Deep Fried Dandelion Flowers

I am going to start posting edibles that you can get from your yard. Since GMOs are ruining our food supply I figured I would post alternative food sources. There is a saying if in doubt don't , I apply that to any wild edible. If I am not certain what it is I will not eat it.

Dandelions have a lot of health benefits they help detox the body and protect the renal system. They can be tasty also.

Step 1: Washing and Drying

Some people don't wash their dandelion flowers but I do because sometimes I see slugs crawling on them and they carry some pretty serious diseases. After I wash them I put them on a plate with a paper towel to dry. When I wash them I use luke warm water. I have cold water seems to make them close.

Step 2: Remove Excess Green

Next try to remove as much green as you can to get rid of some of the bitter taste. There is a little ring of green on the outside with little leaflet life things. I peel them off.

Step 3: Egg and Milk

Next dip them in egg, I add a little milk to make them a little more golden when they fry.

Step 4: Breading

For the breading I use a mixture of half Italian style breading and half all purpose flour. I cover them with flour and leave them sit for a little bit. The breading seems to stick better if you leave them set a few minutes.

Step 5: Deep Fry

When you throw them in the deep fryer watch them very close because they cook fast. When one side is cooked you will need to turn them. Do not walk away from them as I stated they cook very fast.

That is it eat and enjoy. They have a taste that is kind of like a cross between artichoke heart and zucchini, with a slight bitterness to them.

Make sure you drink water when you eat them because dandelion is a diuretic like coffee and tea.

Comments

[DragonTamer458]

1. These look incredible. I'm going to make them.

2.You might want to say something about making sure they haven't been sprayed just to be safe.

3. We've been eating GMOs for decades. 90% of our food is GM. A ton of research has been done on it. There are still a lot of environmental concerns for creating new GMOs, but as for eating them, they are perfectly safe.

[torchburner]

If you are not certain what GMOs are you can learn more here.
http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/what-is-gmo/
http://responsibletechnology.org/gmo-education/

There is obvious conditional bias in biotechs research.
http://www.endsciencecensorship.org/en/page/retraction-double-standards#.VnQrUlAo5Ag

Going by Monsantos standards all of Monsanto's studies are invalid.
http://www.endsciencecensorship.org/en/page/retraction-double-standards

GMO are regualed as a pesticide by the FDA.
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides

Studies showing the dangers of GMOs get ignored.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890623811000566
The effects of the toxins are lethal.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jat.2712/abstract
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0143296

Studies showing the dangers of any of Monsanto's products are ignored.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23756170
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21338670
http://gmojudycarman.org/new-study-shows-that-animals-are-seriously-harmed-by-gm-feed/


GMO producers try to pass off privately funded studies as independent studies.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/pro-gmo-database-monsanto-most-common-funder-gmo-research
Why are the GMO producers working so hard to keep everything a secret?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-seed-companies-control-gm-crop-research/

There has been proven conflicts of interest in the research on the safety of GMOs.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919210001302
GMO increase herbicide and pesticide use.


http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24/abstract

http://static.ewg.org/agmag/pdfs/pesticide_use_on_genetically_engineered_crops.pdf

GMOs raise production cost.
http://modernfarmer.com/2013/12/post-gmo-economy/
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2006/07/bt-cotton-china-fails-reap-profit-after-seven-years

One of biotechs biggest advocates have had many studies retracted and some involved GMO research
http://retractionwatch.com/?s=pamela+ronald&submit=Search
The positive hype surrounding GMOs is based on studies that have been retracted
http://www.gmwatch.org/news/archive/2013/15198-gmo-hype-based-on-retracted-science
There was a hidden viral gene found in GMOs
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Hazardous_Virus_Gene_Discovered_in_GM_Crops.php

They are not sure what the affects on humans or plants will be.
http://www.independentsciencenews.org/#article/1421

They know there is the risk of horizontal gene transfer. So what if the genes transfer to those consuming the GMO food. Now there bodies will become their own enemy.
I believe it is one of the contributing factors behind autoimmune disease.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18801324
They are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. There has always been food that sits and rots. The real problem is food wastage.
https://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-ip.pdf
http://www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/02/27/283071610/u-s-lets-141-trillion-calories-of-food-go-to-waste-each-year
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-02-08/u-s-corn-surplus-estimate-raised-5-on-slowing-global-demand
http://www.agri-pulse.com/U.S.-corn-surplus-seen-at-1.63-billion-bushels-down-9-vs-December-estimate-01102014.asp

[torchburner]

If you have seen the newest research, there have been new peer reviewed studies that show GMOs can erode the lining of our stomachs. They have shown that they cause kidney disease and cancer. They did not need the studies to prove that. If you look at kidney disease, cancer , food allergies, sky rocketed shortly after GMOs hit the market.

[wemja]

Wowowow calm down, GMO's are just regular plants that had some "tweaking" in their genetics. In the past (before people were able to do controlled modification) they used to blast plants with radioactivity to screw with the genes and cause random mutations. Almost all crops since the early 1900 have been mutated.

Depending on what genes are changes the plant can become healthier or worse for human consumption. sadly the later are more profitable for farmers.

2 examples:
Golden rice: rice that produces beta-carotene. This rice has prevented thousands of people of going blind from vit-a deficiency.

Certain strains of Monsanto corn: In an attempt to reduce the amounts of pesticide needed corn has been modified to absorb more arsenic from the soil and store it in its leaves. Due to the arsenic most insects die when eating the leaves or they do not eat them at all. It is doubtful that the arsenic is only stored in the leaves.

I think that genetic manipulation is better then the old way of producing new strains with radiation (those don't need to be labeled as GMO, they can even be sold as organic) since it is easier to control what gets changed and what doesn't. This reduces the risk of severe unknown side effects.

I think that every GMO strain should get its own identification number so people know what was edited and can make an informed decision. This number should also be shown when the crop has been used in a prepared food like bread or corn syrup, this is not needed nowadays as far as I am aware. The current system is just useless fear mongering since you do not gain any useful information. This fear just allows big corporations to control the market with GMO's made for high yield.

Please look back at the studies you are quoting, did you read the paper itself or is it a second or third- hand article about the original research? I am sure that a part of the GM crops could have side effects like you listed but those can only be seen one strain at the time.
"All GMO's cause cancer is like sayin "all paint causes lead poisoning" even when the majority of the paint is lead free.

[wemja]

I linked to this instructable from my instructable about edible weeds, Even tough this is not really paleo (due to the starchy coating) I think it deserves to be in the contest more then other instructables.

One thing that you need to mention is that dandelions are dangerous for people with a latex allergy because they react alergic to to dandelions as well.

Its a very nice idea that I will try soon

[torchburner]

Thanks for mentioning about the latex. Aloe Vera juice also contains latex.

[pmarshall6]

Hmmmmmm.... I never thought of deep frying them :) I never did like the bitter taste. I'll have to try these with some student kids next time :)

[mommabearamanda]

my boyfriend was just telling me the other night some of his fondest memories of his grandfather and how he use to walk down to the stream and watch his grandfather pick dandy flowers and eat them, sometimes he would cook them, add them to his sandwiches or just pop them in his mouth.....I found the story quite unusual since I had no idea you could eat the flower I use to check for under my chin how much butter I loved ? and then I stumble upon your recipe, very neat....I will certainly have to try this! Thanks for posting.

[Daisy756758]

Fantastic！I did not know this flower still can eat??????

[tinaciousz]

This is really cool. Why haven't you entered it in the Snacks Contest? You can win a MunchPak subscription and try treats from all over the world. I think you have a serious shot at this one!

https://www.instructables.com/contest/snackcontest/

[torchburner]

Thank you I did not know about this one.

[tinaciousz]

awesome! I see you found some other contests too :) best of luck. I had no idea you could eat dandelions until I saw this, and then just last night I was reading a novel and the characters were eating them. :)

[Łukasz]

So you took off all the green, and just cooked the yellow bit?

[torchburner]

I took off the outer ring of green the one that has the little leafy part. If you pull the inner ring of green off it will fall apart on you.

[cedmister]

Why would you add all that fat and get rid of the nutritional value by deep frying it. Makes no sence just wash them and throw them in a salad

[torchburner]

I only use peanut oil when I deep fry. Besides fat is not bad for you, it is the type of fats that you take in. For example Ghee is mostly fat but it is very good for you. It has phospholipids and butyric acid. Your body needs fats because some vitamins are fat soluble like vitamins A, D, E and K are all fat soluble. Also our bodies cannot produce linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid we get those from healthy fats that we consume. The healthy fats are unsaturated fats, monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

The unhealthy fats are saturated fats and trans fats. Peanut oil is very low in saturated fats. It also has a very high smoke point. Peanut oil also has sterols that help reduce heart disease. It is also very high in energy.

[ArticAkita]

it didn't bother me eating these solidly through the growing season, I either had them right off the plant or cooked them. much tastier than the leaves! I felt a fantasticly 'clean' healthy feeling after a solid month grazing dandelion anything steamed greens, salads (not so much...bitter) Tried eating the stalks...buuut did not enjoy picking green strings out of my teeth so much..it was kinda tasty but fried heads are the best, kinda reminds me of fried zuccini!

[neopolitan]

slugs are on all stuff in your garden. i didn't know they carry diseases though.!!! thanks for the heads up

[cedmister]

On a good note good instruct able easy to read and follow

[blackarrow745]

Just make sure if you live somewhere where your yard is maintained for you, or if it is close to another yard that is maintained with weed killer that you do not consume these. From someone that had a really bad experience with dandelion mixed with roundup. and I didn't even know my neighbors used it on my yard! I appreciated it, but not while I was on the toilet... nice Instructable though friend :D