News & tips on health, fitness and nutrition

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Dandelion Greens

Dandelion greens are a nutritional powerhouse. The plant has been used since antiquity as a diuretic, a liver tonic, to treat skin conditions and a whole host of other health problems.





Nutritional Highlights

They are packed with vitamins and minerals. One cup of cooked dandelion greens has more calcium than a cup of cottage cheese but only 34 calories. It provides 12% of the fiber, 19% of the iron and 28% of the Vitamin C that (averaging for adults and children) the USDA suggests that we get in our diets each day.
Dandelion provides more vitamin A than an equal amount of kale, collard greens or summer squash, giving you 85% of the daily recommended intake.

The one cup serving also contains 2.1 grams of protein, many minerals including potassium, magnesium and phosphorous as well as vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, B-6 and folate.

To wash dandelion greens (or any other leafy green) fill a large pot or bowl with cold water and place the leaves into the bowl. Swish them around to loosen the sand. Since the sand is heavy, it will fall to the bottom of the bowl and the leaves will float on top. Place a strainer next to the bowl and pull the leaves out and place them in the strainer. Don't pour the leaves and dirty water into the strainer because you will just pour all of the sand back into the greens. Rinse the bowl, refill with water and repeat until they are clean.

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