What is the best way to roast dandelion root to be used as a coffee substitute?

I found an article on the web touting dandelion tea (brewed dried root) but also saw that it was a better taste if roasted and used instead as ,  but in place of coffee !

Is there a specific method of roasting the roots ?  Dry and crispy or all but burnt ?  Anybody know?

Comments

[canucksgirl]

First off, start with dandelions grown in looser soil (like a farmers field) versus your own backyard. When the ground is super compact, the roots are smaller yielding you much less to work with.

Once you have the dandelion roots, wash them really well, and then chop them up and/or run them through a food processor to get them into a coarse mixture.

Spread the root pieces onto a cookie sheet (no more than a half inch deep) and put in an oven set to about 250F and keep the door slightly open so that the moisture can escape. The goal is to dry them first, so rotate the sheet on occasion and stir them, to speed things up.

In total you'll need about 2 hours to do this. You'll see that they shrink quite a bit as they dry and in the last part of the time they will actually roast. They will turn from a pale color to more of a darker coffee bean color. When they closely resemble ground coffee (but not burnt), you can take them out to cool and then enjoy!

[Kiteman]

The best method is not at all!

I have tasted dandelion root "coffee" - hideous stuff, I only managed to finish it to be polite to my host.

[lizzyastro]

I have to agree with you KM. I remember my father trying this out in the 1970s when money was tight, coffee hideously expensive and (as usual) we had a surplus of dandeliions in the lawn. The resulting brew was pretty revolting.

[blkhawk]

Since I know now that, you love that infusion, I did a little search and I found some info in Wikipedia: Coffee Substitute and Dandelion Coffee.

[Kiteman]

Oh, gee, thanks...

[blkhawk]

(removed by author or community request)

[rickharris]

Chickory, Acorns and Dandelion were all used during the last war can't vouch for the taste as I wasn't around then.

[blkhawk]

I remember trying Postum once on a very cold morning. I understand that it is not made anymore.

[rickharris]

Now I have never tried this but my mother always said she had during WWII

Roast slowly in the oven on a baking tray. then grind when dried out and suitably roasted.