Harvesting The Dandelions, Historically

 
While picking dandelions this week for dandelion jelly, dandelion soap, and dandelion wine, I thought it would be fun to see what old newspapers had to say about dandelions, and what old recipes I could find.  As always, the results were... interesting.  Here's a look at what I found:

One of the most interesting things I came across was dandelion wine during prohibition.  I did not know that  loopholes in prohibition legislation allowed families to produce 200 gallons per year of fermented fruit juice for home consumption. As long as the wine didn't leave the house, drinkers were safely within legal bounds.

In 1922, families were making dandelion wine, "believing dandelion was a fruit."

The Miltonian, 1922

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Miltonian 1911

Gather the delicate young leaves early in the morning, as the hot sun of midday seems to toughen them.

That advice is repeated in the modern recipes I have read as well.

1911 Recipe For "Dandelion Sandwiches"

The Miltonian, 1920

Dandelion was stocked in local stores, appearing in advertisements frequently in the 1920s.

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Dandelion "Tea" for jelly, and dandelion heads drying to infuse oils for soap.

The Dandelion Jelly Recipe I use is from the Farmers Almanac.  The jelly tastes similar to honey.

Lewisburg Journal, April 1886

An 1886 Recipe for Dandelion Tea

Half a pound of Dandelion Leaves

Two ounces of Honey

Pint and a Half Of Boiling Water

Take "half a gill three times a day.  This is an excellent remedy for biliousness and dropsical affections."

Note - The gill or teacup is a unit of measurement for volume equal to a quarter of a pint. It is no longer in common use, except in regard to the volume of alcoholic spirits measures.  1 gill is approximately 4 fluid ounces.  

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1/2 ounce Dandelion Extract

1 ounce of compound Karagon

3 ounces Compound Syrup Sarsaparilla

Take a teaspoon after each meal and at bedtime

This recipe was printed in local papers for several years, around 1907 & 1908. "This mixture is said to remove all blood disorders and cure the Rheumatism by forcing the Kidney to filter and strain from the bloom and system all uric acid and foul decomposed waste matter, which cause the afflictions." - Lewisburg Journal , 1908,

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In 1930, there were "Cultivated Dandelions"

This has left me to wonder - are the dandelions in my yard the original wild variety, or the cultivated variety gone wild?  Or did cultivated merely mean that wild dandelions were now dug up and  planted in home gardens?

"and the cultivated dandelion, with its pungent succulence."

"Cultivated dandelions are prepared much like the old wild varieties".  (Recipe included)

Lewisburg Journal, September 1930

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A 1943 Recipe in the Lewisburg Journal For "Dutch Dressing"
Serve over greens - such as dandelion greens.

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As early as 1890, it was considered a weed.

Miltonian, 1890

Article on how to eradicate the Dandelion, appearing in the Miltonian

June 1910

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Dandelion Jelly Salad

North Adams Transcript, 1940

Although not a local paper, I couldn't ignore this..  unique, recipe.

Dandelion Jelly

Recipe:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2017/04/farmers-almanac-dandelion-jelly.html