Nothing is Waste , Every Plant is a Blessing for our Health

Most of us in Canada and Northern States of America are busy now with making our garden pretty after some crazy winter .And the first think we do is to remove all the weeds from our garden .Wait .... please read this article before you throw all the weeds from your garden .If you still think you are OK to throw them do it .
I moved to Canada around 4 yrs ago, it was just one year ago when I meet this Guy collecting all weeds from the different garden. He asked me too if you do not mind him collecting it free of cost . It was that time I realized the worth of those weeds when he told me the importance.Yes and then I started incorporating to use them in my daily practice big time . Here are some points that you should read on Dandelions.

•  Dandelion or Taraxacum Officinale 

Known because of a corruption of the French word "dent de lion" meaning " lion's tooth" referring to the coarsely toothed leaves.They are tap rooted biennial,with leaves 5-10 cm long and a nice yellow flower standing on a long 7 cm stalk .They flower normally during the day and close during the night .You might find a nice garden full of yellow flowers during the afternoon time at some places .

•  Harvest

Spring time are good to collect young leaves and fresh flowers . While Fall would be the time to collect and dry the roots.

•  Ways to Use ?

a] Fresh leaves of this plant are really good to add on your salads . Many recipes are out on the net about them.
b] Leaves/ Flowers can also be steamed with Kale or Spinach and can used as a side dish with fish or potato.
c] Roots are dried and roasted and grounded and have been used as an alternative for coffee .{Want to have herbal organic coffee}Caffeine free by the way.
d] On different site I have seen honey , jam , wine made from Dandelion .. can you think this weed can give us so much .

•  Liver and Dandelion 

For most of the herblogist this weed has been known for it s amazing property to work on liver especially for Jaundice .Because of its action on liver , dandelion has been a gr8 herb to be use for any issues of digestion.You can use every thing the roots , leaves , flowers to achieve this benefit from the plant .A good liver cleanse is achieved if you have dandelion every day in your diet .

• Urine Infection

The roots again are potent diuretics . They would increase your urine output and in that way would cleanse your bladder with all the bad bacteria .

•  Osteoporosis

Dandelion shoots have high calcium value which could be very helpful for those vegans who need extra calcium form vegetables .Thus can be helpful for those suffering with Osteoporosis even Osteopinea .

• Alzheimer's Disease 

  Even I was surprised to find this information when writing for this article .I need to use it for now . Its said that the flower of this weed have a compound called lecithin and choline .Both increases concentration of acetylcholine in the brain and improves memory .But that's in a research phase ..So if any of you have any data that they have used please be free to share .

•  Dandelion tea :

a] 4 cups of water

b] few slices of dandelion root freshly cut .

Mix them together and the boil them till you have only 1 cup of water remaining on a low flame may be for 30 min .You might wanted to add some honey or brown sugar to i t to make it nicer to taste .Drink half a cup each time after every 4 hrs . Please do consult more for your herboligist or you Vaidya to help you to charter the dosage .

• Caution

a]Toxic studies have shown that even taken in large amount their so no such side effects about this herb. But still its always better to be careful .
b] Be also careful with some other species of weed that do have the same feature .To differentiate dandelion do not have hairy leaves and each stalk would have only one flower.The other weed has many flowers on a stalk so check on that OK.

Some Interesting Links

Wine workshop :
http://www.northgrenville.on.ca/files/10%20dandelion%20wine%20workshop.pdf
Wikipedia link :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion

"You cannot forget if you would those golden kisses all over the cheeks of the meadow, queerly called dandelions."

Posted by Sudeep