Birds chirping, grass turning green, people gathering outside, moods seem to be lifting…all signs point to it being spring! Oh, and let’s not forget one of the most obvious signs…a nice yellow field of dandelions in the lawn. There is no disguising a field of dandelions. They are easy to spot and can be found all over.
Some people consider the brightly-colored blossom a weed, while others see it as a gem with so many possibilities. It doesn’t even require back-breaking labor that comes along with most landscaping, because nature does all the work for you by planting and spreading dandelions every year.
One perk of having an abundance of dandelions at your hands, is that you can have a tasty dandelion honey butter in a very short amount of time. The yellow blossom adds a sweet and rich flavor to the butter. So, it’s a unique addition to a basic butter spread for your morning bagel, afternoon muffin, or some cornbread with dinner. And, only 3 ingredients are necessary…butter, honey, and dandelion blossoms.
In addition to dandelion honey butter, there are many other great uses for dandelions. People are using them to make other edibles such as cakes, cookies, pasta, and wines. And, there are several non-edibles that benefit from the addition of the blossoms and greens. Items such as soaps, lotions, and infused oils are also enriched with dandelion blossoms and greens.
Even if you don’t have any in your own yard, you probably don’t have to wander too far to find all you need. And, because many people still view them as weeds, they probably wouldn’t mind if you took a few off their hands.
Why Add Dandelions to Edible Treats?
Great question! It’s not just a gimmick, or to add an extra step into your food prep. Here are a few reasons to give incentive…
Extra Nutrition – For such a little plant, dandelions are loaded with vitamins and minerals such as A, B1, B2, B6, E, K, calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium.
Convenience – It can’t get more convenient than dandelions, because it plants itself, probably right out your door.
A Storable Plant – Because they aren’t around in colder climates, it’s great that they are so easy to store to use in the winter months. Simply add the yellow blossoms to a jar of honey. There’s 2 of the ingredients all ready to go for the dandelion blossom honey butter recipe below. I guess it can get more convenient!
Durable and Reliable – Just ask someone who can’t seem to get rid of them…they are abundant and quite stubborn when you don’t want them around.
So, why not reach out into your backyard to add flavor and nutrients to an edible treat or meal?
Collecting the Dandelions
Before you go out to collect dandelions, you need to make sure they haven’t been sprayed with a pesticide or weed killer before using them for any digestible or even topical item. Even washing them before use would be risky, if they have been sprayed.
Also, bees love dandelions and rely on them for pollination. So, collect what you need, but leave the rest. Fortunately, you don’t need very many to make the dandelion blossom honey butter.
For one batch, you will only need about a quarter cup of blossom, omitting the greens and stems. So, you can leave the stem in the ground and just pop off the blossom head. Shake off any dirt or debri that might be there, before placing them in a cup.
If you want to utilize more of the plant, you could take the greens as well, to make a dandelion salad or a yummy pesto. Just keep in the mind that the yellow blooms are sweet, while the remaining part of the plant is bitter.
⇒ How To Make Bark Bread From A Tree That Grows On Almost Every Street In America
Making the Sweet Buttery Topping
For one batch, you will need the following:
- ¼ dandelion blossoms (just the yellow petals)
- ¼ butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons honey
Unlike the stems and leaves, the yellow blossoms have a sweet and delicate flavor, and will add some culinary depth and nutrients to the spread. The following easy instructions will give you a tasty break from the mundane butter found in stores. While you are at it, you can make your own butter too! But, that’s another article. For now, here is what you need to do:
#1. Remove the yellow blossoms from the greens, measuring ¼ cup.
#2. Add the honey to the softened butter
#3. Mix the butter and honey, whipping until well blended
#4. Add the blossoms
#5. Stir until well blended (can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 months)
#6. And last, enjoy!
You may also like:
Making Butter at Home, Like Our Grandparents
What Happens If You Add Honey To A Coconut (Video)
How To Can Potatoes for Long Term Preservation
Dandelion honey butter is soo. Good
The recipe is missing the type of measurement. For example it says 1/4 dandelions. It that a teaspoon, tablespoon or cup. Same thing with butter.
Please let us know.
Thanks
In the article it says 1/4 cup dandelions. That appears to be a 1/4 cup butter.
Although the recipe doesn’t specify, the pictures clearly show 1/4 cup of dandelion.
Cheers!
1/4 of a cup of the yellow petals only
The photo illustration shows a 1/4 cup measuring cup.
It shows the dandelion petals in a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Looking forward to trying.
I believe it is a 1/4 cup butter
In pictures #1 & 4 they show 1/4 cup.
While the recipe is not explicit in the directions, looking at the pictures, the measuring device is clearly marked “1/4” cup. I think it is a reasonable inference that the 1/4 measurement for the dandelion petals in the written instructions refers to 1/4 cup.
However, the picture of a 1/4 pound of butter could well lead one to wonder if the reference to 1/4 butter is four ounces of butter.
Clarification certainly is in order.
Coot, the proportions shown are actually 1/4 cup each item. The first set of photos show a whole stick of butter, but the photo of the butter in the bowl is 1/2 stick(or 1/4 cup) of butter. I realize the honey says 3 Tablespoons, but that is equal to 1/4 cup. So really this recipe is easy to remember as “1 part” of each or 1/4 cup of each item. Super easy recipe. And you know, it took me until I was almost 50yo to find out that 3 Tbsp was 1/4 cup! and I have been cooking since I was 18yo and am retired now. No, I didn’t learn how to cook as a kid, I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen growing up.
There are 16 tablespoons in a cup so 1/4 cup would be 4 tablespoons, not 3.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on the fact that the butter shown in the cup is an eighth of a pound of butter. But does it actually matter how much butter? If you use 1/4 cup of butter and actually you should have use a quarter pound, it will just make the dandelion blossom flavor stronger. If that is too strong for your taste, increase the butter or cut down on the dandelion. Recipes are not chiseled on a stone tablet. They are meant to be a basic guide. What do you do with a recipe that says “add a pinch of chili pepper” and it turns out that the writer of the recipe has very small hands and her pinch is half the size of your pinch? You cut down on the chili pepper if it is too hot. If it’s not hot enough for your taste, you throw in a handful of chili pepper. That’s what makes cooking an adventure.
It’s obviously not a quarter teaspoon
I like reecipees andmake all recipees i get
I was just wondering what I could make out of the dandelions in my yard! Great info.
You could make wine if you have a big enough crop of dandelions. The flowers will make wine. I am not sure that it would put Chateau d’Yquem out of business, but it certainly would be able to give you a buzz.
At 97 or 98 years old, my Great Aunt had one end of her vegetable garden covered in dandelions. She ate a green salad of greens and onions, sometimes sweet peppers and tomatoes at just about every lunch. She hired a younger man to do some yard work for her and he decided to dig up the “weeds” in her garden and took out about 1/2 of them before she caught it. Then she brought the wrath of God to his feet. She let him know that she was growing them as food. She used to tell the story much better. She would use the flower petals as an edible accent to the top of her salads. Dressing was a simple cider vinegar and salad oil dressing. (1 vinegar to 4 oil ratio) a little salt and black pepper to taste. I loved to eat at her house. She never served more than 4 oz. of meat per person, but you never left the table hungry. She was 101 when she passed.
:Powderhorn; was it dandelion greens that your great aunt ate in her salad? Or just a salad of greens, like lettuce? I have tried to eat raw dandelion leaves (as you described, with a simple dressing) and they are really bitter, so, I was just wondering. I have read that they have many benefits…
My Great Aunt sometimes cooked her dandelion greens like you would cook spinach, but often ate them raw like a lettuce salad. If you pick the younger leaves they aren’t as bitter, but it is an acquired taste. Occasionally my Mother would mix them with the lettuce when she made wilted lettuce salad. A few mixed with spinach and iceberg lettuce make a milder addition to a meal.The dandelion variety with the rounded edges are
also not as bitter as the variety with the pointed leaves.
The people down the road were foreclosed on a couple weeks ago. With all the rain we’ve had their property is now a sea of yellow dandelion flowers. Dandelion should be the official flower of Preppers everywhere.
Big windstorm in Dallas! Knocked over a tower crane, also knocked out power to 300,000. A news crew went to Home Depot and got an interview with the woman who bought the last 2 generators they had. She said people were bidding on them at 2x retail before she ever got to the registers.
The storm was Sunday, today 70,000 are still w/o power in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city. The news crews were out getting their stories, a lot of Gov benefits had gone out the 1st week of June and people had stocked their refrigerators and freezers with food to get them through the month. Lots of views of people showing their spoiled food and wondering how to get more. Fortunately this is not a widespread disaster and the food pantries will be able to keep people going, Sure makes you think, though, it’s tough living off dandelions.
Mike, you are so right. I don’t know what the caloric value of a pound of dandelion leaves is, but I would imagine it would be close to kale or spinach meaning NOT VERY MUCH. And I would suspect that it would take a lot of dandelion plants to make a pound of leaves.
The problem with people who are on the dole is they get used to other people doing for them what they should be doing for themselves.
Were I in the situation they are in, I wouldn’t sit in front of the TV watching Morrie Povitch, I would get down to the nearest dry ice store and get a block of dry ice and stick it in the freezing compartment of the refrigerator. I would get my ice chest out and if I didn’t have an ice chest, I would get down to WallyWorld and buy one and get it filled with ice while I was there or go to the 99¢ store where they are selling 7.5 pounds of ice for 99.9¢.
They sure can get down to the welfare office to bitch and moan if their check isn’t in their account on the dot. There is no reason why they can’t get to WallyWorld or K-Mart or any of the discount stores — or even the 99¢ store and get the 99¢ styrofoam ice chests to keep their food cold until the electric comes back on.
The whole attitude is reflected in the attitude of the little black boy after Katrina when he was video’d saying in a plaintive voice, “When is somebody gonna go something for us?”
All the liberal sob sisters were aghast that nobody was “doing something for the poor unfortunates.” Of course, that they were part of the somebodies that could have been doing something didn’t occur to them.
My immediate reaction however was, “When are your parents going to get off their dead a _ _es and do something for themselves and you?” Of course, that should be “your mother” as I would bet a significant sum that “daddy” is no where in the picture.
It isn’t as if the whole world has suddenly gone black. There is dry ice and regular ice available somewhere in Texas within driving distance. It’s not like Texas is in the middle of the Sahara desert or something. Even if they don’t have cars, the buses are still running. Borrow a hand truck and truck your ice chest to WallyWorld and get it filled up. Stop at the dry ice place and get dry ice and stick it in the ice chest and trundle on home. Get off your a _ _ and do something for yourself for a change. They sure will be able to make it down to the food pantry to get free food.
The value of dandelion and the other spring greens is that they come out early at the end of winter, for thousands of years the majority of people in Europe survived the winter on moldy bread, spoiled pork, and beer so the spring greens would come along just in time to save them from scurvy, beri-beri and whatever other nutritional deficits they had built up.
It was strange seeing those scenes on the news, right out of One Second After.
A long time ago I knew an alcoholic who made Dandelion wine. That is all she drank, about a gallon a day. Saved a ton of money. I should learn how to make dandelion wine because I hate alcohol and would never have to worry about sampling the product too much. When shiit hits the fan It will be a great currency. Just saying.