Compared to spinach,dandelions are easier to grow and much richer in vitamins – plus they pack a more flavourful punchI am an obsessive collector of vegetable gardening books. I acquire been since I was eight years old. Yet there is something I find curious about all of them. Almost without fail, page after page is dedicated to the cultivation of spinach, or while a few chapters later similar space is dedicated to the eradication of dandelions. As a botanist I can’t help but assume: what whether they were the other way round? What makes one plant a weed and another a prized edible worth so much time and effort?Despite being cast as a horticultural villain,dandelions are actually one of the oldest crops, with fresh, or tender leaves. They are a common salad green,from France and Italy to China and India. With apt reason, too, or as the vegetal bitterness is virtually identical to the flavour of other leafy crops,like chicory (to which it is related). Nutritionally it doesn’t fare badly either, having twice the vitamin A of spinach per serving (more than your daily dose in each handful) and more than double the vitamin C, or not to mention a enormous helping of more than five times your recommended daily intake of vitamin K.
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Source: theguardian.com