Dandelion coffee. A question.

[BigShot]

Hey folks.
In the process of clearing a LOT of weeds off my newly acquired allotment (see the link in my signature) I've made a rather large pile of dandelions with some hefty roots attached.

I know they can be used to make a sort of coffee, I believe after drying and roasting, but how should I go about it?

Starting from root still attached to the leaves and going from there, what should I do?

When do I remove the leaves? When do I start to chop them up? How should I roast them?

Anything else I should know? (Other than the "pissabed" issue that is.)

[Toddy]

Well, this is how I do it..

Cut the leaves off the roots. (these are edible, but bitter bitter unless they're young)
Wash the roots and scrub off any dodgy bits and hair roots.
Pat dry with an old cloth or kitchen towels.
If they're very fresh they snap, if not, cut them into kind of 2 or 3cm lengths. If you have really thick bits slice them down the middle. Try to aim for kind of even sized bits.

Have you roasted carrots and parsnips in the oven before ? Well without adding oil or butter, lay these dandelion roots out and roast them like that......but roast them slow until they go dark brown but not burnt black. I find that shaking the tray helps to keep the roasting even.

I can't tell you how long, or what temperature, it's just until they smell sweet and sort of like toasted nuts.
Remove from the tray, allow to cool and then bash up a couple to crumbs and try making coffee with them. If it''s good, put the rest into an airtight jar ( you can grind them first if you want, or do it as needed), if it's not, give them a bitty longer in the oven.

cheers,
Toddy

[BigShot]

Cheers Toddy!
I had a feeling you might have a good answer to this! :D

I'll pop back to the allotment and cut the leaves off the ones I've got dying on the path and treat the roots as you suggest. It'll be nice to see what kind of drink they make.

Cheers! :D