Dining on problematic plants

General Fruit Growing
1

I’m going to get this started and i hope others join in. Today i want to mention kudzu which we know is eaten regularly in asia

"

How to Cook & Eat Kudzu

By Kristin Dorman

Kudzu

Kudzu is a vine native to Japan and China.

Image Credit: TravisPhotoWorks/iStock/Getty Images

Kudzu is a green, blossoming vine native to Japan and China. In 1876, farmers brought kudzu to America to feed livestock and prevent soil erosion. Kudzu took root so well in the Southeastern U.S. that the U.S. Department of Agriculture now considers it a weed. Though kudzu’s widespread growth irks farmers and gardeners, Southern cooks enjoy preparing kudzu recipes. Eat kudzu raw, sauteed, deep-fried, baked and jellied.

ADVERTISEMENT

Step 1

Harvest kudzu in the Southeastern part of the United States. Kudzu grows between Florida and New Jersey from the East Coast to South Texas. Wear boots and protective clothing foraging for kudzu. Bring a clear picture of kudzu with you for identification purposes. Kudzu and poison ivy look similar, so be careful to harvest the right plant. Do not harvest kudzu that has been sprayed with pesticides or chemicals.

Step 2

Separate edible parts of the kudzu plant from its inedible vine. Kudzu leaves, vine tips and roots are edible. The kudzu plant also produces fragrant, purple blossoms which you can make into jelly, syrup and candy. Wash kudzu parts thoroughly before cooking or eating them.

ADVERTISEMENT

Step 3

Eat chopped kudzu leaves raw in salad or cook them like spinach leaves. Saute kudzu leaves, bake them into quiches or deep-fry them. Cook kudzu roots like potatoes, or dry them and grind them into powder. Use kudzu root powder as a breading for fried foods or a thickener for sauces. Fry or steam kudzu shoots like snow peas. Incorporate kudzu blossoms into jelly, candy and wine. Make kudzu tea with kudzu leaves, mint and honey.

Things You’ll Need

  • Protective clothing
  • Boots
  • Kudzu photo
  • Utensils
  • Cutting board
  • Bake ware
  • Pots

Tip

Kudzu roots contain protein, iron, fiber and other nutrients.

Warning

Use caution when searching for kudzu. Avoid deep ditches, bug bites and poison ivy. If you are unsure of the identity or cleanliness of the kudzu you harvest, do not eat it.
"

Thistles are delicious as well

Maple seed pods are another delicious food

Autumn olives

Black locust

Honey locust

7 Likes
2

Great thread idea, @clarkinks !

There’s a honey locust tree about an hour from my location whose pods are the size of bananas and contain pulp that tastes like almost-ripe banana.

Interesting! I wonder if box elder pods are also edible. It’s a type of maple.

5 Likes
3

I’ve had Kudzu Greens many times living in Atlanta. A few farmers at the market there used to sell it. I preferred it mixed with turnip or mustard greens though.

2 Likes
4

I have a patch of kudzu on my hillside here in southern Pennsylvania that’s been growing. Every year a friend and i dig some tubers which he uses to make into medicinal tinctures. I have snacked on the blossoms in the summer. I need to be more proactive getting rid of it and use it in more cooking. For now, cutting it back during it’s growing season seems to keep it in check somewhat. Which is about how much i’ve been able to do.

3 Likes
5

Wild pea vine tips are delicious. The peas and pods are inedible/toxic though. Also if they start to flower, they get woody. If you want to eat them, you must pick them early season and before they flower. Do not eat the flowers and fruit of the plant.

I wonder what the Asian names are for Kudzu because it looks familiar.

Also those super skinny and tall dandelion buds before they flower are also delicious. The really skinny ones that also have yellow flowers, not the ones that automatically go into spreading mode.

3 Likes
6

Kudzu is Chinese arrowroot 葛

Most people don’t know that pokeweed is edible or if they do know, only about eating the leafy tips. Stems can also be eaten if properly prepared. Cut stems when about 1.5 to 2 feet tall while still solid, before chambered pith develops. Scrape the purple skin off leaving bright green stems. Slice the stems like okra and fry in corn meal. It is delicious.

2 Likes
7

:scream: there’s been a plant that has purple stems but green insides that likes to grow along water edges or soil that’s always most. Is that pokeweed? It’s very sour. I told it’s edible and i used to eat it a lot around lake Washington. Is the inside white until it gets too old?

2 Likes
8

I notice the squirrels really going after Maple Seeds and wondered why I never heard of people eating or processing them. Not too many other tree crops in production that time of the year

2 Likes
9

I need to look around again, because I remember seeing a silver maple with huge seeds (~3/4"+) compared to your regular ones.

1 Like
10

You can also harvest kudzu vines for making baskets.

4 Likes
11

That sounds like pokeweed, but pokeweed is only edible when newly emerged in the spring.

2 Likes
12

Pokeweed is always poison, but we do eat the greens after boiling it twice and pouring off the water twice. We only eat young plants. If you eat it raw, it will kill you as it does some people every year.

1 Like
13

I don’t know that all people consider it to be problematic but I rather dislike creeping wood sorrel and try to eliminate it from my gardens.

creeping wood sorrel
creeping wood sorrel1500×2000 412 KB

I grew up snacking on it, having been told by friends that it was edible. They called it sweet and sour grass. It wasn’t until I was rereading the book Farmer Boy about the experiences that Almanzo Wilder had growing up that I figured out from context what the name of this plant was.

5 Likes
14

We always called it sheepshire, loved to eat the ‘pickles’.

4 Likes
15

I wasn’t familiar with that one, but it is indeed another name for this Oxalis plant.

3 Likes
16

We called it “sheepsours” when I was a kid, but I long ago found out is actually sorrel.

4 Likes
17

Wine berries are the best problematic plant! I love picking them by the handful every year

2 Likes
18

My chickens love clovers like that. They go nuts for them, so I keep a couple patches alive to feed them a few times a week.

3 Likes
19

I’m also not a fan of dandelion in my yard but I know that people eat the leaves. When I worked at a large “farmers market” type of grocery store that was popular here before Whole Foods Market moved into the area we sold grouped bunches of dandelion leaves with our less common greens. Just this last week I was at another similar establishment and saw that they carried dandelion greens as well.

I know that shiso isn’t normally considered a problematic plant, but my mother allowed it to go to seed in her yard and it is rather proliferate, coming up almost anywhere that has enough sunlight and isn’t mowed regularly.
th-1905576964
The leaves of the plant are used in some Asian cuisine. I need to find someone to harvest them and knock down their population. Anything growing in the wrong place…

3 Likes
20

It is in the mint family. I’ve had the opposite problem, can’t keep my shiso alive to harvestable size. Trying again this season.

2 Likes