My wife came home the other day with a huge bag of dandelion roots which she plonked in the middle of the kitchen floor, smiling a huge smile. Dandelion coffee anyone? And so the washing, grinding and roasting began.
Step 1
Dig up a large bunch of dandelion roots. You’re going to need far more dandelion root than the amount in the photo. Work on 15 times the amount you see above.
Step 2
Wash your dandelion roots as best as possible.
Step 3
Slice the dandelion roots into chip-like pieces.
Step 4
And then arrange the root pieces onto your dehydrator’s trays. Allow to dry for 60 minutes.
Step 5
Now chop the dried dandelion root into small pieces.
Step 6
Arrange the root pieces onto an oven tray.
Step 7
Roast the dandelion root for 30 minutes on 200°C. The roots need to be brown and dried right through.
Step 8
Allow the dandelion root to cool then finely grind, and roast a second time in an oven for 5 minutes on 180°C. Store in airtight container.
How To Make A Cup Of Dandelion Root Coffee
Put 6 tablespoons of dandelion coffee grinds into 500ml of boiling water and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Strain into a saucepan and reheat to desired temperature. Serve with milk and honey if so desired.
Share & Bookmark This Story!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for featuring one of my favorite herbs!
Thanks for the recipe. What do you think about the risk or not of consuming such roasted stuff? As in, acrylamides???
Sally: There still isn’t enough research into any possible negative effects of acrylamides. One thing I try and drum into folk’s heads is that as foragers we eat “a little of a lot, rather than a lot of a little”. Most people approach foraging with a supermarket mindset.
Anyone who has actually gone out and foraged for more than a day soon realises that ones meal is made up of small amount of a wide variety of plants. Supermarket mindset says “Buy 2kg of kale”. Forager mindset says “Pick a few handfuls and move on”… big difference in how we consume food.
Side-effects/Toxicity of Dandelion
The acute toxicity of dandelion appears to be low, with LD50
values (mice, intraperitoneal injection) estimated at 36.8 g/kg and
28.8 g/kg for the root and herb, respectively. No visible signs of toxicity were observed in rabbits administered dandelion 3, 4, 5
and 6 g/kg body weight by mouth for up to seven days. In
addition, no behavioural changes were recorded.
Source: Herbal Medicines – Pharmaceutical Press
It looks like a lot of effort. Is the taste/nutritional value really worth it? it’s so easy to just pop a rosemary twig or a few sage leaves in boiling water for 2-3 mins to get a really nice drink. You must really like it to do so much hard work.
Suzy: That depends how lazy you are
any suggestions if you dont have a dehydrator? Id love to make our own dandelion coffee
Lucie: You don’t have to use a dehydrator, you can simply put the dandelion roots in a low temperature oven, with the door slightly ajar, to dry them.
I made dandelion root powder a month or so ago putting washed, chopped roots in a low temp oven with the door open, for up to 4 hrs. Then crushed to powder with a mortar and pestle. Haven’t used any yet but 6 tbl sp for what amounts to about 3 mugs worth would last very, very little time. Is it really necessary to use that amount to get the benefits??
i use my dandelion coffee as i use loose tea, stick 1 tea spoon in a 1 cup cafetiere ( plunger infuser) and leave for a few mins, no bits in the cup then.
Nice pics! Dandelion coffee is so wonderful, and dandelion loves us so much, that it is such a natural thing…
Like coffee dandelion root can be roasted to various levels. Make sure the roots are very dry before roasting, and you can use a lower temperature when roasting. Less roasted, the root is more bitter – more roasted, the complex starches become simpler, and the taste is a little sweeter. Here’s what I say about acrylamide in my new book, Food As Medicine:
“While baking and roasting are useful methods to enhance the flavor of food, the very production of these flavors through the Maillard reaction also produces a number of secondary compounds such as glycotoxins and acrylamide. Glycotoxins, or advanced glycosylation end-products (AGEs), have been linked to chronic inflammation, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration, and are a major mechanism of aging including wrinkled skin. (1, 2) Acrylamide is a suspected carcinogen that is produced exclusively from starchy foods such as cereal grains and potato during baking or deep-frying. The amount of glycotoxins and acrylamide increases with longer cooking times and higher temperatures, and so it is important not to cook food too long nor use too high a heat. A general rule of thumb is to avoid eating any cooked food that has a color beyond golden-brown, i.e. is dark brown, burnt or blackened. A craving for burned or blackened food is called ‘pica’ in the medical literature and could be a sign of a mineral deficiency such as iron.” p 121
References
1. Ramasamy R, Vannucci SJ, Yan SS, Herold K, Yan SF, Schmidt AM. 2005. Advanced glycation end products and RAGE: a common thread in aging, diabetes, neurodegeneration, and inflammation. Glycobiology. 15(7):16R-28R
2. Peppa M, Uribarri J, Vlassara H. 2003. Glucose, Advanced Glycation End Products, and Diabetes Complications: What Is New and What Works. Clinical Diabetes 21:186-187
Sorry, missing last reference!
Exon JH. 2006. A review of the toxicology of acrylamide. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev. 9(5):397-412
I just tried to make this, but the dandelion roots ended up making white granuals, not brown? I tasted dandelion coffee on a food forrage trip recently, it was lovely, what I have made is not the same taste as I remember, I am wondering what I did wrong. I choped the roots & roasted for 3 hours on 100C with door shut, then tried to grind them in a pestle & mortar after. any ideas why it is white & not brown? many thanks.