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

[UlfR]

* david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com> [20020103 16:57]:
> >Are there Medieval recipies for cattails (of the pond growing,

None that I am aware of.

> 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.

Alternatively you extract the starch by pounding in water, allow to
settle and separate. And they are rhizomes, not roots.

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

Tastes great. Assuming you are talking about the small shoots that sit
on the rhizomes.

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

A bit like celery, but not, is how I like to describe them. A great
snack.

> The pollen. It looks like a yellow flour, and getting much of it is a
> lot of trouble.

Requires pretty exact timing. I've never managed, but I have tasted
cakes -- made with half pollen and half regular flour -- made by friends
with better timing.

/UlfR

--
UlfR                                                 parlei at algonet.se
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