The First Year We Came To This Country, I Met With An Account Of
Dandelion Coffee, Published In The New York Albion, Given By A Dr.
Harrison, Of Edinburgh, Who Earnestly Recommended It As An Article
Of General Use.
"It possesses," he says, "all the fine flavour and exhilarating
properties of coffee, without any of its deleterious effects.
The
plant being of a soporific nature, the coffee made from it when
drank at night produces a tendency to sleep, instead of exciting
wakefulness, and may be safely used as a cheap and wholesome
substitute for the Arabian berry, being equal in substance and
flavour to the best Mocha coffee."
I was much struck with this paragraph at the time, and for several
years felt a great inclination to try the Doctor's coffee; but
something or other always came in the way, and it was put off till
another opportunity. During the fall of '35, I was assisting my
husband in taking up a crop of potatoes in the field, and observing
a vast number of fine dandelion roots among the potatoes, it brought
the dandelion coffee back to my memory, and I determined to try some
for our supper. Without saying anything to my husband, I threw aside
some of the roots, and when we left work, collecting a sufficient
quantity for the experiment, I carefully washed the roots quite
clean, without depriving them of the fine brown skin which covers
them, and which contains the aromatic flavour, which so nearly
resembles coffee that it is difficult to distinguish it from it
while roasting.
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