They are one of the Bitters plants. Just chewing a leaf, the back of the tongue triggers the liver and gall bladder to cleanse. The flowers are high in lecithin. Regular dandelion eating is hugely beneficial.

I LOVE Dandelions - one of my favorites- back when I was a child my Mother and Aunt would pull them from the yard and lightly cook them up with olive oil- they would make LONG HOT PEPPERS and homemade Italian bread - we used to sit there all afternoon eating them .. then they POOF disappeared but now are back!