A Dandy Time After the Storm

Well, we finally got our rain. And lightning, and hail, and wind gusts. Luckily, the garden came out fairly unscathed. We lost our newly planted pole bean seeds to a wash out. We can only imagine where a nice pile of beans is going to spring up. We also lost a couple of cucumbers and a lot of our edible flowers. Everything can be replanted but the flowers may have to wait until fall. It is a reminder to be careful what you wish for.

As some of you know, I have become very interested in foraging. There are many things I have faithfully gathered every year...morel mushrooms, wild raspberries, mulberries, wild grapes, and even gooseberries from time to time. I have discovered some new things to add to the list, mainly weeds. While most people are trying to rid their landscapes of lamb's quarters, stinging nettles, and dandelions, I have decided to embrace the virtuous side of these plants and eat them. My newest love...dandelion bread. If Ray Bradbury dedicated an entire novel to making wine out of these weeds, I can surely take a moment to discuss their benefits in baking as well.

Dandelion bread is exactly what it sounds like. A simple bread recipe livened up with dandelion petals. This honey sweetened bread tastes similar to cornbread but the real treat are the eye-catching yellow petals. It reminds me of sunshine in a bread loaf. However, don't let the prevalence of dandelions fool you. Gathering these treats is bit more technical than you might think. First, you have to get over looking like a crazy person in your neighbor's lawn at 7 in the morning searching for the weeds. If you would like more of a visual, picture orange rain boots, clear buckets, and unbrushed hair. Next comes choosing the right flowers. I have heard gathering early in the morning is best but next year I am going to challenge this theory. The flowers are still closed early in the morning, making it very difficult to tell which petals are mostly yellow and which are mostly white. Finding the very tightly closed buds is a real treat because the petals are all yellow and a bit easier to clean. Finally, there is the tedious task of separating the petals from the green portion. Luckily, we have relatives visiting from Trinidad to help. (Our relatives happen to be fishers and and when comparing dandelion separating to shrimp deveining, dandelion cleaning was crowned the most difficult.) The result, of all this: baked sunshine.