Apparently we have the French to thank for breeding a dandelion salad herb cultivar. I got mine as seeds from a local merchant.
We like the occasional dandelion leaf addition to green salads, and friends have commented favourably on it, but it’s definitely for those who don’t mind a bit of bitterness. You can blanch the leaves under a pot to reduce the flavour, but who’s organised enough for that?
Growing dandelion
I would have said this hardly needs instruction. It stretches the boundary between weed and herb if you’ve got a lawn, but for pots on a balcony it’s not particularly invasive. As is the nature of dandelions it does self seed randomly, so I just leave the seedlings that come up where they are useful and cull the rest. I figure if you’ve got a dandelion weed problem, then a few cultivated plants won’t add to that, and if you don’t have dandelions then all your plants will be salad type and you can eat your weeds.
I started with some on my city apartment balcony, in among the herbs, and they grew OK. Then to my surprise, moving here they have been not the easiest plants to grow. Perhaps it’s the warm climate or something about the soil, but also a couple of seedlings I was keenly watching disappeared overnight, so I guess some creature here likes them as much as I do. For the moment, it doesn’t look like dandelions will be a weed here at Hill House.
The leaves are great for spicing up a salad. You just need a few as they have a solid flavour, and only pick the freshest new central leaves. You can also go all fancy and blanch the plants by covering them with a pot or something to keep them dark for a few weeks, which removes some bitterness. The flowers are also good for colour in a salad or plate.