One of my goals for this year is to learn how to forage and preserve medicinal herbs and plants growing on our property. If there’s one plant that we have an overabundance of each spring it’s dandelions.
I thought I’d take you along with me as I learn more about this incredible plant that God created. My memories of this ‘weed’ go way back. As children my siblings and I would paint our faces yellow each spring and spend hours braiding together dandelion crowns or blowing the seeds across the fields. But the only memory I have of actually foraging dandelions for use was one summer when my Oma (grandmother) asked us kids to pick and fill as many pails as we could full to the brim with the golden blooms. She then made a beverage from the dandelion blooms.
My first plan in learning more about dandelions is to make an infused dandelion oil.
Dandelion Infused Oil
Well it turns out making a dandelion tincture is really quite easy. Why is it that things always seem harder before you actually try them?
To Make a Dandelion Infused Oil
- Gather dandelion blooms on a sunny day. Make sure the flowers are open.
- Take the dandelions inside. I didn’t rinse them but you can put them in a bowl with water for a minute or two to let the insects float to the top. Drain the water
- Put the blooms into a clean pint sized Mason jar until they reach the rim. Gently push down the blooms to get as many in the jar as you can
- Top off the blooms with olive oil
- Cover the jar with a coffee filter or paper towel and wrap an elastic around the rim
- Set the jar in a sunny location for two whole weeks
- Use the dandelion infused oil for recipes.
I hope to share a dandelion balm recipe with you soon!
