Eating Dandelions

On Wednesday I went to my friend's house for dinner where her mom cooked dumplings/wantons filled with pork and dandelions. I don't think I had ever eaten dandelions before, I didn't even know they were edible. Dandelions, called huang-hua-tii-ting in Chinese, are one of the "six most important herbs in Chinese medicine." They tasted a little bitter, but after awhile I enjoyed them a lot. My friend didn't tell me what I was eating at first, and for good reason, because thinking about the lawn weed and eating them at the same time spoils the flavor. Other regions around the world eat dandelions, even the early American colonists ate dandelions, but I'm not sure if that had something to do with lack of other foods or not.