What do you see when you look at a lawn stippled with the vivid yellow flowers of dandelions? A suburban scourge and weeding chore, or a mouthwatering buffet with several courses and drinks? They may be viewed as invasive weeds, but dandelions are also respected vegetables and a traditional spring tonic.

All parts of these leafy greens are edible: early spring’s dandelion crowns and hearts are crisp and juicy, like endive; the youngest dandelion leaves are tender and mild; more mature and bitter leaves respond well to blanching and cooking; those bright flowers can be cooked or fermented (dandelion wine, anyone?); and their tall, hollow stems also have compelling culinary use (before or after the airy parachutes of seedy silk have wafted away).

In vegetable terms, dandelions are exceptional nose-to-tail eating, and every edible part has both time-tested and unique ways of preparation. Ahead, learn how to eat dandelions—roots, flowers, and all.

The Roots

Dandelions are perennials (Taraxacum officinale) and develop a meaty taproot laced with pro-biotic inulin as they grow.

As a vegetable: In young, year-old dandelions, the slender, tender root makes a good parsnip-like vegetable. But make sure you don’t use older dandelion roots this way. Midwestern forager, prolific author, and wild foods expert Samuel Thayer describes older roots as “distinctly inferior” when it comes to eating.

Dandelion coffee: Thayer uses older, more fibrous, chunky dandelion roots to create his beverage of choice—dandelion coffee. It is available commercially, but he makes his own. “This caffeine-free drink is considered a super-healthy habit,” he says, “but I drink it only because I like it. In fact, I prefer it over coffee.” He says the roots can harvested in autumn or early spring when the flavor is best. They should be washed, air-dried for a couple of weeks, and only then roasted in a low oven until brown before being ground and brewed like coffee in a percolator (Thayer’s preferred method) or a French press. In his book Nature’s Garden, Thayer includes complete instructions for making dandelion—and chicory—coffee.

The Crown and Heart

In spring, before a dandelion’s leaves grow and mature, they form a basal rosette, a circle of leaves almost flush with the ground. Sometimes, their developing buds can be seen at the center in an embryonic stage of the flower. If you have a sharp pocket knife, hori, or garden trowel, lifting that entire crown and cutting it just above the root achieves two things. It removes a weed from your lawn (if you still view delicious dandelion as a weed!) and provides you with one of the best ephemeral delicacies of the vegetable world: fresh dandelion crown.

How to prep a dandelion crown: After a thorough soak and wash (and scrubbing in the nooks with a toothbrush), trim off the older leaf stalks to leave only the pale and tender leaves and heart. This crisp treat is now ready to be eaten raw or cooked.

How to use dandelion crowns: You can wilt them in a hot pan and add dandelion crowns to your favorite pad thai, noodle bowl, or soup recipe, stir them into eggs, toss them with bacon in a warm salad, or dress simply—with olive oil and lemon, or shoyu and a drop of toasted sesame oil. If you have enough, you could also drop them into a tempura batter and fry them for a celebratory spring lunch.

The Leaves

Dandelion leaves have a bitter reputation, although, in many cultures, that is precisely why they are valued. The green leaves are crammed with calcium and Vitamins A and K—all vital and welcome nutrients after winter’s relative deprivation, says Liz Knight, an English forager, educator, and cookbook author.

How Dandelion Greens Are Used Around the World

Dandelions have been eaten and valued as a functional food for millennia. They are a valued seasonal food in parts of the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Middle East, where the cooked leaves are the traditional pie fillings for a host of cuisines, from phyllo pastry triangles of Turkey and Greece to unleavened hand pies of Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine (to name a few). Hindbeh is the Arabic-transliterated word for dandelions and is also the name of a dish of cooked dandelion leaves topped with caramelized onions that is a staple of spring. Meanwhile, the classic dandelion soup, crème de pissenlit, has been gracing French tables for centuries.

How to eat raw leaves: Eat dandelion greens fresh in a salad. Salade Lyonnaise is a traditional French dish in which the bitterness of the greens is offset by warm bacon, crisp croutons, and a sharp vinaigrette incorporating the bacon pan’s drippings.

How to eat cooked leaves: When cooked, dandelion greens make a healthy side dish, simply dressed with olive oil and lemon or deployed any way you would use Swiss chard. We also like them in this pasta with sardines.

The Bitterness

When gathering your own dandelion leaves, be aware that the youngest leaves, as well as leaves growing in the protection of shade, will taste the mildest. As they mature and become more substantial, their bitterness increases. Wild plants expert and author John Kallas explains, “After spring, the sun is a double-edged sword because it is a potent dryer of the available soil moisture. The drying out stresses the leaves during the day and is the source of the plant’s bitterness.”

If your leaves are store-bought, their range of bitterness can be wide, depending on their growing conditions.

The Flowers

At the height of spring, dandelion flowers bloom atop their sappy, hollow stem. The vivid flowers are a surprisingly effective vegetable.

• Pull off their petals and add them to the savory egg yolk fillings for quiches and small tarts.
• They are beautiful strewn across salads as well as onto open-face sandwiches.
• Fritters: The whole flowers can be blanched for a minute, refreshed in cold water, and dried (by rolling up in a towel) before being dipped in batter and fried, like savory spring beignets.
• Sauté the blanched flowers and enjoy them as a vegetable side dish.
• Dandelion flowers can also be fermented (with the addition of sugar and water) to make a wild, naturally effervescent soda or cordial or—after a longer ferment—dandelion wine.

The Stems

Dandelion stems make an excellent substitute for hard-to-find—and expensive—puntarelle, a chicory relative. While the stems can be harvested at any time, it’s easiest when they are very tall. To collect them, cut the stems near the base.

Preparing the stems: Snap off the downy seed heads and soak the stems in a bowl of cool water for at least an hour. This rehydrates them, of course, but also encourages the long, hollow stems to curl so that you are left with a crisp tangle.

How to eat dandelion stems: All you need to do once they are cleaned and rehydrated is toss them in a sharp vinaigrette, heavy on the lemon, and with some micro-planed lemon zest, too. As with puntarelle, the addition of garlic and mashed anchovy fillets is never a bad idea.