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The excessive rain this spring has prevented us from gathering the hearts. Either it is raining too much all day, or all the extra rain yesterday flooded the swamp and we can't reach the cattails because of the high water. All we own are knee-high rubber boots, perhaps a purchase of chest-high waders is in our future. The hearts are gathered by grabbing the outer leaves of each leaf cluster, and pulling them away from the center. Then we firmly grasp the center leaves and give it a pull, and it releases easily from the rhizome. The lower 4-6 inches of the leaves are white and very tender with a taste similar to cucumber. They are easily added to salads and pickled, but Gillian like them best raw. We'll have to wait until next year to get more.
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Gillian holding unpeeled flower stalks |
Already the flower stalks are up, and we have been able to cut some and bring them home. The protective leaf is peeled, and we boil up the male and female flower parts like corn. The female part is usually lighter green, and does not produce much food, but the darker male part produces an abundant pulp. We also remove this pulp raw and use it in recipes like chowder and griddle cakes. The taste is similar to corn.
If the flowers are allowed to mature, the male parts produce large amounts of pollen. We gather the pollen by using a gallon jug with a hole cut into the side. Robert bends the pollen-laden flower stalk into the hole, and shakes it around. The plastic jug holds most of the pollen inside, although some always escapes and Robert comes home covered in yellow dust. Then we sift the pollen once in a metal sieve to remove debris, then again through a tea strainer to remove bugs and flower bits. The pollen is then spread out on a sheetpan and left to dry, and we store it in the freezer in a glass jar. We add the pollen as a nutritional and flavor boost to pancakes, biscuits, and in yogurt and oatmeal all year.
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Cattail Pollen pancakes with wild strawberry compote |
2 comments:
My husband and I were just talking about harvesting some when we were out morel hunting yesterday. I appreciate the recipes! Thanks for this article.
My husband and I couldn't help ourselves...we had to try this out...check out the results at my blog Small Purse, Big Garden (also on blogspot) ps. you guys ROCK! keep it up!!!
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