[Sca-cooks] Cat-tails (was meat "substitutes"- Rant)

[david friedman]

>  >Phlip, who just found an entire pond full of cattails....
>So... in a meek attempt to drag this thread kicking and screaming back
>on topic...
>
>Are there Medieval recipies for cattails (of the pond growing,
>vegitative type, not the furry, under foot, animalistic type  although
>our 7 would provide a good supply for the latter type. :)
>
>I've not had them, but hear they are edible....  I assume it's either
>the leaves, or the seed pods before they turn to fluffy seeds...

five parts of the plant are said to be edible.

The roots. I've tried them. They are basically a bundle of inedible
fibers in a starchy substance. You boil them, eat the starchy part,
leave the fibers.

The root nodules. They are supposed to be cookable like tiny
potatoes; I'm not sure I ever tried.

The inside stems. You can eat them raw as a green vegetable--like
nibbling the core of grass stems but on a larger scale.

The stalks with buds on them. I think you are supposed to boil them,
but haven't tried.

The pollen. It looks like a yellow flour, and getting much of it is a
lot of trouble.
--
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/