Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale

Family: Basket bloom family (Asteraceae)
Common names: Bed Pisser, Buttercup, True Dandelion, Common Cowslip, Common Dandelion, Meadow Dandelion
Short description: Height up to 30 cm
Flowers: single petals, 2.5 - 5 cm wide cups with golden yellow florets, inflorescence spherical up to about 5 cm in size
Leaves: The leaves in a basic rosette are lobed to roughly sawn and bare.
Roots: It is a tap root that reaches deep into the earth- nearly one meter
Habitat: Meadows, pastures, herds of weed on paths, in fields, park lawns, on fresh, nutrient-rich, mostly deep soils
Collection time: roots in March and again from September to October, leaves from May to September, flowers from April to May
Use: Dandelion contains many bitter substances, vitamins A, B, C, D, E and minerals like potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium. This plant can be used extremely varied. You can put the leaves in any spring salad or make them as tea. A tincture helps against bad digestion and stimulates the liver and bile. In addition, the kidneys are stimulated and blood formation promoted.

Dandelion water against inflamed eyes

Against inflamed eyes dandelion or dandelion root was placed in lukewarm water for 36 hours (maceration). Then the dandelion water was filtered, with the filtered lukewarm dandelion water wash your eyes several times a day.

Dandelion honey

Ingredients:
600 g dandelion flowers (only the yellow flowers)
3 liters of water
3 lemons
3 kg of sugar (organic)

Preparation:
Pick dandelion heads fresh and best on a sunny, dry day and away from busy roads or sprayed fields. Now free the flower heads from all green. Wash the yellow petals and bring to boil in 3 liters of water. Add juice of 3 lemons. Cook for about 30 minutes and then strain. Add the sugar to the broth and cook for another 45 minutes. Stir again and skim off the foam. Then cook for about 1 hour on a low flame and then cook gently for another hour or leave to stand on a small plate. The more you reduce it, the more viscous the dandelion honey becomes. Fill the still hot dandelion honey in carefully cleaned screw jars. The consistency still solidifies in the cooled state.