5th January – absolutely brass monkeys out there this morning!
As ever, no-one will wear a coat to school, despite it being -5C. Mad fools. In contrast, I am bundled up to the eyeballs in scarves, hats, gloves, coat, jumpers, wooly socks… I look like someone knitted the Michelin man…
Time for a quick foray into the back garden for blog inspiration today. There’s not much
going on, and I can’t find any use for the grass, so I lifted some dandelions. The back garden hasn’t been cultivated for years, it was just a huge swathe of lawn when I moved in two years ago. I started landscaping it last autumn, sketching many designs before deciding on a forest forage style garden. I have lain some of the ground under black landscaping fabric, and under here is a diggable area with dandelions still trying to hang on to survival. Not for long…
I managed to get eight large dandelion roots up, before the collie began to drive me insane with her ‘help’. She reckons she can garden better than me, and likes to show me so – very, very insistently. Her digging and prancing drives me mad, so for everyone’s sake, I stopped after twenty minutes.
Dandelion roots go deep, and are great bio-accumulators in an organic setting. They have digestive and bitter properties, good for indigestion, spleen disorders, relieving heartburn and constipation, and stimulating the appetite. They contain inulin, a fermentable fibre, which is a prebiotic and good for gut health. It’s probably good for making kim chi – I’ll share this with you soon.
Roasted Dandelion Roots
This is not a coffee substitute recipe. I love coffee. Nothing else will cut it for me. Let’s leave the dandelion coffee to those poor souls that can’t tolerate coffee.
Ingredients
Dandelion roots, washed and gently scraped with the edge of a teaspoon
Method
chop into small pieces, about 1cm thick
Boil for 5 mins, or until soft
Put in a heavy pan (I love my cast iron ware, it retains heat to make caramelising so much easier), and add a small knob of butter and a sprinkle of sugar and heat gently to caramelise.
Serve with scrambled eggs and toasted sour dough with lots of salt and pepper.
dyfivalleypermaculture.org 