Dandelion Coffee Part Deux

Time for part two!
But first, I forgot to mention in part one a general rule about dandelions (or any weeds, really): 
NEVER use dandelions from anywhere that might have been sprayed with pesticides! Only use dandelions from your own property where you know what is being sprayed or done to the plants you're ingesting.
Safe eating!

Anyways, back to the recipe.
So where I left off I had the roots washed and cut up and ready to go.
I put the roots in a food processor to chop 'em up quickly and easily.

 
It only takes a few seconds 'till they're like this:

 

After they were all ground up, I spread them onto a cookie sheet in a very thin layer so they'd dry evenly.

So much brown!

For the roasting part:
I preheated the oven to 250° F and put the baking pan in for around 2 hours. Mine took a little less than that, and you should stir them up a bit, so they dry evenly and don't burn.

I actually forgot about them while on a walk with a friend, and had to race home terrified of finding them completely burnt.
I am extremely lucky that when I got back they were fine, and actually perfectly roasted and ready to come out of the oven. (This recipe also says to keep the oven door open while roasting to release the moisture, but I had no problem keeping it closed since it's so hot.) 


I scraped it all off the tin foil, and poured them into a mason jar ( I'm trying to find ways to use them I have tons) to keep it all fresh.

Oh, I forgot! you're supposed to brew it like tea. I put a tbsp in hot water and I'm letting it brew, then straining the grounds out.
These grinding and cooking directions were incredibly helpful.
Now I just have to brew some and taste it to see if the whole endeavor was worth it.

Update:
Brewed and tasted! Now that I've seen the final product I feel like I should be calling this post "Dandelion Tea" not coffee, I don't really see the resemblance between the two in taste or in colour. But I do love the taste! It needs a tiny bit of honey or sugar, but I love it.

The final product:

The left one is from a coffeemaker, the right brewed like tea. I noticed the brewed one was darker, but also more bitter.

I think tomorrow I'm going to add some cinnamon while brewing it. The second time I made it in my coffeemaker and it's easier and less bitter than brewing it like tea.
I'm super glad it was worth all the work in the end.

Dandelion Coffee Part One

So in my last post I mentioned a link on how to make dandelion root coffee.
I decided to make it my next project!
Little did I know how much work and mud would be involved.

Lots.

Anyways, I found big groups of small dandelion leaves and thought if I just pulled them up strongly, the small root would pop up, and yay! easy roots!
I was wrong.

Dandelion roots get pretty fat at the end of summer, and were a whole lot harder to get out of the ground (let alone whole) than I thought they would be.
I found the easiest way is to hold all of the leaves in your hand straight above the root, and slowly and gently make a clockwise motion while twisting to loosen the root.

You're going to need a trowel or some sort of small gardening shovel to sink into the dirt around the root, and try to pull it up. Don't try to just pull the leaves hard, the root won't come up, the leaves will just break off at the stem and you'll have a harder time getting the root out without  anything to hold onto.
One you've dug down a bit, hold onto the root, and slowly and gently try to twist it and pull it up. if the soil's not too compacted and wet, the root should come up unbroken.

Now that you have your roots of all strange sizes and shapes, fill a bucket/ big bowl (there will be lots of dirt so don't use anything you don't want to get dirty) water and throw your roots inside.

Pull off leaves before soaking, I just had to put them somewhere.

 Agitate them with your hands a few times, and wait until the water is full of dirt. repeat process. it's all right if they don't look fully clean yet.

I am realizing how many steps there are while writing this, let's hope the final product is tasty!

Now, cut them into chunks, and wash again until the water is clear of dirt.

End of first two steps (pulling them up and washing)! Phew.
Only grinding them in a food processor and roasting is left.
I warn you, if you only have a few roots I'm not sure this whole process is worth it for such a small amount of coffee. I'm actually going to pick a few more and let them soak (the first picture is the larger amount).

Part deux coming soon!