Dent-de-Lion: Medieval Dandelion Recipes (Buttered Wortes & Joutes)

Dent-de-Lion: The Dandelion in Medieval Cuisine (Buttered Wortes & Joutes)

Dent-de-Lion: The Dandelion in Medieval Cuisine

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Originally published May 22, 2015 | Updated June 5, 2026

Updated 6/5/2026: This post has been expanded to current Give It Forth standards with additional historical context, medieval herb use, Harleian MS. 279 interpretation, foraging safety notes, humoral discussion, feast applications, FAQ, and structured recipe data.

Family: Asteraceae
Usage: Culinary, Medicinal
Common names: Dandelion, dent-de-lion, lion’s tooth, blowball, cankerwort, priest’s crown, wild endive

What is dent-de-lion? Dent-de-lion, “lion’s tooth,” is an old French name for the dandelion, referring to the toothed shape of its leaves. In medieval and early modern foodways, dandelion was valued as both a bitter spring green and a useful medicinal herb.

Before dandelions became lawn enemies, they were supper.

Medieval cooks gathered a far wider variety of greens than most of us eat today, and among them was the humble dandelion, known in French as dent-de-lion, or “lion’s tooth,” for the jagged shape of its leaves. Long before people cursed them in tidy lawns, dandelions were gathered deliberately for the kitchen, the physic garden, and the stillroom.

Whether called blowball, lion’s tooth, cankerwort, priest’s crown, or wild endive, the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) appears in culinary and medicinal traditions stretching through Arabic, Greek, Welsh, French, and later English sources. Europeans intentionally carried dandelions to North America, likely as early as the colonial period, for use as a potherb, medicinal plant, and valuable forage for bees.

In medieval cookery, bitter greens mattered. After long winters and preserved foods, spring herbs and fresh leaves brought color, nourishment, and welcome sharpness back to the table. Dandelions, with their pleasantly bitter leaves and edible flowers, fit naturally into pottages, salads, herb mixtures, and cooked greens.

Dandelion as Food and Medicine

The boundary between food and medicine was not always firm in medieval and early modern households. A useful plant might appear as a salad herb, a boiled green, a tonic, a cooling preparation, or part of a compound medicine. Dandelion belongs in that overlap. Its leaves are edible, its flowers are useful, and its roots appear repeatedly in medicinal traditions.

Historical texts show the dandelion’s importance across several centuries:

• 1562 – Bullein’s Bulwarke: Dandelions mixed with roses and vinegar were described as cooling and useful against excess heat.
• 1587 – The Good Husvvifes Iewell: Dandelion roots appear in a preparation for tissick, or lung complaints.
• 1629 – Parkinson’s Paradisi in Sole: Dandelion is noted among plants used in compound medicines, especially those concerned with cleansing and liver complaints.

That medical reputation helps explain why the plant remained useful. Bitter herbs were valued not only for flavor, but also for what they were believed to do in the body. Dandelion’s bitterness made it part of the wider world of spring greens, cleansing herbs, and plants used to restore balance after winter’s heavier foods.

⚖️ Humoral note: Later medieval and early modern herbals often understood bitter greens through the language of cooling, cleansing, and correcting excess heat or heaviness. Dandelion’s sharp, bitter leaves fit comfortably into this logic, especially as a spring green eaten after the preserved and salted foods of winter.

Medieval Greens at the Table

Medieval people ate a much wider range of greens than many modern households. The word “wortes” could refer broadly to edible herbs, greens, and vegetable matter cooked together. A medieval cook did not need a single fixed mixture. The recipe depended on the season, garden, market, and what could be gathered.

Dandelion leaves are especially plausible in this world of flexible greens. Young leaves are tender and less bitter. Older leaves are stronger and better suited to cooking. Like sorrel, nettles, beet greens, cabbage leaves, leeks, parsley, and other potherbs, dandelion could be used where a recipe called for “good herbs” rather than a fixed list.

This matters because medieval recipes often assume a cook who already understands the kitchen. They do not always specify every plant, measurement, or timing. Instead, they offer a method: gather good greens, boil them, season them, enrich them, and serve them with bread.

Buttered Wortes from Harleian MS. 279

One of the best places to see this flexible medieval approach is Buttered Wortes from Harleian MS. 279, a fifteenth-century English cookery manuscript.

Original Recipe:
“Take al maner of good herbes that thou may gete... putte hem on fire with faire water; put þer-to clarefied buttur a grete quantite. Whan thei ben boyled ynogh, salt hem... Dise brede small in disshes, and powr on the wortes, and serue hem forth.”

The phrase “all manner of good herbs that thou may get” is the heart of the recipe. It gives the cook permission, and perhaps an expectation, to use what is available. Dandelion does not need to be named specifically to fit the dish. It belongs to the same family of edible, seasonal greens a medieval cook might gather, especially in spring.

The method is simple but effective. Greens are boiled in clean water, enriched with clarified butter, salted, and served with diced bread. The bread matters. It turns a pot of greens into a filling dish, catching the buttery cooking liquid and making the pottage more substantial.

🌿 Medieval kitchen note: Buttered Wortes is not a single-vegetable recipe. It is a method for seasonal greens. Dandelion can be one part of the mixture rather than the entire dish.

Interpreted Recipe: Buttered Wortes with Dandelion

Serves 8 as a side dish or pottage course.

Ingredients

• 8 cups assorted greens, including young dandelion leaves, spinach, beet greens, kale, chard, cabbage leaves, nettles, parsley, or other edible herbs
• Several sprigs fresh herbs, such as parsley, thyme, mint, or savory
• 2 tablespoons clarified butter
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 2 thick slices bread, cubed

Instructions

1. Wash the greens very well, especially if using foraged dandelion leaves.
2. Bring a pot of clean water to a boil.
3. Add the greens and herbs and boil for 5 to 10 minutes, until tender.
4. Drain the greens and press out excess water.
5. Chop the greens finely.
6. Return the greens to the pot with clarified butter and salt.
7. Heat gently until the butter is melted through the greens.
8. Place cubed bread in serving dishes and spoon the buttered greens over the bread, or stir the bread into the greens shortly before serving.

Feast note: For a large feast, this dish can be prepared with a mixture of mild and bitter greens. Use dandelion as an accent unless your diners enjoy strongly bitter greens. Spinach, chard, cabbage, or beet greens help soften the flavor.

Joutes – Braised Spring Greens with Bacon

Joutes are another medieval preparation of greens, often cooked with meat, broth, or fat for richness. Where Buttered Wortes leans on butter and bread, Joutes can lean on bacon, salt pork, or other flavorful meat to season the greens. This makes them especially useful for spring greens that carry bitterness, including dandelion.

Bacon and bitter greens are natural companions. The salt and fat soften the sharp edge of the leaves, while the greens keep the dish from becoming too heavy. This is the same practical table logic that makes modern cooks pair bitter greens with ham, bacon, smoked meat, vinegar, or strong seasoning.

Because this post is focused on dandelion as an ingredient, I am keeping Joutes here as a companion preparation. Later, it deserves its own full post with manuscript text, translation, and a deeper redaction. For now, it shows another way medieval cooks could turn seasonal greens into something substantial and satisfying.

Simple Joutes-Style Greens with Bacon

Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.

• 8 cups mixed greens, including dandelion leaves if desired
• 4 ounces bacon or salt pork, chopped
• 1 small onion or leek, chopped
• 1/2 cup broth or water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: splash of vinegar

1. Wash and chop the greens.
2. Cook the bacon or salt pork in a pot until the fat renders.
3. Add onion or leek and cook until softened.
4. Add greens and broth or water.
5. Cover and cook gently until the greens are tender.
6. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and a small splash of vinegar if desired.

Foraging and Kitchen Safety

Dandelions are edible, but they must be gathered carefully. Never harvest from lawns treated with herbicides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers. Avoid roadsides, public parks with unknown spray history, dog-walking areas, and places exposed to runoff.

The best leaves for eating are young spring leaves gathered before the flowers fully mature. They are tender and less bitter. Older leaves are still edible, but stronger. Cooking helps tame the bitterness, especially when paired with fat, salt, vinegar, bread, or mild greens.

⚠️ Harvest reminder: Always harvest dandelions from clean, untreated areas. Confirm plant identification before eating any wild plant.

Serving Suggestions

• Serve Buttered Wortes as a vegetable course with bread, roasted meats, or pottages.
• Use dandelion as one green in a mixture rather than the only green for a milder dish.
• Pair bitter greens with butter, bacon, vinegar, or broth to balance their flavor.
• For feast service, chop greens finely so they are easier to portion.
• Serve with coarse bread to catch the buttery juices.

Dietary Notes

• Vegetarian: Buttered Wortes is vegetarian if made with butter and vegetable-friendly bread.
• Vegan: Use olive oil instead of clarified butter.
• Dairy-Free: Use olive oil or another dairy-free fat instead of butter.
• Gluten-Free: Omit the bread or use gluten-free bread.
• Meat-Free: Buttered Wortes is meat-free; Joutes with bacon is not.
• Foraging: Only use clean, correctly identified dandelions from untreated areas.

Dandelion in Medieval Cuisine – FAQ

Can you really eat dandelions?

Yes. Dandelion leaves, flowers, and roots are edible when harvested from clean, untreated areas. Young leaves are best for salads and cooked greens because they are less bitter.

Were dandelions eaten in the Middle Ages?

Dandelions appear in medieval and early modern medicinal and herbal traditions, and their leaves fit well within the broad category of edible spring greens and potherbs. They are historically plausible in mixed greens dishes such as Buttered Wortes.

What does dent-de-lion mean?

Dent-de-lion means “lion’s tooth” in French. The name refers to the jagged, tooth-like shape of the plant’s leaves.

Are dandelion greens bitter?

Yes, especially older leaves. Young spring leaves are milder. Cooking, butter, bacon, vinegar, salt, and mixing dandelion with milder greens can all soften the bitterness.

What greens can I use in Buttered Wortes?

Use a mixture of edible greens such as dandelion, spinach, chard, beet greens, kale, cabbage leaves, parsley, nettles, or other safe potherbs. The medieval recipe calls for “all manner of good herbs” available to the cook.

References & Resources

• Austin, Thomas, ed. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 (ab. 1430).
• Beard, James. “Dandelions Left Home to Make Good.” Los Angeles Times, 1981.
• Bullein, William. Bulleins Bulwarke, 1562.
• The Good Husvvifes Iewell, 1587.
• Parkinson, John. Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, 1629.
• Rubel, William. “The History of the Garden Dandelion.” williamrubel.com, 2015.
• Ombrello, Thomas. “Dandelion.” Plant of the Week, Union County College Biology Department.

AI Assistance Disclosure: Historical formatting, structure, SEO support, and recipe organization were revised with the help of AI tools. Historical interpretation, final editorial choices, and practical redaction remain curated by the author of Give It Forth.