Taraxacum officinale and is derived from the word "opificina", later "officina", meaning a workshop or pharmacy. The flowers are used to make dandelion wine, the greens are used in salads, the roots have been used to make a coffee substitute (when baked and ground into powder) and the plant was used by Native Americans as a food and medicine. Dandelions are harvested from the wild or grown on a small scale as a leaf vegetable. The leaves (called dandelion greens) can be eaten cooked or raw in various forms, such as in soup or salad. They are probably closest in character to
Roots wine Roots wine Roots wine more commonly known as "roots drink" or "herbal drink" is a type of medicinal beverage popular in Jamaica. It is believed to have healthful and aphrodisiacal qualities for men. Roots wine is made from a variety of herbs and roots, often blended with honey or molasses. It is naturally fermented and slightly effervescent, typically containing less than 5% alcohol. Typical ingredients could include: water<br> brown sugar<br> molasses<br> chainy root ("Smilax balbisiana")<br> sarsaparilla ("Smilax regilii")<br> tan pan rock ("Dryopteris filix-mas") search mi heart ("Rhytidophyllum tomentosum")<br> dandelion ("Cassia occidentalis")<br> blood wiss ("Vitis tiliifolia")<br> raw moon ("Trophis racemosa")<br> medina