This morning I made a most delicious cup of coffee-like tea with the roasted root of dandelion. In the past I've tried pre-packaged tea bags from commercial retailers, but this simple cup was oh so much better. I ordered organic roasted dandelion root from Mountain Rose Herbs in Oregon.
Recipe
1 heaping tablespoon of roasted dandelion root per 8 oz water
Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes
Strain and serve black or with your favorite sweetener and milk
The tea is caffeine free. Dandelion is a bitter herb and good for digestion.
I composted the marc (leftover solid material form the tea), but am wondering if any of you have recipes or ideas to use the marc. It seems like it could be a good source of fiber and inulin in baked goods. I'm open to ideas.
Note: I'm newish here. I'm a home herbalist and hoping to make friends with folks interested in sharing information related to herbalism, foraging, wildcrafting, mushrooms, gardening, permaculture, food forests and more. Offspring with seeds below just because...
Does it really taste coffee-like @belleamie? My husband loves his coffee but he doesn't fall for the imitations. I tried chicory. Such a joke! While I enjoy an occasional cup of coffee I love my herbal teas. (And I love your green kettle!) So I'd appreciate a cup of your dandelion tea. Welcome to the platform!
It does not have the same flavor as coffee, but it is dark, nutty and rich with a lot of bitter upfront and sweet aftertaste. The Mountain Rose bulk roasted root was particularly good, and much better than the retail tea bags. Because daily coffee is such a habit, I think one would need to make a concerted effort to replace the habit with dandelion root and it may take some time to transfer the craving over. That said, I think it is a worthy at home replacement. It brews up nice and dark and delicious.
Ok. I improved upon this recipe today. I added a tablespoon of roasted chicory and a teaspoon of freeze dried reishi powder. It turned out so yummy. My partner the coffee drinker said it was wonderful and had a nice caramel note. We had ours with a little milk and honey.