Dandelion Root Vinegar

Dan­de­lion (aka dandy) vine­gar is my favorite vine­gar to make.  Dan­de­lion root is a supreme liver tonic.  It acts to alka­lize the body and nour­ish the blood.  When com­bined with vine­gar which has a neu­tral pH it is a great tonic for the blood as well.  A diet heavy with meat, car­bo­hy­drates, sugar, processed foods and fat will cre­ate an acidic envi­ron­ment within the body which is a prime envi­ron­ment for inflam­ma­tion, bac­te­ria and can­cer cells to thrive in.  The more alka­line you make your diet the harder it is for dis­ease to thrive in the body.  Reg­u­lar serv­ings of dan­de­lion vine­gar in your diet will pro­mote health on a fun­da­men­tal level for your body.  Here is a great way to get the ben­e­fits from dan­de­lion year round.

Dandy vine­gar has been a sta­ple in our pantry for many years.  Recently I real­ized we were out of my favorite salad treat.  When I went look­ing for a refill from my win­ter stores, I was sur­prised to find I didn’t have any dandy vine­gar left.  I couldn’t imag­ine how I was out of it but there I was with an empty bot­tle and noth­ing to replen­ish with.

For­tu­nately, while vis­it­ing a friend’s house I noticed her gar­den had sev­eral plants grow­ing already.  They looked hearty and ready to har­vest.  The next day they returned from the gym to find me and the kids dig­ging dan­de­lions out of the gar­den. Luck­ily, they didn’t seem to mind me weed­ing for them.

Cleaned dan­de­lion roots and greens

This is the bounty of plants I har­vested from the gar­den.  I always take the whole plant.  The sap of the dan­de­lion plant is the key to all the nour­ish­ment the plant offers so I don’t want to lose a drop.  I rinsed them briefly and wiped them down to remove any resid­ual earth.

I had enough plants to fill two quart mason jars.  This will make about 1.5 quarts of vine­gar when it is ready in 6 weeks.

Then I added enough apple cider vine­gar to cover the plants.  I use a chop­stick to remove all the bub­bles and get max­i­mum expo­sure between the vine­gar and plant mate­r­ial.  Run the chop­stick around the edge between the glass and the plant mate­r­ial and press down on the plant mate­r­ial until all the bub­bles rise to the top.  Any air left in the jar is wasted oppor­tu­nity for the plant and vine­gar to do their magic.

Once this is com­plete fill the jar to the rim.  I use wax paper between the top and the vine­gar to pre­vent rust from form­ing on the lid and taint­ing the vine­gar.  Label and put in the pantry for 6 weeks.  At the end of the six weeks strain enough to fill a spare vine­gar bot­tle.  I leave the rest of the roots in the remain­ing vine­gar to con­tinue to steep.  As long as they are sub­merged they should be fine to rest for any length of time.

Dandy Root Vinegar

Here is the fin­ished prod­uct.  Can’t wait to use it tonight on the veg­eta­bles we get from our CSA.  YUM!

I do hope you will give this won­der­ful treat a try.  If you are look­ing for a super­food to add to your pantry, this is a great place to start.  I wouldn’t be with­out it in my kitchen.