首页分享【Original in Practice】Dandelion planting, preservation and processing

【Original in Practice】Dandelion planting, preservation and processing

来源：花匠小妙招时间：2025-07-25 18:17

1. Overview of dandelions

Dandelion belongs to the perennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family, also known as mother-in-law, yellow flower diding, huahualang, etc. Its main characteristics are plant height 10~25 cm, leaf juice milky white, deep roots, root epidermis yellowish-brown, wild dandelion is distributed in many provinces in China, a kind of multi-harvest, production management is easy to operate, economic benefits are good, ground temperature 1~2 °C can germinate, reach 15 °C can grow, germination above 30 °C is slow, the optimal growth temperature is 20~22 °C. At the same time, it has strong stress resistance and wide adaptability, and can be artificially planted in most areas of our country.

There are many varieties of dandelion, reaching more than 2,000 species worldwide, and more than 100 species have been recorded in our country. The appearance quality and functional activity of spring dandelion are also significantly better than those of autumn dandelion, so dandelion has certain difficulties in variety classification. In the selection of varieties, the selection of vegetable, tea and medicinal dandelion varieties is very important, for example, the dandelion varieties crawling on the ground are not suitable for tea, because there are more impurities after making tea with such dandelions; This type of dandelion is very cumbersome and complicated when washing vegetables, but it is more suitable for tea making; The plant grows upright, the leaves are large and the notches are small, and the unit yield is relatively high. In the process of screening varieties, attention should be paid to the content detection of iconic key or forming components such as total flavonoids and chlorogenic acid to meet the requirements of improving the quality of raw materials.

2. Key points of dandelion planting

The application of 500 kg of organic fertilizer per mu or 50~60 kg of humic acid per mu can significantly increase the yield per mu, and the light intensity and cumulative light time have a significant positive correlation with its quality. Plant height, stem thickness, number of leaves, leaf length and width, and dry and fresh weight on the ground are often used as assessment indicators of cultivation status. The out-of-season facility cultivation technology of vegetable dandelion, that is, solar greenhouse dandelion (planted after spring crop harvest), has been very mature, facility construction, soil preparation, seed collection and adjustment, sowing, facility management, soil management, pest control, harvesting, etc. have formed perfect technical standards, and the price of dandelion on the market in winter and early spring can reach 40 yuan/kg. This kind of out-of-season cultivation technology can significantly improve the utilization rate and comprehensive economic benefits of equipment of dandelion tea factories and other processing enterprises. Since dandelion sowing makes the density very large, its germination rate is often decisive for the total yield, so the use of precise vernalization and dark treatment at 15°C can significantly improve the germination rate of dandelion. Although dandelion can tolerate drought, its growth rate is significantly slowed down if there is insufficient water, and the use of watering feedback control based on soil moisture measurement can promote dandelion yield increase and water saving. In terms of manual input, the picking link has a large manpower investment and low picking efficiency, which is called the most troublesome problem for dandelion production enterprises, so it is recommended to use simple auxiliary machinery to improve labor efficiency. At present, researchers have screened a series of saline-alkali tolerant varieties, so that dandelions can adapt to low-cost saline-alkali or semi-saline-alkali land, thereby improving profits, which is also a direction for future development, and it is recommended that capable enterprises practice and explore in this regard.

3. Preservation of dandelions

Dandelion deteriorates rapidly after being soaked, and no preservation measures are taken, and the freshness of dandelion is 6 hours to 48 hours. In this case, it is difficult to achieve scale benefits for vegetable dandelions, because a large amount of costs are consumed in rapid sorting, bundling, packaging, circulation and sales. According to the author's statistics, the current loss rate of vegetable dandelions has reached 50%, which is very amazing, which means that farmers are sweating hard and working hard, and half of their labor is useless. On the other hand, tea processing must be carried out immediately after dandelion picking, because improper storage will lead to the deterioration of dandelion flavor and serious decline in the sensory quality of finished tea. Thirdly, active ingredients such as flavonoids were significantly reduced after 48h of storage.

Therefore, whether from the perspective of vegetable, tea or medicinal use, dandelion urgently needs reasonable preservation technology.

The biggest problem after dandelion picking is water loss and freshness, followed by yellowing, and then browning and rotting. In response to the above problems, our preservation suggestions are the precise use of a series of technologies such as ice temperature and cold shock, cold storage or cold chain transportation, cold chain + modified atmosphere packaging (or perforated packaging) + moisture-absorbing paper storage after picking. This series of technologies can control costs and is suitable for the dandelion supply chain in the off-season and spring. However, for dandelions with low prices in the middle and late stages, the investment is still too large, so it is recommended that only ice temperature cold shock treatment + perforated packaging can be marketed in the middle and late stages, which can still extend the circulation time from 6 hours to 48 hours to more than 96 hours.

4. Functional activity of dandelion

In traditional Chinese medicine, dandelion was first seen in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", which is "sweet, flat, and non-toxic", and is used to treat breast carbuncle redness and swelling, and boil poison. The whole dandelion plant can be used as medicine, bitter taste, sweet, cold in nature, has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling and dispersing knots, diuresis, anti-inflammatory and strengthening the stomach. Through the analysis of HPLC and other functional component separation techniques, the functional components of dandelion are complex and diverse, including rutin, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin, terpenes, glycosides, polysaccharides, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, chicory acid and monocaffeoyl tartaric acid.

In terms of internal medicine, dandelion was used earlier to treat gastritis and gastric ulcers, and dandelion tablets are widely used in clinical practice, providing high-standard raw materials for such pharmaceutical companies Dandelion is a good development direction. Dandelion has been studied in anti-tumor terms, but it has not yet been applied to clinical treatment. Oral medicine with dandelion, white chrysanthemum, and psyllium can prevent and treat acute conjunctivitis. In terms of topical medicine, dandelion extract ointment has antiviral, anti-inflammatory and other effects. Its production process is simple, and the raw materials are not complicated, mainly including liquid paraffin, white petroleum jelly, lanolin and dandelion extract. In addition, raw materials such as dandelion and Tieguanyin tea are used to make medicine bags for sitz baths or foot baths, which can play a role in treating heat poisoning, abscesses, dampness and heat, urinary astringency and pain, and have the effect of auxiliary treatment of skin diseases. Many explorations have also been made in veterinary medicine, such as adding dandelion to the feed of dairy goats to make medicinal feed, which can inhibit goat mammary infection with streptococcus, staphylococcus, pyogenes, Escherichia coli, etc., reduce goat diseases, and improve the quality of goat milk.

5. Dandelion and food processing

The description of dandelion in the Qing Dynasty Wang Mengying's "Suixiju Diet Recipe" is that "tender can be a vegetable, and old can be used as medicine", and the above-ground stems and leaves of dandelion can be eaten raw, cold, fried, etc., which belongs to the Chinese herbal medicine of the same relationship as medicine and food. As a fresh vegetable food, young dandelion leaves are rich in nutrients, containing protein, carbohydrates, various vitamins, a variety of amino acids, and a large amount of calcium, iron and other mineral elements. In recent years, food processing technology based on dandelion has developed rapidly, and many parts of the country have developed a series of processed foods based on the flavor and functionality of dandelion.

There are some technological developments in pastries and dairy products, but many consumers cannot accept this taste sensation because dandelion raw materials have a bitter taste, and the stability of bitterness and batch differences are significant. Therefore, the commercialization of this type of food is slow. Flour and dandelion powder are used as the main raw materials to make noodles, steamed buns, etc., which have health care functions and are loved by elderly consumers. Light green chiffon cake is made with low-gluten flour, dandelion powder, eggs, sugar, salad oil, milk, baking powder, tartar powder, etc., which has a unique dandelion aroma. With flour, condensed milk, milk, butter, sugar, and dandelion powder as the main raw materials, it can be processed into dandelion biscuits, which are pale green in color, stable in appearance, and have the fragrance of dandelion powder. Dandelion solidified yogurt is made from dandelion juice, sucrose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, etc., which has a unique flavor and rich nutrition.

In terms of beverage development, there are many domestic explorations. Yiling Pharmaceutical has developed a compound drink based on honeysuckle, dandelion and chrysanthemum, which has the function of clearing heat and detoxifying. With the help of the special flavor and functionality of dandelion polysaccharides, barley tea flavored dandelion health drink has been developed, the soup color is brown orange, transparent and bright, fragrant and sweet, rich in barley tea-like flavor. The main raw materials include dandelion root, white sugar, citric acid, stabilizers, etc., and the process is not complicated. Using dandelion and pear as the main raw materials, the development of dandelion Sydney compound health drink has a unique flavor and rich nutrition. Its main ingredients include dandelion extract, enzymatic hydrolysis of pear juice, rock sugar, malic acid and honey. Dandelion, green tea, and white fungus are used as raw materials, supplemented by flavorings such as rock sugar and citric acid, to develop dandelion white fungus tea drinks. The color of the product is pale yellow, with the natural fragrance of dandelion and green tea, the entrance is cool and refreshing, and the gentle and delicate feeling brought by the white fungus extract, and there is a slight grass fragrance between the lips and teeth after drinking. A coffee-like tea bag has been developed using roasted dandelion root, bitter buckwheat, and cassia as raw materials, and has a very pleasant taste. The dandelion-apple compound functional drink developed with dandelion and apple as raw materials, sugar and citric acid as auxiliary ingredients is sweet and sour, bright and shiny, with strong fruity aroma and dandelion aroma.

6. Application of dandelion in other fields

Green gum dandelion can secrete natural rubber, very good cold resistance, native to the former Soviet Union, also known asRussian dandelion。 Raw rubber is concentrated in the milk of the roots, accounting for about 8%~10% of the milk, and the output is considerable, with an industrial output base. The earliest commercial application of dandelion rubber began in 2007, when Cooper and Pulis carried out the first trial project of dandelion rubber extraction in Ohio, USA. In China, Shandong Linglong Tire began developing dandelion rubber in 2012 in cooperation with Beijing University of Chemical Technology, marking the beginning of this technology. In 2015, the "Dandelion Rubber Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance" was established. In the long run, dandelion for rubber has great market prospects.