Dandelion Root Tea

Fun fact: Every part of the dandelion is edible. You can use pretty much the whole dandelion plant in different ways to make food and beverages. 

The leaves and flowers can be added to salads and even used to make wine. Today I’m going to show you how to make tea out of dandelion root.

The roots are tough to get out. The bigger the bunch of leaves growing out of the ground, the bigger the roots. Try to harvest after it has rained. The ground will be considerably softer and it will be easier to pull out the roots .

Using a small shovel slice into the dirt surrounding the root. Try to loosen the soil and then grasp the root as deep as you can and pull. Some will come out nicely, some will just snap off. Trim the leaves off the root. You can discard them or add them to a salad.

Two important things to remember,

1) only use roots of plants that you know for sure are dandelion

2) Only harvest from dandelions you know have not been sprayed with weed killer or other nasty chemicals.

  You can harvest any time of the year but it is believed that the roots will have the most nutritional value in the spring and fall.

Once you have gathered enough roots, take them to the kitchen. Wash them thoroughly and pick off the fibrous stringy bits. Rinse them again and then cut into small pieces. You want them ¼ – ½ inch pieces or smaller.

Place on a roasting pan and bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours. Flip after one hour to make sure all the sides are roasted. Once they are cooked try to chop them even smaller. You can put them in a coffee grinder to make them even finer.

Put your root powder in a tea infuser and steep for about 20 minutes. It tastes very light and kind of earthy, a little sweet and a little bitter. I added a cinnamon stick to mine for a little more flavor.

When you are making tea you never want to steep the tea in boiling water. You should bring the water to a boil and then let it sit for a few minutes before adding your diffuser or tea bag

If you place the tea in boiling water to steep you may burn the tea and it can affect the taste