Regrat: A Traditional Dandelion Salad Recipe

The ubiquitous dandelion is one of the most commonly known plants, yet it goes unappreciated for the nutritional and medicinal powerhouse it truly is. Adding dandelion salad into one’s culinary repertoire not only expands the palate, it also expands our perception of the common weeds among us as ancient herbal allies.

My first trip to Slovenia was when I was six years old. It was just me and my grandmother visiting our relatives for the whole summer. Many of my most vivid childhood memories are from that time. Through the haze of distant recollections, I can easily access the heavy scent of frankincense and paraffin wax of hilltop village chapels and the pungent tang of black currant juice, “sok,” with crisp clarity.

I attribute the lucidity of this trip, in part, to its contrast from my life in America. Even as a child, I remember pondering how consistent elements like air, water, and sun, between two places (suburban Wisconsin and Velenje, Slovenia) could feel so different.

Diving into Ancestral Herbalism

In 2014, I officially began my research on the rich traditional uses of plant medicine of my Slovenian heritage. Before 2020, I was going once a year to visit my family and connect with my colleagues and friends about Slovene herbalism and ethnobotany. My research is a familial and cultural honoring and unearthing. Alongside so much wisdom, I’ve learned traumatic truths, kept hidden out of fear and the need to leave the past behind after generations of war and dictatorship.

When you learn about medicine, you learn about wounds.

My research is the way I catch the thread and reclaim what was almost lost, it is the way I steep in my love of Slovenia and absorb the bounty and beauty of its fertile land and plant-centric culture. And plant-centric it is. As a child I noticed the way my Slovenian family related to their surroundings, especially when they came to visit us in the states. They casually pierced an invisible wall between nature and culture. They touched, ate and made tea from plants that didn’t come from the grocery store, wild plants growing of their own free will, plants that were “dirty” or “dangerous.”

Wild Foods in Slovenia

In Slovenia, the cultivated and the wild are embraced both in the cuisine and in herbal medicine. Slovenian cuisine reflects its varied ecosystem: wild game, wild blueberries, forest chestnuts, mushrooms, and dandelion are some of the ingredients that make the cuisine special, and medicinal.

Regrat Solat: Slovenian Dandelion Salad Recipe

The humble, hated, and treasured dandelion is a food, medicine, and doorway for connection. Learn how to prepare a delicious dandelion salad, and delight in the gifts of fresh dandelion greens.

Ingredients you’ll need…

• Large bowl of young dandelion leaves, picked at about 4–6” long and washed well
• 1–2 cups halved or cubed fresh small potatoes, boiled in salt water
• 1–2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I find the apple cider vinegar in the states to be way more acidic than the homemade, Slovenian ones. To make the flavor more mild, I add a splash of water to my vinegar before using)
• Pumpkin seed oil – a good drizzle pumpkin seed oil is traditional, but you can use, olive oil or hemp oil
• Salt to taste

1. First, it is important to clean your dandelion leaves well.
2. Then, set aside your dandelions and boil your potatoes. Drain the potatoes well.
3. Next, while the potatoes are still hot, mix the dandelion greens and potatoes into a mixing bowl.
4. Toss these greens and potatoes with oil, garlic, and vinegar.
5. Add salt to taste and serve your delicious salad warm.
6. You can store this salad in the fridge for up to one day.

Yield: One large bowl, about 4 servings.

A note on dandelion picking: make sure you are harvesting dandelions in places free of chemicals. A taste for these bitter greens will make a friend of your local farmers if you volunteer to weed their fields!

Dandelion in Slovenian Tradition

Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, regrat in Slovene, is a plant that illuminates a difference in worldview between Slovenia and America.

In early spring, the first solata (salad) green is dandelion. At the open air markets in Ljubljana, heaping piles of dandelion leaves are bright green beacons among the muted colors of potatoes and winter stored roots. These young leaves are picked when they are about a finger length long. At this size, the bitterness of the leaves is mellow, and the texture is supple.

The Benefits of Dandelion

Picking dandelions at the first onset of spring has many functions: firstly, and practically, early spring is when home gardens and farm fields need to be prepped, which requires removing the weeds. Second, after a long winter of heavy, starchy food, the bitter flavor of these spring greens stimulates healthy digestion, promoting digestive bile secretions, igniting metabolism and supporting the liver in its primary detoxification function. In addition, dandelion greens are mineral and vitamin rich, adding a potent (and refreshing) nutritional dimension to the transitional winter diet.

Cultivating Your Relationship with Dandelion

In the states, the emerging shoots of dandelion begin a battle. Dandelion is enemy #1. Dandelion represents disorder, a fight against nature, and the pristine lawn must prevail. Eating dandelion is out of the question, especially after repeated application of RoundUp. Can you picture it? Your neighbor out there with a squirt bottle, directing the stream of weed killer with a gleam in their eye?

The Slovenian and American perspectives on dandelion represent a difference in a foundational relationship with nature. As an herbalist, it is part of my practice to investigate and integrate these two perspectives because the way we relate to the idea of nature has larger implications and impact on our healing, our wellbeing and the wellbeing of our earth. Seeing ourselves as nature, not separate from it, is how we come back to our innate belonging. In a practical sense, by seeing our inextricable interconnection, our skin is in the game.

Herbalism Connects Us to The Land

Herbal medicine is a doorway to the interconnection of our bodies with our landscape, and its practice is approachable and highly enjoyable. Dandelion is also a kind of doorway: this plant’s accessibility provides abundant opportunity to step through that invisible wall, where food and medicine are everywhere.

Longing to Return to Slovenia

I haven’t been back to Slovenia since the pandemic, and it has been excruciating. The Russian invasion of Ukraine coincided with the death of one of my dearest family members, and I was not able to go back for her funeral. Though I am grateful for the technology that allows me to casually call and have hours long conversations with my cousin Mojca (another sharp contrast of the expensive five minute calls of my childhood), since the pandemic, I feel the actual, and very real, distance of Slovenia from my home in California. My hope is to return next year.

Until then, I soothe my longing by preparing and eating the food of Slovenia. Regrat solat, potica, and orehovica have been bridges as well as medicine for a deeper part of my biology. Eating the foods of my lineage has revealed to me the power of phytochemistry to resonate with the ancient food and medicine that made up the bodies of our ancestors, the bodies we are extensions of.

Here are some frequently asked questions about dandelion greens…

Are dandelion greens better raw or cooked? 

This all depends on your taste! My suggestion is to try dandelion greens a few different ways, in a salad, added to a pesto or sauteed with garlic and finished with chevre and see what you prefer.

What does dandelion salad taste like?

Regrat solat, or dandelion salad is bitter, minerally and hearty which is perfectly balanced by the tang of vinegar, pungency of garlic and richness of pumpkin seed oil.

Do you eat the stalks of dandelion greens?

Yes, you can eat the stalks of the dandelion, but the ends of the stalk without leaf can be cut and composted.

How to Learn More About Dandelions

Want to learn more about dandelion? Check out the comprehensive Dandelion Plant Profile on HerbMentor! Plus, there are a lot more delicious dandelion recipes on HerbMentor too. You can try HerbMentor for  just $1 here.