Dandelion Blossom Syrup

Spring is here! And nothing says spring in my yard more than beautiful blossoms! ... even though these guys get a bad rep I'm a big fan of the DANDELION. Both the green and the flowers are edible, The young leaves are absolutely delicious cooked in recipes and even though I've been hearing about a variety of preparations for the flowers I've never actually used them.

This spring I ventured outdoors into my backyard to pick all the gorgeous yellow bloods popping up between the grass, not only are they organic but they all looked as if they opened overnight so they should be very clean.

I snipped a bunch of blooms and then popped them in a pot in the fridge until I could figure out what to do with them... usually when I'm using a new ingredient I like to try it in the most simple preparation to really get a taste of it's flavour so dandelion blossom syrup it was!
I think this would be a really fun recipe for my husband to use with his Soda Stream. Dandelion blossom soda anyone?

Feel free to omit the citrus and store in the fridge instead of canning (consume within a reasonable amount of time). Thanks to Eat the Weeds (one of my favourite foraging website resources for the recipe below) 

Dandelion Blossom Syrup

This is a traditional recipe passed down from the old world Europeans.  I use it as a substitute for honey in any recipe that I’m trying to make wild.

1 quart dandelion flowers

1 quart (4 cups) water

4 cups sugar

½ lemon or orange (organic if possible) chopped, peel and all

Note: The citrus is optional, it will give the syrup an orangy or lemony flavor.  If you want the pure dandelion flavor, you can skip the citrus.  I make it both ways each year.

1. Put blossoms and water in a pot.

2. Bring just to a boil, turn off heat, cover, and let sit overnight.

3. The next day, strain and press liquid out of spent flowers.

4. Add sugar and sliced citrus and heat slowly, stirring now and again, for several hours or until reduced to a thick, honey-like syrup.

5. Can in half-pint or 1 pint jars.

Recipe makes 1 pint. Perfect for giving out as holiday gifts in small jars.

Ramadan Iftar Time

Ramadan Mubarak Everyone!!

Here are just a few glimpses of what I've been up to these first two days of the fasting month.  These shots are of Iftar (breaking fast/dinner) prep in the kitchen.

I've attempted Baklawa on my own for the first time and am pretty pleased with the results!! (Recipe coming soon since we're planning on a bigger batch closer to Eid)

 With the leftover phyllo from the savoury burek pies I could only make a small batch of Baklawa.

... and speaking of my burek .. which I stuffed with .... of all things LAMBSQUARTERS!)  Yep, that's my foraged weed/goods from the other day, blanched in salted water and finely minced.  It was excellent but I liked it more thrown into minestrone like spinach.

Hope you're all having a blessed month of Ramadan!

This week

Feels like Spring

When the lilacs bloom it feels like spring time! These are my mother's favourite flowers and I'm always so envious of people who have them in their yards because I rarely get up close to these gorgeous buds however today I spotted some wild ones growing REALLY close to my home so I ventured out with gloves and a scissors and collected this bouquet.

Just loving them!

Here are the spring time plantains from - of all places - the driveway!!  After the rain fall these little guys just popped up so I collected them before they became tough or contaminated.  Plantain is another weed, you've probably seen it and it is an acquired taste (bitter and fibrous) but with a little garlic and butter they were quite tasty (and of course healthy!!)

- 2 cups tender plantain leaves (plucked from a nice clean path in your yard or foraged in nature)
- Knob of butter (drop of olive oil)
- 1 garlic clove
- Salt & pepper to taste

Water or stock

Heat the pan, add butter and olive oil, saute garlic until fragrant and then sautee your greens. Season and add water (or stock) and simmer until tender.

Enjoy!

Foraging for edibles: Part 1 - Dandelion

Here's something new to me, foraging... and in my backyard!!

I always knew dandelion was healthy, it was one of the greens perscribed for me as a teeanger on a long list of  plants and herbs that were to detox my liver since I suffer from psoriasis, and have from a very young age. Now you're probably thinking what does detoxing have to do with a skin disease, well many people believe that it's not a skin disease but a result of toxins building up inside the body and as a last resort they're sent to the body's largerst organ to deal with - you got it! The skin!

Anyway, I try to include some store bought "dandelion" in my diet from time to time, whenever it looks like a nice bunch at the supermarket.  In fact we just had some last week on our picnic to stoney creek where I introduced it to some of my family members who were pleasantly surprised.   The thing is that after I started foraging and researching for edibles in my yard, and dandelion being one of the first since it's so common and "lush" over here I discovered through my research that the dandelion sold in stores is actually CHICORY!

Now that's fine and dandy but I guess if I really want dandelion then I better be foraging for it!

Here you see I collected the nice young leaves from my backyard (which is more like a wilderness) and cooked them up just like I do with the store bought "dandelion/chicory" simply blanched in water first until the stems are tender to the touch.

- 1 bunch of  young dandelion greens (from the yard) or store bought chicory (sold as dandelion greens)
- Lots of boiling salted water

Blanch the leaves in the salted water until the middle stems are "Squishy" when pressed between your fingers. By squishy I mean very tender. It takes about 12 minutes of so.

Drain, if you didn't salt the water you could totally make a tea out of this liquid.

Now lay the leaves on some ice to cool down. Once cooled squeeze all the liquid out of them and add the small green bunches to a saucepan of heated olive oil and garlic (ingredients below)

- 1-2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 large clove garlic, minced

Sautee briefly until the flavours mix together, check for salt (I did not re-season because it was cooked in the salted water earlier) and enjoy!

Another alternative to garlic is sauteeing 1 shallot (cut in strips) until crispy golden and then adding the dandelion greens and cooking for a few more minutes.

This green is a tad bitter, but this is the best way to prepare it so that most of the bitterness is removed and the flavour is balanced.  Dandelion is a super healthy green so I definitely am going to try to include it in my diet on a regular basis.

Hope you enjoy!