Tea at Trianon: Dandelions

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Dandelions

From Southern Living:

If the sight of bright yellow dandelions dotting your otherwise perfect lawn drives you batty, blame it on the Pilgrims. It was they who reportedly brought the plant to America from its homeland in northern Europe in the 1600s. What else would you expect from guys wearing belt buckles on their hats? Of course, the Pilgrims had good reason for doing so. The common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is among the nutritious and useful of herbs, with a long history of culinary and medicinal use. Its leaves, whether boiled or eaten fresh (yum!), are high in potassium, calcium, iron, and Vitamins A, C, B1, and B12. The dried and roasted roots make an acceptable coffee substitute for people who don’t like coffee, and the fermented flowers produce dandelion wine and beer. Dandelion tonics are a folk medicine remedy for liver problems. The Old Farmer’s Almanac says they also act as a powerful diuretic — just the thing you want to imbibe before a trans-Atlantic flight. Beekeepers value dandelions as a rich source of pollen and nectar.

This deep-rooted perennial forms a rosette of sharply toothed leaves 6-12 inches long. Their fancied resemblance to a lion’s teeth gives the plant its common name — “dandelion,” a corruption of the French dent de lion (“lion’s tooth”). Blossoms appear from late winter through fall, carried atop hollow stems 4-15 inches high. They’re followed by the familiar puffball seed heads that children like to blow on, releasing seeds to fly hither and yon.

Dandelions are mortal enemies of lawn lovers, who mercilessly execute them with broadleaf weed killers, despite the fact that the flowers are quite pretty. But more and more health-seeking folks grow the culinary types (selected for larger, thicker leaves) found in specialty seed catalogs. Culinary selections such as ‘Pissenlit’ (I told you they were diuretic), ‘Catalogna,’ and ‘Ameliore’ give the best yields and enjoy full sun and fertile, well-drained soil. Pick only young leaves before flowers appear; old leaves, like old girlfriends, can be bitter. (Read more.)