The weather has warmed up, the sun is out, and it's clear that Spring is here to stay in Zurich. The first hints started popping up a few weeks ago in the form of cheerful little purple and yellow flowers in almost every patch of grass, city-wide; it looked like the Flower Fairy had come around and sprinkled seeds everywhere. (I haven't entirely ruled out the possibility that Zurich does in fact have official Seed Sprinkling night workers.)
Every year, I always get excited for the arrival of Spring; it's warm, sunny, and beautiful! Life is great! Yay! But then, every time without fail, I'm reminded why it's actually my least favorite season. One word: bugs. They're everywhere, in the air, on the patio, on your leg, and the worst part? There's no escape. At least not until the weather changes, be it for the hotter or the colder.
Most recently, lots of dandelions have been popping up, and since dandelions are both easy to identify and [allegedly] highly nutritious, I got really excited about the idea of foraging my own. So one day, I collected a handful of dandelion greens and a few blossoms from a nearby field (possibly owned by a local university and/or grazed by cows), washed them enough times to make someone with OCD proud, and cooked them as part of a pasta sauce.
A word of advice: don't do this. If you absolutely must eat dandelion greens, then you should HIGHLY consider blanching them first, as they're very bitter and gross if you don't. Doesn't matter if you sautee them with onions and cheese or anything else, just blanch them first, trust me. My experiment might have deterred me from dandelions.. for the moment. But I'm still trying to learn about edible plants, and I think the next up might be lavender. Stay tuned!
