Writing Rural With Alley

Story Smithing: Practical Dandelion Uses

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What parts of dandelions can your character eat? What disease might dandelions help sailors with? When were dandelions used as a food source in history? How could dandelion tea help your female characters? What do restaurants have to do with dandelions? Find out on this episode. 

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What parts of a dandelion can your character eat? What disease might dandelions help sailors with? When were dandelions used as a food source in history? How could dandelion tea help your female characters? What do restaurants have to do with dandelions? Find out on this episode. Welcome to Writing Rural with Alley, the Fiction Writers Weekly Inspirations Station for Rural, Life, and Lifestyles. From historical post-apoclyptic, helping you bring your rural stories to life. I'm Alley, and this is episode number 70, Practical Dandelion Uses. Stick down to the end to find out all the ways things could possibly go wrong. Now, let's get into this. A brief disclaimer. I am not a medical anything. This is in no way, shape, form, or fashion any type of medical advice. This information is solely for the purposes of fiction, storytelling, and nothing else. When most people hear the word dandelion, they think of them as a weed, something to get rid of. However, the truth is much different. Dandelions are actually in the same family group as sunflowers. They are needed for our little pollinating friends that are important to every crop we grow in real life. And that should be reflected in our stories. Yes, bees. I mean, I have a mild phobia of them, but they're still important. Every part of the dandelion is edible. In fact, until the 1800s, people used to get rid of grass to plant dandelions. They grow and bloom from spring to fall. Dandelions grow in almost every part of the world, except Greenland, Upper Asia, when you get into the sub-zero temperatures, and Antarctica. Today, we are going to dive into the diverse uses of this plant. There are three uses for this plant. First is food. Everyone needs to eat to survive. In fact, I remember watching cooking with Claire as a child, and she taught about the things that they ate during the Great Depression and how to make them. Dandelion Salads were one of her recipes. You can still find it on YouTube as of May 2024. Next on the list is for medical uses. This has been done throughout all of history, and I imagine it will be done after the Apocalypse, too. These include everything from a diuretic to helping nursing mothers. Last is a vitamin and mineral source. Dandelions are higher in beta-carotene than carrots. They have vitamins A, B1, B5, B12, C, E, and D, bioflavinoids, biotene, fiber, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc. It also has more iron and vitamin K and calcium than is found in spinach or broccoli. Wow, I feel like I just read the back of a multi vitamin label. A great general rule with them is that the leaves have more vitamins and the roots have more minerals. Now that we know what they are used for, let's go over each part of the plant starting with the leaves. Leaves can be eaten raw, used in salad, juiced or steamed. They taste best as young spring leaves with a slightly bitter taste, but nothing horrible. The bitter taste will become stronger the closer to winter it gets. There are tricks like soaking the leaves or boiling them briefly to get rid of the bitterness. The large leaves can be used in stir fries. The leaves are high in vitamin A, C, and K. They are also a good source of calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium. They are believed to help with digestion and aid in kidney function. The leaves can also be used to make a diuretic tea that doesn't deplete your character's potassium levels. Next are the roots of the plant. These can be dug up any time of year. The roots are normally between 6 and 12 inches long with a longer tap root. The tap root can be up to 3 feet long. Once inside, they will be rinsed off to get rid of the dirt and soaked in clean water for a few minutes to a half hour. They will then be chopped into smaller uniform-sized pieces and roast it at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour until they are fully dehydrated. Let them cool. Some people then grind them into powder, and others will keep them like this. One is to be steeped and the powder is mixed into the coffee. This could be used to make a non-caffenated coffee substitute. Unlike with traditional coffees, dandelions do not have caffeine. Additionally, the powder can be used as a seasoning to sneakily add more nutrients into winter meals. Roots are said to be a liver and gallbladder cleanse and detox when drink in high levels. It can also be drink as a way to ease an upset stomach and aid in digestion in general. It is also a great source of potassium, beta-carotene, and iron. Roots are rich in A, C, D, and many of the B vitamins. Next up are the flowers. These pretty yellow things that kids like to smear on themselves to look like Big Bird can be eaten raw or battered and fried. Petals can be added to solids or decorative cakes. Many people flavor jams with them. Others will add them to apple cider vinegar to use on salads. These flowers also have antioxidant properties to help with immunity function. Another very neat thing about the flower is that they can be made into dandelion honey. It's basically a syrup but called a honey. This is done by gathering it a good amount of dandelion flowers, rinsing them thoroughly. Then they are placed into a pot with enough water to cover the flowers will be added. You likely need to place your hand over the flowers to hold them down since they will float. It is boiled for 10 minutes, and then all of it, flowers included, is left to steep overnight, with a lid, of course. The next morning, the flowers are strained out and the remaining tea is carefully measured. Remember this measurement as the tea measurement. I will be referring to it as tea. The tea is placed back in the pot, then get the same amount of sugar as you had of tea and add it to the tea. At this point, a squirt of lime or orange could be added, but it doesn't need to be. This will be boiled and then left on to simmer until it has reduced down to a light syrup consistency. Then place in a clean sterile jar, and you have dandelion honey. Dandelion honey can be used for pancakes, toast, biscuits, muffins, or to flavor tea. It also has many of the nutritional benefits of the flowers while being a sweet treat. The last two things are the stems and the unopened flower buds. The stems are normally turned into fermented stems to be used as a spaghetti substitute. I've never done this, as I just don't like fermented things, but some people do. The unopened buds can be used in stir fry, soups, curries, or to be pickled and used like capers. Let me know if you guys know what capers are, because all I could find out was that they were green. I have to admit, we normally just threw out the unopened buds and tossed the stems in the compost. Never throw an unopened bud into the compost as flowers can close up like this and go to seed even after they're off the plant. This will make dandelions grow in your compost, and you don't want anything growing in there. Until recent times, dandelion salads, teas, and coffee have been recommended to nursing mothers and as an aid to recovering after giving birth. Tea is said to help with inflammation and increased milk flow in production. The salads are to help replenish the lost vitamins and minerals that were lost during pregnancy. Dandelion salve was made to help with soreness associated with nursing a baby. In recent times, there have been several major studies on what dandelions might be used for in medicine today. Findings look promising for many things. Dandelions contain linoidic acid, which is an anti-inflammatory and could help reduce muscle pain and pains associated with arthritis and gout. It is also a diuretic that could help the kidneys clear waste, salt, and extra water. It shows promise to improve the function and remove toxins and establish hydration and electrolyte balance. Basically, it does what Gatorade does. It shows a lot of promise as a diuretic without any of the side effects of the traditional medicines today. It can increase bile production in the gallbladder. Animal studies show that it lowers cholesterol levels, boosts immunity, fights fungai, and helps to regulate blood sugar and insulin levels. Okay, a few more things before we go. You know the white stuff inside the dandelion stems and the leaves when you break them? Well, that is the bitter taste. The idea is get rid of the white stuff. If you are writing a modern off-the-grid story, your character will need to look for pesticide and herbicide-free plants. They should never get them within 5 feet of a road or sidewalk as many times in these areas are sprayed by the county road departments. If they go into someone else's yard, they should ask if they have been using any herbicides or pesticides. Also, there are a few dandelion lookalikes. Remember, if your character knows the plant well, they are clearly different plants, and they will not be fooled. If they're new to homesteading or the plant in general, these might trick them. The good news is that none of them are poisonous in a one-time use, at least not to humans. These plants are Sowthistle, Hawks Beard, Coltsfoot, Hawkweed, Flatweed, Mountain Dandelion, and the Autumn Hawkbit. Before we get to how this can play into your stories, in my research, I have found some conflicting warnings. I read one warning that says that anyone with a ragweed, chrysanthemum, marigold, yarrow, or daisy allergy should avoid and not consume dandelions. I read in other places that this is not true. I don't know which is true and which is not, as I have a ragweed allergy and I have never had an issue. That said, these are characters, and it is an interesting option for them. Now, the real question here is, how can we incorporate this into our stories? There are a ton of options. First, if you're writing about sailors before 1809, scurvy is a real threat to them. Even after this, it took time for the treatment to spread, and some believed that it would not work and did not try it. What does it have to do with your story? Well, scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C. Dandelion tea and coffee are high in vitamin C. Therefore, this could be a way for your characters to stave off scurvy or to treat it. If your character is a midwife, they could recommend this to the nursing mothers to help with milk production, mastitis, and more. Midwives, doctors, herbalists, shaman, and people like this could recommend it as a treatment for anemia. This is common in many people, but especially women during their monthly flow. I remember it being drinked by the women in my family to help with monthly bloating that is associated with a period. Dandelion tea is a diuretic, and that means it helps take the extra water off the body. This could be medically needed or just something that the person desires. Sadly, this includes many people who are trying to lose weight and many times when they don't need to, leading to potentially dangerous or even fatal outcomes. With this many vitamins, it would make a great historical or even post-apocalyptic multivitamin. With the beginning research to suggest that dandelions may help blood sugar levels and in the production of insulin, this could be something that people turn to after the Apocalypse when they have no other options. This is also something that they can eat in soups and salads. I know of a person who used to be made fun of as a child for being so poor, they ate dandelion salads. When they were an adult, they went to a fancy and expensive restaurant, only to find that they were serving the very salad that they were made fun of for as a child. The irony. The flowers are edible and could be used in cake decoration. However, dandelion flowers close up after they are picked, so they will have to be added right before they want to show off the cake, or it will have closed up flowers all over it. Also, kids love love to pick and play with these. Everything from flower crowns to rubbing the flower on their skin to stain themselves yellow. Many of the dandelion lookalikes are also poisonous to horses.

Fun fact:

dandelion flowers are great weather predictors as they will close up right before rain, meaning they are a reliable predictor of impending rain. And now for everyone's favorite part, what could possibly go wrong? Before we get into the best part, if you enjoy this podcast, I hope you will take a minute to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcasting platform. And if you're listening on YouTube, subscribe and hit that like button. Drop me a comment. I love to hear from you and answer questions. Don't forget to share with a friend. As always, you can find this episode's show notes and helpful links to learn more on my website, alleyhart. Com. And now for everyone's favorite part.

Likely to go wrong:

your pregnant character drinks dandelion tea for all the vitamins it offers. However, after the first cup, their morning sickness gets the better of them and they puke it back up.

Also likely to go wrong:

your character tries to eat a dandelion leaf right after picking it and finds that it is bitter. They believe it is poisonous and lose out on this source of nutrition. your character makes fermented dandelion stems and tries to get their child to eat it. One smell of the fermentation and the child refuses to try it.

Possible to go wrong:

your character's horse eats what they believe is to be a dandelion. However, it was really a dandelion lookalike and is toxic to their horse. This could be deadly.

Also possible to go wrong:

your character eats dandelion greens that they found in the neighbor's yard. However, they unknowingly ingest herbicides their neighbor used to try to get rid of them and become very ill. If left untreated, this could be deadly. your character uses pesticides on their dandelions. When the bees come by for their favorite spring flower, it kills them. With no worker bees coming back, the colony soon dies out.

Also unlikely to go wrong:

your character did not make sure that the jar that They put their dandelion honey in with sterile. They eat it in the winter and get food poisoning. after the Apocalypse with no access to diabetic medicine, your character turns to dandelions to help. They have no idea if they need to eat a lot or a little, and with massive sugar swings, this could be deadly. your character picked a bunch of dandelion heads to batter and fry. They did not rinse them and unknowingly eat bugs that were on the flowers. Improbable, but still technically in

the realm of possibilities:

your character decides to eat dandelion to survive after the Apocalypse. However, they didn't know that they were allergic to dandelions. This could be deadly. Also improbable, but still technically

in the realm of possibilities:

your sickly character uses dandelion as a treatment for their illness. However, it is a diuretic. And as they lose more water while sick, they soon become dehydrated. Thanks for listening. Until next time. Happy wordsmithing.