Read Wild Spring Plant Foods: The Foxfire Americana Library (7) for Free Online Page B

color, for flowers may be violet, white, or yellow. Tall lettuce
(Lactuca floridana)
grows to six feet tall, with a hollow, leafy stem, and white or pale blue flowers. Leaves of all species of wild lettuce are edible when young and tender. Every species will emit a milky juice when leaves or stems are broken.
    Wild lettuce must be gathered and eaten in the early spring when the plants are young, as the older plants get tough and wormy. Ethel Corn told us, “It grows mostly in poor ground where it ain’t tender. When you get it, it has a flavor like tame lettuce, only it don’t look much like it, and it’s a whole lot better.”
    Mrs. Keener said, “It’s slick when it first comes up, the leaves are. And it don’t resemble lettuce at all, but it tastes like it. It’s a little bit tougher. You find it all along fence rows, or anywhere. It comes up in early spring, that’s when you get it; when it grows up tall, it’s too tough.”
    Mrs. Norton said, “You break a leaf off and if it’s kinda milky, that’s wild lettuce.”
    Salad: cut up greens and wash. Cut green onions in it and pour hot grease over it. Also good with vinegar, oil, and salt. Mrs. Irene Gray says, “It sure did taste good!” Try frying bacon until crisp and crumbly. Add brown sugar and vinegar and pour over chopped wild lettuce leaves. For extra flavor, add chickweed or mustard.
    Greens: pick young leaves (before they are eight inches high). Wash, and cook with very little water. Add butter, salt, pepper, and bits of bacon and bacon grease.
    Dandelion
(Taraxacum officinale)
(family
Compositae
)
(blowball, peasant’s clock, cankerroot, down-head, yellow gowan, witches’ gowan, milk-witch)
    Dandelions are common on lawns and in fields and along roadsids Stems grow three to fourteen inches and are hollow. Dark green, dentate basal leaves emit a milky juice as they get old. The golden yellow flowers are one to two inches across. Dandelion is a native of Europe, naturalized all over America.
    Edible parts include the young leaves, the flower buds, and thescraped roots. Dandelion greens are very rich in iron and vitamin C. Frederic Klees says a Dutchman has to eat dandelion salad on Maundy Thursday to stay healthy all the year. Some authorities say the roots are inedible, and all traces of root must be cut away when preparing greens for cooking. Gather much more than you think you need, for they cook down. Some cooks add a pinch of soda when cooking Dandelions. Mrs. Norton says, “You can use dandelion in tossed salads, the kind with feathery leaves; it makes what you call a wild salad.”

    I LLUSTRATION 37 A clump of dandelion.
    Greens: gather when young, wash, and boil about twenty minutes in water with fatback added; or drain and fry in grease. Season with salt and pepper. Or after cooking, drain off water, and heat with small amount of vinegar. Add small chunks of fried salt pork, heat, and eat. Or cook lightly in salted water. Drain. Mix milk, butter, one egg, and vinegar together. Cook to just a boil and pour over greens.
    Hot greens on toast: cook greens slightly; drain. Add bits of fried bacon and bacon grease. Serve over toast.
    Dandelion bud omelet: gather one cup dandelion buds before flower color shows. Fry buds in dab of butter until they pop. Add four eggs, salt and pepper. Top with raw leaves, finely cut before serving.
    Salad: wash and pat dry one-half cup unopened flower buds and one bunch tender leaves. Fry two strips bacon, toss buds in hot bacon grease until they open. Drain. Mix with leaves and bacon; add three tablespoons oil and vinegar. Or wash young dandelion leaves and chop fine. Add salt, vinegar, and olive oil. When mixed, add one tomato cut in pieces, or cooked lima beans. Toss. Or mix chopped dandelion with chopped ramps or wild onion; top with bacon, bacon fat, and vinegar.
    Green drink: cook chickweed and dandelion, each alone. Put through a sieve, add cider vinegar, and drink for a tonic.
    Coffee substitute: gather