Have you ever seen a hillside, a pasture, a just a lawn covered with the joyous yellow of dandelions? They make you smile, their cheery yet frail dispositions. Once you’ve fallen in love with the flowers, consider seeking out further information and enjoy blowing her white seeds and making your wishes, knowing that you’re spreading seeds of health throughout your neighborhood.
The health benefits of dandelion include relief from liver disorders, diabetes, urinary disorders, acne, jaundice,cancer and anemia. It also helps in maintaining bone health, skin care and weight loss.
Bone Health: Dandelion is rich in calcium, which is essential for growth and strength of bones, and is rich is anti oxidants like vitamin-C and Luteolin, which protect bones from age related damages
Liver Disorders: Dandelion can help liver in many ways. While its anti oxidants such as vitamin-C and Luteolin keeps it functioning in full gear and protect it from aging, other compounds in it help treating hemorrhage in liver, maintaining proper flow of bile etc. It also stimulates liver and promotes digestion.
Diabetes: Dandelion juice can help diabetic patients by stimulating production of insulin from pancreas and thus help keeping low the blood sugar level. Since it diuretic in nature, it makes the diabetic patients urinate frequently which too helps remove the extra sugar from the body. The diuretic properties of dandelion can help removing the sugar deposition in the kidneys through urine. dandelion juice is slightly bitter to taste, which also effectively lowers sugar level in the blood, as all bitter substances do.
Urinary Disorders: Dandelion is highly diuretic in nature. Its French name literally means “urinate in bed”. It helps clean deposits of toxic substances in the kidneys and the urinary system. Its disinfectant properties inhibit microbial growth in the urinary system.
Skin Care: Dandelion sap, also known as dandelion milk, is useful in treating skin diseases which are caused due to microbial and fungal infection, as this sap is highly alkaline and have germicidal, insecticidal and fungicidal properties. Care should be taken while using this sap as to avoid its contact with eyes. This sap can be used on itches, ringworm, eczema etc. without risk.
Acne: Dandelion juice is a good detoxifier, diuretic, stimulant and anti oxidant. These four properties make it a good treatment for acne. Dandelion juice, being a stimulant, diuretic and detoxifier in nature, can help regulate proper secretion of hormones, increases sweating and widens up the pores facilitating removal of toxics through sweat and also through urine, as it is diuretic too. Its sap, if externally applied on acne, can inhibit microbial infection.
Weight Loss: Our urine contains up to 4% of fats. So, more we urinate, more water and fats are lost from the body. Dandelion, being diuretic in nature, promotes urinating and thereby helping lose weight without side effects.
Cancer: Dandelion is high in anti oxidants such as vitamin-C and Luteolin which reduce the free radicals (very much responsible for causing cancer) in the body, thereby reducing the risk of cancer. It also detoxifies the body, which also helps protect from cancer.
Jaundice: Jaundice is primarily a disorder of the liver in which it starts over producing bile, which ultimately gets into the blood stream damaging the whole metabolism. The excess of bile is also reflected through color of the skin, eyes etc. The treatment of jaundice includes three main steps. First, checking production of bile; second, removal of excess bile from the body and third, fighting the viral infection. Dandelion is very helpful in all of these. It promotes liver health and regulates bile production. Being diuretic in nature, it promotes urination through which the excess bile is removed. Finally, being anti oxidant and disinfectant in nature due to presence of vitamin-C and Luteolin, it fights viral infection too.
Gall Bladder Disorders: Dandelion is very beneficial for gall bladder and liver, as it improves their functioning, protects them from ill effects of oxidants and infections and regulates secretions from them.
Anemia: Dandelion has pretty good iron, vitamin and protein content. While iron is the integral part of hemoglobin in the blood, vitamins (particularly vitamin-B) and protein are essential for formation of red blood cells and certain other components of the blood. This way dandelion can help anemic people.
High Blood Pressure: Urinating is an effective way of lowering blood pressure. In fact, most of the modern drugs for lowering blood pressure are based on this phenomenon. Dandelion juice, being diuretic in nature, increases urinating, both in quantity and frequency and thus helps lower high blood pressure. The fiber in dandelion is also helpful in reducing cholesterol and thereby assists lowering of blood pressure, since cholesterol is one of the factors which make blood pressure high. Then there is potassium, which is in plenty in dandelion juice and is very effective in lowering blood pressure by replacing sodium.
Other Benefits: Dandelion can also be used as a vegetable and is a good source of fiber. It promotes digestion. In old days it was also used to treat scurvy, due to presence of vitamin-C in it. It also has healing effects on dyspepsia, infections in the stomach, intestines and urinary system. And extra dandelion tea can soothe a sunburn!
Dandelion Tea Recipe
When life gives you lemons make lemonade. If you lawn gives you dandelions, make dandelion tea!
PREPARATION
Once you pick the dandelion greens, wash them thoroughly to remove dirt particles.
When clean, store them in a plastic bag which has holes punched for circulation, keeping them cold and humid. Use them as soon as possible, since greens are quite perishable.
Select young, tender leaves for the tastiest dandelion tea.
Individual portion
Pour: 1 cup boiling water Over: 1 teaspoon dried dandelion leaves
For a pot of tea
Pour:1 cup boiling water for each person Over: 1 tsp dried dandelion leaves/person
Throw in:
1 teaspoon dried dandelion leaves “for the pot”
Cover and let steep 3 minutes. Stir and let steep another minute.
Serve with your choice of: lemon, orange, mint, honey
Never boil tea.

Dandelion Fritter Recipe
by Kimberly Gallagher
First of all gather the dandelion flowers – just the tops for fritters. They are easy to pick and so bright and cheery on a sunny day. Do pick them in the sunshine when they are open, and when you have time to make the fritters right after gathering.
Bring your basket of flowers inside, find a bowl, and mix together one egg and one cup of milk. Stir in a cup of flour and your fritter batter is ready to go. (If you like your fritters sweet you can add a little maple syrup or honey.)
prepare a skillet on the stove with gently warmed olive oil – over medium heat.
Take one of the flowers and hold it by the greens at the base of the flower petals. Dip the petals into the batter and twirl until the flower is covered.
Drop it into the skillet, flower side down. Continue dipping and dropping flowers, checking the first ones every once in a while to see if they are brown. flip them over and brown them on the other side.
When they’re brown on both sides remove them from the skillet and drain the excess oil on paper towel.
For a sweet treat, drizzle them with maple syrup, honey, jam, or powdered sugar. For savory fritters try dipping in mustard or adding some savory herbs to the batter.
Not only are the fritters delicious, the dandelion flowers are good for your heart. Dandelion flower tea can help relieve pain from headaches, menstrual cramps, backaches, stomachaches and depression. The rest of the plant (greens and roots) has nourishing, healing properties as well! Dandelion salads, dandelion wine, dandelion lemonade, dandelion jelly, dandelion-potatoe-soup, the list is endless and the benfits are too! Research for yourself, you’ll be so impressed with what we used to see as a pesky yard weed.

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