Observing Sweden 1 June 2013

Dandelion Wars

We had a modest yard in Seattle with only a few dandelions passing through from time to time. I got rid of them as soon as they were appeared and neighbors did the same with their yards.

As spring arrived here in Sweden I found our lawn saturated with the things . . . never a space more than one meter between two of the yellow devils. We bought a special tool to help dig the things up, but it has turned out to be a backbreaking and seemingly endless task. I rid the yard of them one day and the next day thirty more appear.

This is not surprising as all our neighbor’s yards are full of the things. All of Borläng, Sweden is full of the things! The are everywhere. The dandelion should be Sweden’s national flower.

A brilliant solution was born of the dilemma. Dandelion salad! If I couldn’t get rid of the things I could at least eat them, a satisfying cannibalistic revenge.

Much to my surprise the salad was pretty good. I was prepared to eat the things even if I didn’t like the taste, but the wife and I were both impressed. She invited her son and his wife for dinner a few nights after our first experiment and I made another dandelion salad which was enjoyed by all. But no great idea will go unpunished.

The next day daughter in law called up with intense gall bladder pain. “I will never eat dandelions again,” she said. Bullshit, I thought. She’s tripping. But that evening she looked up dandelion’s medicinal use on Google and found that that are used to clear out the ducts that lead to the gallbladder. So I was wrong for the second or third time in my life.

Fortunately I have poisoned no one else. My wife had her gallbladder removed years ago and there was no effect on her son or myself. The war of the dandelions will continue and this blog is my first attempt to turn the world on to dandelion salad. One can also make dandelion wine.

Try it, you’ll like it!