Dandelion salve and oil

[blissful]

We have the biggest crop of dandelions in the whole neighborhood, . I picked 6 qts of dandelion flowers, minimal green, dried them overnight at 105 deg F, stuffed them in a 1 qt jar.
I added about 25 ounces of fresh pressed sunflower seed oil, this sits covered for three weeks then gets squeezed and strained for the oil.
Then mix the oil with coconut oil and bees wax, and put in small containers.
The salve can be used for pain in the arms and legs. The oil for massage. Sunflower oil does not clog pores, is high in anti oxidants, and good for holding moisture in the skin.

I found this place that does a cold expeller process for olive and sunflower. The oil never goes above 120 deg F. The expiration date is about 2 years out but I'd recommend refrigerating it, as any oil can and does go rancid over time. The sunflower oil smelled fresh and clean and I'd highly recommend it. I tasted it and it tastes plain to me, which I like. It was expensive but it can be used to cook or for eating or for the body. I would wager that the olive oil is just as fresh. US source https://freshpressfarms.com/
I have no financial ties to this product or company. I just think it is such a nice high quality oil it might be of interest to cooks and people interested in nutrition. The oil came in an aluminum bottle (interior varnished) with a cork, and a pour spout, well decorated, could be gifted.

 

[Vinylhanger]

We don't have any yet. If we had a bunch, we would be coating and frying them. Yummm.

I have some nut coatings to try this season when they finally get here. Dandelion fritters are great as well.

 

[blissful]

@Vinylhanger mmm, never heard of it but I will have to try battering and breading them, see how we like them. Thank you for the idea!

 

[Kathleen]

@blissful You won't regret it. Delicious!

 

[blissful]

There was a lot of that expensive oil lost by having it soak into the dry dandelion flowers and plantain leaves.
I melted 4 oz beeswax, 4 oz coconut oil, over a double boiler, then added the dandelion and plantain oil into it. I portioned it into 4 oz jars, regular mouth ball jars. It solidified, a nice salve, no added fragrance. I labeled the jars "Dandelion Plantain Salve", printed and cut an ingredient label that went over the cap, then cut painted watercolor paper to go over the top of the ingredient label. I wish I had taken pictures. Maybe I'll get to that next.

 

[blissful]

These will make a nice quality gift for friends.

 

[fmw]

I like word etymology so I'll share the etymology of dandelion. It it is an anglification of the French term dent de leon which means lions' tooth. The French term derives from the sharp tooth shaped leaves of the flower.

 

[msmofet]

I love Dandelion greens added to a salad or by themselves as a salad.

 

[dragnlaw]

Pissenlit, or dent-de-lion (lions tooth) is also roughly said with slang tongue in cheek as 'pis en lit' . Children were told dandelions could make you pee in the bed!
Have never heard or found reference to that other than here, verbally from Quebecers.

 

[msmofet]

Pissenlit, or dent-de-lion (lions tooth) is also roughly said with slang tongue in cheek as 'pis en lit' . Children were told dandelions could make you pee in the bed!
Have never heard or found reference to that other than here, verbally from Quebecers.

Old people would say that here also when I was a child.

 

[blissful]

It has some basis in herbal medicine. (like Chinese medicine, Indian medicine, most countries/continents have elders carrying the knowledge.) You'd have to eat the flowers or leaves.
"The French word [for dandelion] is pissenlit, which translates to "pee the bed." Dandelions are a diuretic and in fact they are as strong as some of the commercial products."

The Diuretic Effect in Human Subjects of an Extract of Taraxacum officinale Folium over a Single Day

Taraxacum officinale (L.) Weber (Asteraceae) has been extensively employed as a diuretic in traditional folk medicine and in modern phytotherapy in Europe, Asia, and the Americas without prior clinical trial substantiation.In this pilot study, a high-quality ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[dragnlaw]

Too funny, other Quebecers I've asked have never heard it that way. One from Quebec City, another from the Gaspe.
But then Quebecers would say "pee pee" rather than piss - which is more 'Anglais'.

 

[taxlady]

Too funny, other Quebecers I've asked have never heard it that way. One from Quebec City, another from the Gaspe.
But then Quebecers would say "pee pee" rather than piss - which is more 'Anglais'.

I find that odd, that "piss" is more English. There's a verb in French, "pisser". I think you can guess what it means. Back in the 1970s, I visited Paris a couple of times with my mum. There were "pissoirs", those outdoor areas enclosed within a circular wall, where men could stand and relieve themselves. From outside, you could see their feet and the tops of their heads. I know they were called pissoirs, because that's what it said on the sign.

 

[taxlady]

I thought I remembered that at some time, dandelions were called pee-a-beds, so I looked it up. From Wikipedia,

Taraxacum is derived from the Arabic word tarakhshagog (or tarakhshaqūn) for a bitter herb.[34] It may be related to the Greek word ταρασσω (tarasso) meaning to disturb.[34][verification needed]

The Latin specific epithet officinale refers to the Latin word for 'medicinal' or 'of the apothecaries'.[35]

T. officinale has many English common names (some of which are no longer in use), including blowball, lion's-tooth, cankerwort, milk-witch, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown and puff-ball;[36] other common names include, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed,[37] swine's snout,[38] white endive, and wild endive.[39]

The common name dandelion comes from the French dent de lion, or "lion's tooth", in reference to the plant's jagged-edged leaves.[18] "Pee-a-bed" and "wet-a-bed" reflect the modern French term for the plant, pissenlit. This name and all those that imply ramped-up urine production refer to T. officinale's well-known diuretic properties.[40]

 

[dragnlaw]

Do pissoirs still exist?

From 1980 they were replaced systematically with new technology, a unisex, enclosed, automatically self-cleaning unit called the Sanisette. By 2006, only one historic pissoirs remained, on Boulevard Arago. In Berlin, the first pissoirs, in wood, were erected in 1863.
( above copied from Wiki)

Yes, I remember seeing them in France, especially Paris but I also remember Germany had quite a few of them as well. But even then, in the bigger cities, they were slowly disappearing, replaced by the public W/C's. Amusingly they used the English term of W/C for them which was very confusing for Anglophone's not expecting it.

 

[taxlady]

I grew up with the expression WC, in Danish. I didn't know what it stood for and I thought it was Danish. I eventually found out what it stood for, but didn't know it was used anywhere but Denmark. We were at a little Air France office in Paris, doing something with our tickets, when I needed to pee. So, I said in Danish to my mum, "Jeg skal på WC." (I want to use the WC.) and the Frenchman behind the counter pointed in the right direction. It was handy, but I was startled, my mum, less so. It's kinda the international word for the washroom in Europe, but pronounced "Veh Ceh".

 

[dragnlaw]

I learned about the W/C in Germany and of course, it was with the German pronunciation. I knew what the letters stood for but innocently assumed they were all pronounced the same way, .

 

[msmofet]

Water closet?

 

[taxlady]

Water closet?

Yes. A tiny room with a flush toilet. I guess we would call that tiny room a toilet stall.