Every spring, our eyes are pleased with the appearance of small yellow suns everywhere - dandelions. And if someone considers them weeds and eradicates them from their plots, then someone takes benefit from them in the form of dandelion salad. The benefits and dangers of dandelion leaf salad will be discussed below.

Yes, dandelions are an incredibly healthy plant and contain many chemical elements of the periodic tables. They contain ascorbic acid, manganese, potassium, iron, phosphorus, vitamins A, B, C, E, PP. Roots, leaves and flowers can bring benefits - they make jam, honey, soups and salads. Therefore, if you want to be healthy and if you do not have allergies, gastritis, stomach ulcers and problems with the gastrointestinal tract, feel free to pick dandelions for yourself. Naturally, it is best to avoid picking flowers in the city or near the roads.

Why is dandelion salad good for you?

Daily use of dandelion leaf lettuce will bring tremendous benefits to the body and will prevent future occurrence of:

• oncology,
• obesity,
• diabetes,
• atherosclerosis,
• cholecystitis.

Dandelion has a large number of useful abilities: antiviral, diuretic, choleretic, diaphoretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, tonic, is able to normalize the skin, relieving irritation.

Someone might argue that dandelions cannot be tasty because of their bitterness. In this case, there is one simple way: before cooking, the leaves should be kept in cold water for a while or poured with boiling water, then they will not taste bitter. And if you collect young leaves, then you don't have to do this at all - they practically do not contain bitterness. Various ingredients can and should be added to such a salad: sorrel, nettle, parsley, dill, radish, onion, garlic, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, cottage cheese, cheese, boiled meat go well with dandelions. The beneficial properties will be assimilated better if you season the salad with sunflower or olive oil, sour cream, natural yogurt, sprinkle with lemon juice.

In the first case, you will need to finely chop the dandelion leaves, cut the cucumber into strips or grate on a coarse grater, add green onions, a boiled egg. Season with salt and pepper to taste, season with sour cream and serve.

There is an extended recipe: add nettle leaves to chopped dandelion leaves, sprinkle with dill, parsley, finely chopped garlic, green onions. You can add boiled potatoes, diced, and sauerkraut or fresh cabbage, pour oil.

Dandelion leaf salad for weight loss

If you're on a diet, be sure to include dandelion salad in your diet as it helps you lose weight. Such a salad will help reduce hunger and fill the body with a lot of nutrients. To do this, take dandelion leaves, lettuce, dill and parsley, boiled eggs. Grind and mix all this, season with oil and lemon juice, but do not salt, because during the diet it is recommended to limit salt intake.

You can also make mashed potatoes from dandelion leaves: grind them with a blender, add vinegar and salt to taste. This puree is recommended to be used as a dressing in soup, meat and fish dishes. Of course, as in any business, you cannot overdo it in the use of dandelions, otherwise you can harm yourself. In case of an overdose, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, deterioration of the general condition may occur.

Thus, we see that the use of dandelion is unusually wide, and it itself has a lot of useful properties. Therefore, take your time to pick up a shovel and eradicate dandelions from your site.

Have you ever made a dandelion salad? Dandelion leaves, added to green salads in small quantities, give the dish an original, slightly peppery flavor. Italian cooks include them in recipes for green salads and hot dishes, despite the fact that the green parts of this plant and even the flowers are a little bitter. In some highlands of Switzerland in early spring, you can order a salad of young dandelion leaves. This dish is expensive and very healthy. And in Bulgaria, dandelion salads are usually served with feta cheese. In Russia, "dandelion honey" and yellow-green jam are made from dandelion flowers, although it is not as useful as salads made from young leaves and roots. Sugar, which serves as a preservative in the preparation of dandelion jam, negates all the beneficial properties of this sweet treat.

Dandelion salad benefits
Young dandelion leaves have almost no bitterness, so they can be used to make salads and green soups. The substances contained in dandelion have a positive effect on the functioning of the circulatory system, gastrointestinal tract, liver, bone tissue, and brain activity. The pigments that give dandelion leaves a bright green color are phytohormones that normalize all vital processes in the human body. Dandelion salad will help to cope with fatigue, liver disease, and heart failure.

Dandelion leaves can be used not only in the preparation of green salads, but also for cosmetic purposes. Juice from fresh leaves moisturizes and rejuvenates the skin, while alcoholic tincture of dandelion flowers helps fight freckles and age spots.

Dandelion Leaf Salad Recipes
Dandelions are a seasonal herb, so this salad can only be prepared in early spring. At the end of May, dandelion tops coarsen, losing freshness and vitamins. In the southern parts of Russia, even young dandelion leaves are bitter; in the north of the country, you can find varieties of this plant, the tops of which are not bitter, juicy and slightly crunchy.

Dandelion salad with tomatoes and beans

Ingredients:

• Cherry tomatoes - 4 pcs.
• Dandelion leaves - 100 g
• Iceberg salad - 100 g
• Boiled beans - 100 g
• Onions - 0.5 pcs.
• Olive oil (unrefined) - 20 ml.
• Soaking salt - 5 g per 250 ml water
• Lemon juice or "Pepper and Citrus Mix"

Making Dandelion Salad:
1. Fresh dandelion leaves should be washed and soaked in salt water for thirty minutes if they are slightly bitter.
2. Finely chop the soaked dandelion leaves.
3. Chop the Iceberg lettuce, if it is not available, then it can be replaced with ordinary lettuce or Chinese cabbage.
4. Cut the tomatoes into wedges.
5. Onions can be added as desired. To do this, finely chop half a small onion.
6. Combine chopped dandelion leaves, iceberg lettuce, tomato halves, onion crumbs with boiled beans.
7. Drizzle the dandelion salad with olive oil mixed with a little lemon juice. It can be replaced with dry pepper and lemon seasoning.

• The acid from the lemon will significantly soften the harsh taste of the dandelion. Although the bitterness in dandelion milk juice is believed to be beneficial to health. To make it even tastier, let the finished salad brew for about fifteen minutes.
• Asberg salad in this recipe can be replaced with Swiss chard (beetroot). Its bright leaves with reddish stems give this dish a mild flavor and vibrant hues. If chard is not grown in your area, you can use regular beet tops.
• Arugula will enhance the peppery flavor of dandelion salads. It does not disappear in the refrigerator for a long time and can be used in the preparation of various dishes.
• Tomatoes in this salad recipe can be replaced with finely chopped juicy radishes. Dandelion, radish, and arugula are great ingredients for a bitter vitamin salad.
• Fantasize with different types of beans - you can add black, red and white beans to one salad, you can add beans and lentils.
• As a dressing, you can use other types of vegetable oils: mustard oil - for spicy lovers, pumpkin, linseed, grape seed oil - for those who love gourmet dishes.
• A sour cream or Turkish yogurt dressing will soften the peppery notes in the dandelion salad.

Dandelion leaf salad, young zucchini and salted peanuts

Ingredients:

• Dandelion leaves - 100 g
• Cucumber - 200 g
• Young zucchini - 100 g
• Salted peanuts - 30 g
• Soaking salt - 10 g per 500 ml water
• Olive oil - 15 ml
• Lemon juice - 5 ml

Salad preparation:
1. Finely chop the dandelion leaves soaked in salt water.
2. Wash the cucumber and cut into triangles.
3. Young squash can be peeled if desired. Chop finely and mix with cucumber and dandelion leaves.
4. Pour spicy salted peanuts out of the bag and add to the salad.
5. Pour the olive oil and lemon juice dressing over the salad.

A couple of tricks.

• Salted peanuts eliminate the need to add salt to the salad. You can substitute lightly toasted fresh peanuts or chopped walnuts if desired.
• The tastes of young zucchini and cucumber are very similar. If you want to cook a more interesting dish, then you can use zucchini or squash as an alternative.
• Instead of nuts - a source of vegetable protein, you can include chicken meat or boiled eggs rich in animal proteins in a dandelion salad recipe.
• Other dishes can be prepared from dandelion leaves:
• mushroom and vegetable soups,
• rolls and casseroles stuffed with eggs and dandelion leaves,
• green borsch with sorrel, nettle and dandelion,
• dandelion rosettes fried in butter as a side dish for a meat dish.
• After hot cooking, the bitterness of young shoots is almost invisible.

Chinese dandelion salad

Many tourists, having visited China, talk about the unforgettable taste of an unusual salad of dandelion roots in sweet and sour sauce.

The benefits of dandelion root salad
This dish contains inulin, which strengthens the liver, as well as substances that improve appetite and relieve spasms in the intestines. Drying and roasting dandelion roots to a dark brown color makes a delicious, healthy coffee substitute.
Unlike dandelion leaf salad, which can only be prepared in early spring, the Chinese dish is available all year round. Dandelion root salad slightly resembles the taste of fried mushrooms and is considered a delicacy among the peoples of the Far East.

How to Make Chinese Dandelion Salad
Ingredients:

• Dandelion, roots - 300 g
• Carrots - 100 g
• Vegetable oil - 20 ml
• Soy sauce - 15-25 ml

Cooking a dish according to the recipe "Chinese Dandelion Salad"
1. Dig up dandelion roots.
2. Wash, clean.
3. Cut white pure dandelion roots into thin cubes.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet and place the dandelion slices to form a thin brownish crust when frying.
5. Saute the dandelion roots over low heat for five minutes.
6. Grate the carrots.
7. Place the carrot shavings over the roasting dandelion roots and cook for an additional five minutes.
8. Pour soy sauce into an almost finished dish and a little warm water and simmer until carrots and dandelion roots are soft and tender.

Chinese salad can be sprinkled with sweet and sour tomato sauce, widely used in Asian dishes.

Dandelion salad with boiled egg and nuts is a very exotic, but at the same time, easy-to-prepare dish that anyone can cook during the dandelion flowering season. Despite the fact that many, as in my time and I, consider dandelion a common weed, it is very useful if it is properly eaten. Quite a long time has passed since I first tried the dandelion leaf salad, but not a year has passed since then so that I do not return to this recipe again and again - I enjoy it every spring! If in the winter season the green color on the table can be achieved only thanks to the kiwi salad, then in the spring the dandelion leaves do an excellent job with this task.

To prepare today's salad, we need the following products: dandelion leaves, an egg, green onions, sour cream, mustard grains and nuts. The main ingredient, of course, is dandelion leaves. Finding flowers, I think, will not be difficult for you, since they grow not only in parks and squares, but also just on the grass in many in the garden at the dacha or in the village. It is the last variant of "dislocation" of dandelions that is best suited for using them for food. The leaves of such flowers will be clean, free from city dust and debris.

Despite the fact that we have dandelions - this is a "wild" product, in China, the leaves of this flower can be easily bought in the store, just like we have parsley or dill. This is one of the reasons why dandelion leaf salad can often be found on the net under the name Chinese salad. As for the rest of the ingredients, they are all standard from recipe to recipe, except that the nuts may be different. Today, for the sake of testing, I prepared a salad with walnuts, although most often, many hostesses prefer to combine dandelion leaves with peanuts.

Ready-made dandelion salad is best seasoned with thick homemade or store sour cream. Personally, I tried to replace this product with mayonnaise a couple of times, but I and my household did not like such a replacement.

Ingredients:

• 1 handful of dandelion leaves
• 1 egg
• 4 green onion feathers
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• Salt to taste
• 1 handful of walnuts or peanuts

Cooking a dish step by step with a photo:

Bon Appetit!

Dandelion salad is a delicious and unusual dish that will perfectly complement any festive and everyday table. The whole process of preparing a salad is very simple, therefore a culinary specialist with any amount of experience behind him will cope with this task. Finally, I want to give some tips to make your dandelion leaf salad tasty the first time:

• For the salad, it is best to use the leaves of those dandelions that grew in your country house or in the village. They will be much juicier and more harmless than those that grow within the city;
• The best addition to dandelion leaves is green onion feathers. Both ingredients ripen at the same time, therefore, you will not have any problems with the selection of a "set" of necessary products;
• To achieve a greater taste effect, add nuts to the dandelion salad: walnuts, almonds or peanuts;
• It is best to season the finished salad with sour cream, not mayonnaise.

Did you know that dandelion is an invaluable storehouse of various trace elements and vitamins? This plant contains manganese, magnesium, iron, copper, potassium, calcium.

From ancient times to this day, the delicate yellow flower has been called the elixir of life. And for good reason: after all, it has a diaphoretic, tonic, choleretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory effect, and is also a natural natural "brush", as it is able to remove toxins from the human body. Dandelion contains antioxidants and, when consumed in food, is able to prevent diabetes mellitus and accelerate the body's recovery processes after a stroke.

Freshly prepared dandelion salad will raise vitality and mood, strengthen immunity and act as an excellent stimulator of the cardiovascular system.

Dandelion is also able to prevent liver cirrhosis and obesity, improve digestion, and replenish vitamin deficiencies. And in ancient times, scurvy and edema were treated with this wonderful flower.

In addition to all of the above, dandelion dishes are also delicious, so do not pass by when you see these delicate yellow flowers: what if you also need them?

Dandelion salad. Recipe with walnuts.

Take 100 grams of dandelion leaves, 200 grams of young nettle, two cloves of garlic, green onions, four walnuts, two tablespoons of vegetable oil and cranberry juice for dressing, one tablespoon of cabbage brine (sauerkraut).

Chop the young nettles and dandelion leaves. Mix them well in a deep bowl. Add chopped green onions and garlic. For dressing, mix cabbage brine, vegetable oil and cranberry juice. Now pour this sauce over your salad, garnish it with walnuts on top.

Dandelion salad

Prepare dandelion leaves and flowers, radishes, parsley, dill, onions, sour cream, cashews, garlic.

Rinse the dandelion leaves and soak them in salted water for about an hour to remove the bitterness. Then chop the radish, parsley, dill, onion. Separate the yellow petals from the flowers, cut the dandelion leaves and add them to the rest of the ingredients. Next, mix the sour cream with garlic and season the salad with this sauce. Now sprinkle cashew nuts on top. Everything. The dish is ready.

Dandelion salad with quinoa

Take young quinoa, dandelion leaves, any greens, green onions, young garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions.

For refueling: mustard or sunflower oil,

Soak dandelion leaves in salted water for an hour. Then fold the sheets in a colander and let them drain. Then slice.

Separate and discard the washed quinoa stems - they are rough for a salad, and chop the leaves.

Next, add any finely chopped greens (of your choice), as well as garlic and green onions to the leaves of the quinoa and dandelion. Then add some onions.
For juiciness, chop a few cucumbers (if the peel is bitter, remove it) and one or two tomatoes.

Season with salt and pepper. Season generously or with mustard. Then add one to one and a half tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Mix everything well. Now chill it a little in the refrigerator before serving it.

dandelion

You will need: 40 grams of tomatoes, 40 grams of cucumbers, 20 grams of 30 grams of pitted olives, 15 grams of 3 grams of Balsamic sauce, some fresh herbs, 10 grams of olive oil. Another - 300 grams of young 125 grams of lard, two slices of a stale loaf, two onions, two cloves of garlic, three tablespoons of vinegar infused with herbs, a pinch of sugar, a spoonful of tea mustard, four tablespoons of vegetable oil, a little salt and ground pepper.

Peel, puncture and dry the dandelion leaves. Cut the bacon into thin strips and melt it over low heat. Put the resulting greaves on a plate and cool.

Cut the loaf into small cubes, then fry it in the melted fat (lard) until crisp. Finely chop the garlic and onions and combine with a fried loaf.

Then, combine the vinegar with sugar, pepper, salt and mustard. Then add butter drop by drop and beat thoroughly to get a homogeneous mass.

Divide the dandelion leaves on a plate and pour over the sauce. Heat the greaves again and lay on top with loaf cubes and onion-garlic mass. That's it. The French dandelion salad is ready!

If any components of salads are contraindicated for you or you have a period of exacerbation of the disease of the gastrointestinal tract, then, unfortunately, you should refrain from eating such dishes.

When dandelions bloom in the spring, take on the vitaminization of the whole family. Over the long winter, the body's vitamin reserves have been pretty depleted, it's time to replenish them in a simple and affordable way: making dandelion salads. The benefits of this humble plant are enormous, so it is foolish not to use the gifts of nature. Moreover, the dish can be prepared according to different recipes, it turns out to be very tasty.

The beneficial properties of dandelions

With the help of a shy dandelion, you can both be treated, and be engaged in the prevention of certain diseases, and maintain beauty. And all because the composition of the juice of a healing plant is very rich in vitamins, microelements and biologically active substances.

The dandelion flowers and leaves contain vitamins A, E, PP, C, B1 and B2, as well as a lot of iron, selenium, potassium, chromium, calcium. There are antioxidant substances, bioflavonoids, including very rare ones: choline, saponins, triterpenic acids, tannins.

Dandelion is actively used in healing practice, as it has antiviral, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, tonic, diuretic and antitumor properties.

The juice of flowers and leaves is used to treat such ailments:

Inflammation of the pancreas, stomach ulcer;

Diseases of the liver and kidneys;

Atherosclerosis;

Avitaminosis;

Cholecystitis;

Inflammation of the joints and bones;

Colds, bronchitis, tuberculosis.

Dandelion decoctions treat obesity and increase breast milk production. The plant is used to prevent cancer, lower cholesterol levels, cleanse the blood and intestines, and strengthen immunity. This is why dandelion salad is so good for the body. Harm from this dish is extremely rare, so cook for health.

Rules for collecting and preparing dandelions for salad

Spring is the best time to prepare salads. You need to collect dandelions young, until the stems and leaves have lost their tenderness, and the yellow heads have not begun to fluff. You need to pick dandelions on a sunny day, preferably in the morning, when the dew has naturally cleared the plant, and the daytime dust has not yet had time to adhere to the stems and flowers. Do not pick the plant near industrial buildings, highways, roads. Dirt and harmful emissions will not add any benefits to the dish.

Pour the collected flowers and leaves with cold water for half an hour to remove the bitterness. Another way to make the raw materials edible is to blast them in boiling water for no more than a minute.

Dandelion Salad Recipes

Dandelion leaves can be combined with vegetables, eggs, nuts, young cheeses, sweet fruits. In addition, meaty appetizers with different parts of the plant are delicious. You will get a wonderful variety of dandelion salads, the benefits of which will strengthen your health, and the composition will not get bored.

Spicy Dandelion Salad with Nuts and Lemon

Ingredients:

A bunch of dandelion leaves;

A bunch of young sorrel;

Small lemon;

Small carrots;

A handful of walnuts or hazelnuts;

Two cloves of garlic;

Olive oil for dressing.

Thinly chop the leaves of sorrel, dandelion, flowers. Pour the lemon over with boiling water and grate with the peel. Chop the nuts and garlic with a knife. Grate the carrots on a fine grater. Combine all the components of the salad, salt to taste, season with vegetable oil. Instead of butter, you can use another salad dressing or homemade mayonnaise.

Dandelion salad with egg and cabbage

Ingredients:

A bunch of dandelion leaves;

One hundred grams of green onions;

Fifty grams of sauerkraut;

Two boiled eggs;

Sour cream to taste.

Rinse the cabbage. Grind all ingredients, salt and season with sour cream.

Dandelion salad with cucumber

Ingredients:

A handful of dandelion leaves;

Medium cucumber;

Green onions to taste;

2 tbsp. sour cream spoons;

1 tbsp. a spoonful of mayonnaise.

Chop dandelion leaves and green onions into smaller pieces. Chop the cucumber into cubes. Mix sour cream and mayonnaise. Combine all the ingredients, season with pepper and sauce, salt if desired.

Dandelion and bacon salad

Ingredients:

Three hundred grams of smoked bacon;

Two bunches of dandelion leaves;

Three slices of white bread;

Two cloves of garlic;

Vegetable, preferably olive oil;

A tablespoon of fruit vinegar (can be replaced with the usual 9% tablespoon);

Two pinches of black pepper.

Crush the garlic with a knife. Cut the bread into neat cubes. Heat 2 tablespoons in a frying pan. tablespoons of oil, toss in the garlic and fry. When the wedges are brown, discard them. In garlic oil, fry the bread cubes until blush, place on a paper towel to let the butter glass. Cut the bacon into thin slices and fry each on both sides in a dry skillet. Pick dandelion leaves with your hands, put in a salad bowl. Next, put the fried bacon slices, salt and pepper, season with vinegar, lay out the croutons in a slide.

Dandelion salad with tongue

Ingredients:

Two hundred grams of boiled beef tongue (you can take pork);

A bunch of dandelion leaves;

The same number of lettuce leaves;

Fifty grams of any nuts, but preferably pine nuts;

Two tablespoons of vegetable oil;

Two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste.

Tear dandelion leaves finely by hand or cut. Cut the boiled cooled tongue into smaller strips. Chop the lettuce leaves. Combine all the ingredients, sprinkle with salt and pepper, season with lemon juice and vegetable oil, mix.

Dandelion salad with cottage cheese and fruits

Ingredients:

5-6 dandelion flowers;

A handful of dandelion leaves;

Green apple;

Incomplete glass of grained cottage cheese;

Fatty cream for dressing;

A tablespoon of lemon juice.

Finely chop the dandelions. Cut the core out of the apple, chop it into small cubes with a knife and immediately fill it with lemon juice. Mix all ingredients, season with cream.

You can replace the apple in this healthy dandelion salad recipe with any fruit you have in the house or like. This salad is good with peaches, pears, and an orange.

The harm of dandelion salad

Not every person today can boast of a lack of allergy to some food, medicine, substance, etc. The potential harm of dandelion salad is primarily that an atypical reaction of the body to dandelion juice can be found.

In addition, there is a list of diseases in which the use of dandelion inside is prohibited:

Ulcers of the stomach and duodenum;

Gastritis with increased acidity of gastric juice;

Acute stage of inflammation of the biliary tract;

Intestinal infections;

Dyskinesia.

The harm of dandelion salad in this case is associated with its choleretic effect. Stimulation of bile and secretion of gastric juice in the acute stages of gastrointestinal diseases is undesirable.

Dandelion allergies are very rare. Therefore, for most people, a remarkably tasty salad made from the leaves of this plant will be of great benefit: it will strengthen the immune system, heal internal organs, prevent tumor processes and the development of cardiovascular diseases.