Dehydrated Dandelion Flowers… how & why

Last Updated on May 9, 2024 by Michelle

Yes, I dehydrate dandelion flowers. (And roots. And leaves. But I’ll save those stories for another day.)

Read on to find out how and why I dehydrate dandelion blooms.

13 ways to use dandelions

First, let me share with you lots of great uses for this amazing “weed.” Listen in to episode 107 on the Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast or watch:

Are dehydrated dandelion flowers good for you?

I would have zero motivation to dehydrate dandelion flowers if they weren’t good for me to eat. They offer powerful antioxidants, as most plants do, and they’re a surprisingly good source of vitamins C, A, and K and beta-carotene, iron, zinc, and potassium.

In fact, a small cup of dandelion tea (more about that below) has over half of the amount of potassium you’ll get from eating a banana. Not bad, right?

They’re also a source of lecithin. Lecithin are fats that are essential to the cells in our bodies that help maintain our brain functions and may even help prevent Alzheimer’s. You find lecithin in many foods, like soybeans and egg yolks, but most folks don’t know you can go pick some lecithin in your backyard, in the form of a bright yellow weed, every spring and summer.

So you can dry dandelion blooms and reap these benefits all year round because dehydrating maintains every bit of nutrients in the food.

So yes, dehydrated dandelions are good for you.

What do dehydrated dandelion flowers taste like?

Dandelion flowers have mild, vaguely sweet flavor with a light bitter tone.

How to forage dandelions…

The important thing to know when you’re foraging for dandelion blooms is that you really want to know that the location where they are growing has not been treated with any pesticides. I have enough right in my own backyard, so I have assurance that mine are chemical-free.

You also might want to only forage young blooms. Older, almost spent flowers will sometimes explode in your dehydrator.

And, finally, you might want to dig up the dandelion roots as well, while you’re foraging, if you’d like to make my favorite tea that tastes a little like coffee.

What is the best way to dry dandelion flowers?

You can let your dandelion blooms simply air dry, but depending on your climate, if you have any humidity on the weeks you’re trying to accomplish this you might, sadly, fail.

You can also use a standard oven, set as low as it can go and with the door propped open, but this is often still a little too warm for the flowers and nutrients are lost, not to mention the dollars lost on electricity cost.

But a dehydrator is super efficient and cost effective. I can line the stainless steel trays in my dehydrator with loads of dandelion blooms and they’re dehydrated in no time.

NOTE: Dandelion blooms turn to seed in no time flat, so when you see a great “crop” for picking, don’t wait! Collect the flowers in the morning, as soon as the dew has dried on them, for best results.

How to dehydrate dandelion flowers

Remove the blooms from the stems and roots (those can also be dehydrated though!). Line dehydrator trays with blooms and turn dehydrator to 95 degrees.

NOTE: If your blooms “explode” in the dehydrator that means you picked them too old. Young dandelion blooms will preserve the best.

How can I use dried dandelion flowers?

Make dandelion syrup and use it to sweeten anything you’d like

Steep a few dried dandelion flowers in iced tea or lemonade

Add them to any cup of hot tea

Toss a few on a tossed salad

Add about ½ cup dandelion petals (green parts removed) to your favorite cookie recipe

Add dried dandelion flowers to omelettes

Break them up and add to pancake batter or waffles

What is the best dehydrator?

I have tried many different dehydrators over the years, trying to save money with lower priced ones. I’ve also dehydrated many herbs by hanging them to air dry and many veggies by spreading them out on baking trays on the dashboard of my car on a hot sunny day.

While there are many ways to dehydrate without fancy equipment, and many lower priced dehydrating machines on the market that are fine, I can tell you I will never go back to any other way now that I have found the top echelon of dehydrators.

Bonuses? It has such a large capacity (yet a small enough footprint to stay in my kitchen all season long) that I save lots of energy. I have to run 4 loads in a cheap dehydrator to equal just one in the Tribest.

This is my dehydrator and I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who asks.

It is an investment, but the way it churns out high-quality food for my family on a regular basis, and the high-quality parts and stainless steel trays, make it very worth the investment for me. Plus, it’s paid for itself many times over.

Listen in to More About my Dehydrator

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! Luke 12: 27-28

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