25 minutes
Fry time: 6-8 minutes
Yield: 3-4 servings
Total THC/CBD: depends on potency of products used
Status: friggin’ bangin’ fried front yard favorites
Equipment needed
medium stainless-steel mixing bowl, medium wire whisks, pint mason jar with lid for dressing, a slotted spoon or fry spyder, paper towel lined sheet pan, serving vessel or vessels, small mason jars for dip, electric fryer or cast- iron skillet fry setup, blender
Provisions needed
3 cups fresh picked dandelion flowers (no dog piss or mufflers close)
1 cup non-GMO cornstarch
1 cup organic all-purpose flour
2 tbsp rice flower
1 tsp non-GMO baking powder
1 tsp + 2 tbsp Jacobsen sea salt flakes
½ tsp fine ground black pepper
2 cups ultra-cold club soda
Enough oil to fry (I prefer peanut oil)
¾ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
½ cup buttermilk
2 tbsp cannabis vinegar (made in the mb2e)
2 tbsp cannabis olive oil (made in the mb2e)
¼ tsp cannabis pollen (optional if available)
1 tsp cracked pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp each dry mustard powder + garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
2 tsp chipotle adobo (the puréed contents of canned chipotle peppers)
1 tsp dry parsley
¼ tsp each dry oregano + dry basil + dry dill
How to make it
-make sure to pick big open dandelions and clean them free of bugs.
-in a stainless-steel mixing bowl mix the all-purpose flour, 1 tsp salt, cornstarch, cracked pepper, and rice flour with a whisk.
-whisk in the club soda until just blended (DO NOT OVERMIX).
-preheat your oil to 350°.
-dip the dandelion flowers into batter and fry in the oil until GBD (golden brown and delicious) turning occasionally, 2-3 minutes total.
-transfer the crispy flowers to a paper towel lined sheet pan and season them with the remaining 2 tbsp of sea salt.
-repeat this process until all flowers are fried
-serve hot with smoky MILF ranch.
-for the smoky MILF ranch, mix all in a blender until combined well and refrigerate (if possible, overnight). mix well before serving.
Equipment + product source
www.jacobsensaltco.com (local organic sea salt)
www.magicalbutter.com (mb2e botanical extractor)
by #shortordercannabisrevolutionary Chef Sebastian Carosi @chef_sebastian_carosi on Instagram
Published and Written by Chef Sebastian Carosi in Weed World Magazine Issue 148