>>511991I eat them. I fry the flowers up (my fave). I brew the flowers into country wine and mead. I use the leaves in salads, as a pot herb, and juice them. I roast the roots, crush them, and add them to adulterate coffee or use as a caffeine free coffee substituent. You can also make latex from the milky sap, but I'd rather use milkweed for that since there's more of it and it is easier to harvest, never done it yet though. I also plant them in my garden, both for eating and for ripening my fruits faster and fuller.
>Who are we to "label" them undesirable?Monsanto propaganda. Their old round-up advertisements always targeted dandelions. America's Lawn Culture eats that stuff up with a spoon. Thus, a random plant is vilified.
The thing is, most "weeds" are edible and some are tasty as store bought veggies. Like Lambs Quarters, Chickweed, Burdock, Pennycress, Pigweed, Pineapple Weed, etc etc
>>511994>>512006They are bitter as fuck, for those people who make their salads with flavorless store greens like ice burg lettuce, chard, and bok choy. They turn their nose up at watercress, kale, and spinach for salad greens too.
The youngest, lightest color leaves, eaten raw will be bitter and the oldest, darkest leaves will be very bitter. Cooking reduces some bitterness. The flowers aren't bitter like that, only the green parts. The roots are also bitter. When making wine or mead with the flowers you must remove all green and only use the yellow petals or it will ruin your brew and make it bitter, unless that is what you want.
You don't need to eat a bowl of them. Use them sparingly in salads as a flavor change every so often in this or that bite. Use like that as a seasoning is better than using a bunch of it. You wouldn't dump a jar of oregano on your plate and chow down would you? Same sort of thing here, only in leave form.
If you want truly bitter as all fuck flavor, use chicory leaves. You'll taste them for the rest of the day.
