Dandelion

Dandelion, originally uploaded by susanvg.

It's interesting how we view certain plants. This dandelion is in my garden (not for much longer). Here we view them as weeds, but Italians like to harvest the young leaves and eat them in a salad. You can find dandelion greens for sale in some grocery stores. I was at a restaurant where they were not only offering fiddleheads (lightly sautéd they are a bit crunchy and taste fresh and springy - it's hard to describe taste), but also ramps. I looked up ramps - wild garlic. There was a site from Tennessee which described ways to eliminate them. They were viewed as weeds (though another site talked about a ramp festival there). Here they were sold as a delicacy. In Quebec they can only be harvested in small quantities for personal use, but may not be picked in provincial parks.