Posted: 10/1/2011 6:09:08 PM EDT
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Supposedly cattails are supposed to be very edible and the base can be eaten in the fall and winter as well.
I tried some the other day from a young plant and it was just spongy and fibrous. not at all like it was depicted on youtube. Is this the way they're supposed to be or did I pick some bad ones? |
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Quoted:
Supposedly cattails are supposed to be very edible and the base can be eaten in the fall and winter as well. I tried some the other day from a young plant and it was just spongy and fibrous. not at all like it was depicted on youtube. Is this the way they're supposed to be or did I pick some bad ones? I once tried the same thing about 20 years ago after reading about cattails. I had the same result, no matter how long I boiled them they were just like chewing on a inch and a half diameter rope. The book I had compared them to mashed potatoes. Haven't tried it since, but would be interested in learning more. |
| my best advice about cattails is to ignore them and instead look around for wild onions. They are often found in areas around water and unlike cattails, wild onions are really tasty. We have a pond by our house that has lots of cattails and wild onions are always growing near the cattails. |
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We had a campout a few years ago. We did an "all natural" meal.
It consisted of Water lily root, Pine needle tea and fried prickly pear (lil cactus). It all tasted horrible but was extremely heathly , especially for a survival situation. If there had been some cattail we surely wouldve tried that too. 
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Supposedly cattails are supposed to be very edible and the base can be eaten in the fall and winter as well. I tried some the other day from a young plant and it was just spongy and fibrous. not at all like it was depicted on youtube. Is this the way they're supposed to be or did I pick some bad ones? I once tried the same thing about 20 years ago after reading about cattails. I had the same result, no matter how long I boiled them they were just like chewing on a inch and a half diameter rope. The book I had compared them to mashed potatoes. Haven't tried it since, but would be interested in learning more. My experience was similar (USAF survival training, in a swamp). We ate the roots only. After boiling, they were tough, bitter, and didn't do much to satisfy hunger. Adding ants and leaves to make a "stew" was no improvement. |
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Quoted: We had a campout a few years ago. We did an "all natural" meal. It consisted of Water lily root, Pine needle tea and fried prickly pear (lil cactus). It all tasted horrible but was extremely heathly , especially for a survival situation. If there had been some cattail we surely wouldve tried that too. sounds as appetizing as eating plaster off a wall |
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My cat seems to like the taste of her tail. Hmmmm. Here kitty kitty.
But seriously, my grandma would cook cat tails in the pressure cooker. And they were pretty good. RIP grandma. 
She also always had a HUGE pot of greens just for me, complete with ham hock. That woman could COOK like Jackie Chan can fight. |
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You have to pull out just the very inner part (bout 1/2" diameter). The dilema is, they're better raw BUT you risk a pathogen if you don't boil them. Flower spike, when it's green, is ok roasted. Roots are ok but nothing special. One thing to remember about wild edibles is: Go out into your garden and pick a green bean or a squash and just eat it. You'll get the picture that not all plants taste very good until properly prepared with salt, pepper, pork fat, etc etc. Fruits tend to be more forgiving, i.e. tomato, berries, pawpaw, etc. Acorns are another example. Eaten without proper prep they are TERRIBLE. With proper prep (grind, leach, leach, dry, add something sweet, add a rising agent, bake...yum) they're not too bad, to, pretty good, depending on the cook. Here, again, go grab some wheat on the stalk, grind it up and wet it down and fry it then tell me how terrible it is. Then, process it properly and add the right stuff and you have pancakes or bread fit for a king. Around here, I'll take jersuselum artichokes and young stinging nettle over any cattail product anyday. Add some wild garlic, onion a little dried Jack-in-the-pulpit root if you like some heat and stew them with whatever meat you got...It's not too bad. One thing I crave when trying to live off the land is salt and sugar. I have gotten maple sugar before but it was a serious chore. I'm sure it would be worth it if that was your only source. |
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The green flower heads I've boiled and eaten like corn-on-the-cob. Pretty good.
The yellow pollen I've mixed with sourdough for biscuits and pancakes. Makes them bright yellow, doesn't change the taste. The green shoots in the center of the leaves in the spring I've pulled out and eaten raw. Sort of a mild cucumber taste. The only way I've found to eat the roots that's both palatable and not an insane amount of work is to just throw them on campfire coals until they roast and crack. You can peel the gritty outside off then, and they're not too bad. |