Cattail’s Maligned Companion

The bulrush has a public relations problem. It found in the same environment as the cattail, can be used the same way, and tastes better yet one never hears the bulrush praised as much as the cattail. It should be.

Young shoots in spring can be eaten raw or cooked. Its pollen can be eaten as flour in bread, mush or pancakes. The seeds can be parched and consumed or ground and used like flour. The large, horizontal rhizomes roots can be eaten raw or cooked. Indians dried them in the sun then pounded them into flour. The estimated food value is 8% sugar — making it sweeter than the cattail —  5.5% starch 1% protein.

Nodding Bulrush along the St. Johns River

The bulrush, and other edible rushes in the same family (Scirpus validus, SKIR-pus VAL-ih-duh,  Scirpus  acutus, SKIR-pus uh-KYOO-tuhs)  are found throughout North America. The bulrush itself is native across the southern United States to California north to Oregon and south to Argentina and Chile. It’s also found in Illinois, Hawaii, the Cook Islands and Easter Island, where it arrived some 30,000 years ago. Related rushes are found in northern areas and have similar use. Though called a rush the plant is a soft-sided sedge. If you haven’ t heard the rhyme to help you remember the difference between sedges and other plants, here it is: Sedges have edges. All sedges are triangular, some markedly so, other barely so.

One bulrush also has a Latin name you will either like or avoid: Scripus californicus (kal-ih-FOR-nik-us.) Scripus means sharp and refers to the usual edges found on sedges. Californicus means of California. That takes a bit more to explain. In 1772 there was a large lake, some 760 square miles, in what is now the San Joaquin Valley of California. It was discovered by Pedro Fages but no longer exists. Fages named the area Los Tules because of large bulrush marshes. “Tule” probably came from tullin which in Spanish means cattail. The Spanish got it from the Aztec word “Tollin” which meant a group of plants including the cattail, bulrush, and similar plants. Large stands of tules are called tulares.

The "Listronotus" grub grows larger

Tulares are significant wetland habitats for some 160 species of birds and many mammals and amphibians. Marsh wrens and blackbirds build their nests there. Migratory ducks seek food and shelter among the bulrushes. Wading birds forage on fish, amphibians, and invertebrates that hide among the bottom of the bulrushes. Geese feed on the new shoots and roots.  Among the birds found in rushes are the bufflehead, mallard, pintail, shoveler, blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, greater scaup, lesser scaup, avocet, marbled godwit, clapper rail, Virginia rail, sora rail, long-billed dowitcher, tricolored blackbird, canada geese and white-fronted geese. Indians hunted the ducks in the rushes. They would sink nets and make decoys made of rushes. When the ducks landed entire flocks were captured by pulling up the nets.

The Indians cut rushes for mats and thatching for their houses. The thatching is insulating and water-proof. Woven with grape vines, they form floats a person can stand on and pole over water. A similar rush was used by Thor Heyerdahl when he made the Kontiki. Bulrush “shoes” helped hunters to walk over muddy flats without sinking in. Shredded rushes were used to make baskets, baby diapers, sleeping mats,  menstrual material, ‘grass’ skirts for the ladies and capes for the men

Like most aquatic plants in the area the bulrush is also home to a beetle grub that fish like. On the bulrush look for a small hole and a brown streak in the upper portion of the stalk. You will find a small grub, actually the larval form of an Arrowhead Beetle. The size will vary but they do grow big enough for a small hook and fish love them. As a weevil the grub is also probably edible by humans but I haven’t got around to trying one. You can find the same grub in the base of cattails. Look for a green cattail with an outer leave that is browing at the bottom.

Bulrushes are sedges

The bulrush can also be cultivated by planting rhizomes a yard apart in moist rich soil but not standing water. Or, broadcast seed in the same environment, rake in to one-quarter or one-half inch. Seeds are commercially available. Bulrush can be occasionally  confused with Pampas Grass. However, Pampas Grass does not like to get its feet wet, has a central ball root system — not a rhizome —  and has very sharp edges. Incidentally, when the British use the word bulrush they are referring to the cattail.

There are two large local bulrush that look similar, the S. californicus (Southern Bulrush) and the S. validus (soft-stemed bulrush.)  On S. californicus the seeds are reddish brown and feathery, on S. validus the seeds are white and barbed. Saltmarsh Bulrush (Scirpus rubustus) was similarly used. It is found is brackish water, is about three feet tall, has a very triangular, hard stem, leaves that are flat on one side, rounded on the other, and has inch-long spikelets with hooked tipped scales.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: When mature 5 to 13 feet tall, leaves are slender, grasslike; stem pithy, long stem. Flowers in a spikelet looking like orange-brown scales. Other Scripus are edible and local varieties vary.

TIME OF YEAR: Shoots and pollen in the spring, seeds, bottoms of stalks and root year best in fall.

ENVIRONMENT: Grows where it is wet, rivers, ponds, ditches, lakes, close to shore or farther out.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Peeled shoots and roots dried into flour, pollen, seeds starch and sugar, root tips roasted like potatoes. As a Fresh Vegetable: The young shoots and the tender parts inside the base of the stalks are edible raw, or when boiled. The young base roots are also edible both raw and cooked.

Recipies From: http://www.everything2.org/title/bulrush

Roasted Bulrush Roots: Dig up the roots and clean thoroughly, removing all the hair roots by scraping, then wrap in big leaves. Dig a hole in the ground about 18 inches across and 6 inches deep. Build a fire in it, and when you have a good bed of coals, remove most of the coals from the hole and place the wrapped roots in. Scrape the coals back on top of the wrapped roots. Roast for 2 to 3 hours.

Bulrush Stew: Peel the skin off the roots and cut in inch log pieces. place in a pot with boiling water and add a few wild onions or sprigs of mint. Then add pieces of porcupine or other small animals. Boil one hour.

Bulrush Flour: Clean the roots thoroughly and dry them completely in a dry place in the sun. When they are dry, remove the fibers from the root and pound the remaining pulp into a flour. The texture of the flour depends upon how much elbow grease you use in its preparation. It is very sweet.

Bulrush Pancakes: Peel the skin from the roots, cut into small sections, add water, and boil into a gruel. Let cool. Stir in porcupine fat, or any other fat, then add chopped porcupine or bacon. Heat a couple of flat stones over the fire. Form small patties of the mixture and fry on the stones. If berries are in season, mash a cupful and use a compliment.

Bulrush Bread: Skin the roots and cut them into small pieces, the boil in to a gruel. Remove the fibers and let the water evaporate. When all the water is gone you have a sweet-tasting flour. Mix some fat into the flour and mix. Roll the dough mixture out onto a flat rock and bake in a reflector oven. Or make small rolls about 6 inches long and half an inch thick, twist around a stick and set in from of the fire to bake.

Bulrush Broth

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 pounds oxtail, cut up

* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

* 1/2 cup flour

* 2 tablespoons bulrush flour

* 2 tablespoons mustard seed

* 2 tablespoons bacon fat

* 6 cups water

* 1/2 cup bulrush shoots

* 3 wild onions

* 1/4 cup wild rice

* 3 bulrush roots, thinly sliced

* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Roll the meat pieces in a mixture of flour and salt. Saute them in hot fat, turning several times to brown completely. Add the water, bulrush shoots, and wild onions, then cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. or until the wild rice is tender.

Bulrush Casserole

Ingredients:

* 1 pound small bulrush sprouts

* 1 pound ground beef

* 1 large onion

* 1 can tomato soup

* 1 cup tomato juice

* Potato chips

* Salt and pepper

The small inner stalks of the bulrush are tender and taste like asparagus when cooked. These stalks are easy to remove from the plant: simply part the leaves and pull the shoots from the roots. Wash them in running water, and cut into small pieces. Soak in salted water.

Mix meat and finely chopped onion, add salt and pepper to taste. In a greased casserole put a layer of bulrush sprouts, then a layer of meat. repeat until all the ingredients are used. Pour the tomato soup over the mixture.

Place in a 425 degree oven for about an hour or until the bulrush sprouts are tender, adding a little tomato juice from time to time to keep it moist. Top with potato chips and let stand in oven ten minutes more. Serves six.

Creamed Bulrush

Ingredients:

* 12 pounds tender bulrush shoots

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 cup water

* 3 tablespoons butter

* 3 tablespoons bulrush flour

* 3 cups liquid (milk plus drained bulrush juice)

* 1 tablespoon sugar

* 1/4 teaspoon pepper

* Hard boiled egg slices

Rinse the fresh bulrush shoots and steam with salt and water in a covered pan until limp. Drain off all juice into a measuring cup and save.

Chop bulrush shoots finely. melt butter in the top of a double boiler and stir in flour. Gradually add bulrush juice and enough milk to bring total liquid to 3 cups. Stir constantly until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish each serving with hard boiled egg slices.

Hunters’ Stew with Bulrush

Ingredients:

* 2 cups finely chopped wild onion

* 2 medium sized bulrush roots

* 10 slices bacon, diced

* 3 pounds boneless beef chunk, cut into 2-inch cubes

* 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

* 2 cups water

* 1/2 cup dry red wine

* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

* 1/2 cup dry red wine

* 1 cup wild rice

* 8 bulrush shoots

* 1 1/2 cups beef stock

Skin the onion, chop very fine, and put aside. In a 2-quart saucepan cover the bulrush roots with water, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes.

Drain water. Scrape and slice bulrush roots in 1/4 inch slices and set aside

In a 12-inch skillet cook the bacon over medium heat until it is crisp. Remove bacon from pan and set on a layer paper towels. Pour off all but a thin layer of fat from the skillet and set the skillet aside.

Add the onions and bring the heat up. Cook until onions are transparent. Add the beef cubes and the rendered bacon fat, then the chives and bulrush roots. Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat. Return the bacon to the skillet. Stir in the water and wine. season with salt and pepper and reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for about an hour.

Drop wild rice into a quart saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and just enough water to cover. Bring to boil, lower heat and cook for 30 minutes.

Gradually stir the cooked rice, bulrush shoots, and one cup of beef stock into the skillet. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Taste for seasoning. If the rice becomes too dry, you can add the remaining beef stock to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan

Garnish bowl of stew with chopped leeks and parsley. Serves Six

Munching Cornus canadensis/unalaschkensis

Discussing things little ears shouldn’t hear, they barely interrupt their conversations to pick a low Bunchberry from off the forest floor.  It was a natural action, like picking a flower while one walked.

Bunchberry flowers resemble their dogwood membership

“They” were my mother and grandmother, walking along that endangered relic called a woods road. I shall try to forget that it was more than a half a century ago.  As they munched on Bunchberries my dog “Sister” and I terrorized the woods. Though not much bigger than my setter/collie I learned the difference between the Bunchberry and Doll Eyes, one edible, one deadly.

There was a continuity there which has been lost for most people. My mother, Mae Lydia Putney, picked Bunchberries because her mother, Abby Ora Blake, picked them, and my grandmother picked them because her mother, May Eudora Dillingham, picked them and no doubt learned it from her mother Abby Warren. (In most cultures women tend to be the foragers, men the hunters. It’s my father’s side that’s Greek.) And somewhere back in that line they learned it from Native Americans, and they learned it the hard way over the millennia.  Somewhere along the line we stopped appreciating or learning the experiences that were passed on, whether about plants or life.

I once had a friend in the mid-1980s tell me she was certain no one in her family ever collected wild foods. As proof she said her father, John White — now there’s a genealogical nightmare — was born in New York City in 1900.  Mr. White, whom I met,  had my friend when he was 50. “And his parents” I asked? They immigrated from rural Ireland around 1870.  “So” I said, your grandparents were foragers. In one generation the knowledge, habit. and mindset can be lost.

Not much taste but a lot of pectin

The Bunchberry, Cornus canadensis, (KOR-nus kan-uh-DEN-sis) has its champions and detractors. The particular say it has no taste. I knew two women who didn’t miss a single one. The Inuit saved them by the bushel basket for winter. For such a humble plant it has many names: Dwarf dogwood, bunchberry dogwood, Canadian dwarf cornel, pigeonberry, squirrelberry, low cornel, ground dogwood, bunchplum, creeping dogwood, cuckoo-plum, frothberry, dogberry, crowberry and crackerberry. The last two are actually the same.  “Cracker” comes from “crake” and that means crow. As if that’s not enough names it is also called the puddingberry. Why puddingberry? It was the habit in New England cooking to add a few bunchberries to a pudding to add color and help it jell. Seems the little berry has a good dose of pectin in it.

The Bunchberry is a perennial sub-shrub and is the smallest member of the dogwood family. Dwarf dogwood is native to a broad area extending west from southern Greenland across Canada and the United States the south along the Rocky Mountains. You also find it in northeastern Asia. It likes moist well-drained forest soils and can often be the dominant ground cover. It will not grow where the summer ground temperature exceeds 65F.

The “flowers” of dwarf dogwood — like most dogwood — aren’t what they appear to be. The four white “petals” are bracts that look like petals. Clustered in the center, like the berries will later be, are many tiny white to purplish flowers. They are pollinated by flies and bees attracted by the bright bracts. In late summer a bunch of round red fruit appears giving the plant its name. Their texture is mealy and each has one seed, occasionally two. While the Inuit froze the Bunchberry other natives preserved them in bear fat. The berries make an excellent jelly.

What the scientific name means is a bit of debate. Canadensis means northern North America. Cornus means horn which can mean a wind instrument or hard. The dogwood is known to make stiff skewers and dogwood is from Dag where we also get the word dagger.  Oh, they recently changed its name to Cornus unalaschkensis, KOR-nus un-uh-las-KEN-sis, named for Unalaska, one of the Aleutian Island. It looks like Un-Alaska to me rather than un-uh-las-KEE-sis.

As an aside, think of the comic character, Dagwood Bumstead.  “Dagwood” means “luminous forest” but was corrupted to  dogwood. “Bumstead” was originally Bumpstead and means a “place of trees.” So his name mean place of bright trees (and when dogwoods are in blossom) they are luminous.

A variety of birds and moose like the bunchberry, which is the fastest flower in the world. Oh, you doubt that. Well, read on.

Bunchberry found to be fastest plant

The Independent, London 12 May 2005

By Steve Connor

Botanists have identified the fastest moving plant in the world ” the bunchberry dogwood of North America.

Tests have shown that the petals of the plant’s tiny flowers can move at 22 feet per second when they open with an explosive force. The bunchberry dogwood ” Cornus canadensis ” grows in dense carpets in the vast spruce- fir forests of the North American taiga. The petals explode open to launch pollen an inch into the air, a study at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, showed. The pollen is ejected to 10 times the height of the small plant so that it can be carried away on the wind.

The scientists say in Nature: ‘Bunchberry stamens are like miniature medieval trebuchets ” specialized catapults that maximize throwing distance by having the payload [pollen in the anther] attached to the throwing arm [filament] by a hinge or flexible strap.’

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION:

Spreading subshrub terminal whorls of oval, lance-shaped leaves.  Tiny bunch of flowers over four white bracts above six green dogwood shaped leaves. Flowers in May and June, sometimes in autumn.

TIME OF YEAR:

Bunch of red berries, late summer to early fall

ENVIRONMENT:

Northern forests, well drained soil, ground never warmer than 65F or lower than -28F

METHOD

Out of hand, or made into jelly.

HERB BLURB

Dogwood bark is a substitute for cinchona bark, the source of quinine, for treating Malaria

Burdock has a clingy nature. It is particularly bad in animal fur.

Arctium minus: Burdock’s Plus Side

I have a confession to make: When I was a kid I had a miniature corn cob pipe. And in it I smoked dried burdock leaf… I think that’s why my voice changed when I was seven.

Burdock leaves vaguely resemble rhubarb

We conspiratorial kids didn’t call it burdock. It was “snake rhubarb” and it did resemble the rhubarb in the garden… somewhat. My mother found out one day but decided the smoking was punishment enough. It was harsh, hot, dry and a lot of fun until she knew. Only years later would I return to the plant, this time to eat it and grow it.

Burdock is not native to North America. I grow Gobo, which is the original Japanese cultivated version of the plant. I had eaten it many times when I lived in Japan so it was an addition to my garden. Like many temperate plants it doesn’t like the Florida heat. (Horseradish, Lilacs, and Asparagus, for example, completely refuse to grow here.) What most people don’t know is burdock is an escaped plant from Asia. That was rather surprising to me because it was an extremely common weed in southern Maine, which is just about as far from Japan as one can  get (I know because I was stationed in Japan while in the military.)

Burdock’s can make two claims to fame: It was in the original recipe for root beer, and, was the inspiration for velcro. Burdock is also the second half of the British drink Dandelion and Burdock. That concoction is even more bitter than Moxie, which is flavored with gentian root. And therein lies the burdock tale of woe: It is on the bitter side. That is how it protects itself from predators, by putting a layer of bitterness on the outside of the plant.

Burdock seeds inspired velcro

First year roots are the prime fare, young leaves can be eaten but you have to like bitter foods. As the roots age they become more bitter and woody, particularly in their second year. Peeled burdock stems are also edible, and not as bitter as the leaves. One of the reason why I like burdock, especially in temperate climates, is it’s a leaf large enough to wrap wild food in for cooking in the campfire.  Wrap up a trout with some wild garlic and Northern Bay leaves and roast in the embers: Life is good.  (See recipes on bottom of page.)

Burdock is in the same family with daisies, chicory, thistles and dandelions. There are at least three species of burdock in North America, all edible and all imports. The most common is the “lesser”  Arctium minus. (ARK-ti-um MYE-nus)  It grows from knee to shoulder height and is found just about everywhere except Florida. The “great burdock” and the “wooly burdock” are less known. The “great” can grow to nine feet high but usually doesn’t but its flowers are larger than the minus. The “woolly” has “fleece” on its flower heads.

The species name Arctium is Latinized Greek. The Greek is “arktos” meaning bear, in reference to the round, brown burs. Minus means the lesser or smaller since the Great Burdock (A. lappa) is larger. A. Lappa (LAH-pah) is a combination of Latin and Greek and means bur and to seize. A. tomentosum (toe-men-TOE-sum ) is the wooly burdock. Tormetosum means fuzzy or hairy.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION:  Biannual. First year plant a low circle of rhubarb looking leaves with a foul odor. Second year flowering stalk, bushy, many purple flowers, thistle-like burs. Leaves usually large, ovate, woolly underneath, leafstalks usually hollow.

TIME OF YEAR:  Middle summer to late fall, even after a frost, just mark where they are.

ENVIRONMENT: Sun or part shade, any type of well-drained soil. Grows a huge tap root so loosened soil is helpful to harvesting. Normally found along roadsides, barnyards, fence lines, disturbed soil, under bird feeders.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: First year roots can be eaten raw, or can be slow roasted for many hours making them sweeter. Older first year roots — scrubbed –boiled 20 minutes. Young shoots boiled until tender, more if bitter. Second year, stems peeled before flowering and boiled 20 minutes. Seed sprouts edible. Young leaves boiled edible but bitter. Leaf stems peeled and boiled. Also leaves can be wilted by fire then used for wrapping food.

HERB BLURB

Burdock has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal proprieties. It’s anti-cancer properties similar to broccoli and cabbage.  Burdock is also a diuretic and the roots can be laxative.

Dandelion and burdock beer ingredients:

1 lb Young nettles

4 oz. Dandelion leaves

4 oz. Burdock root, fresh, sliced

-OR-

2 oz. Dried burdock root, sliced

1/2 oz. Ginger root, bruised

2 each Lemons

1 g water

1 lb +4 t. soft brown sugar

1 oz. Cream of tartar

Brewing yeast ( see the manufacturer’s instructions for amount)

Dandelion and burdock beer preparation:

1. Put the nettles, dandelion leaves, burdock, ginger and thinly pared rinds of the lemons into a large pan. Add the water.

2. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 mins.

3. Put the lemon juice from the lemons,1 lb. sugar and cream of tartar into a large container and pour in the liquid thru a strainer, pressing down well on the nettles and other ingredients.

4. Stir to dissolve the sugar.

5. Cool to room temperature.

6. Sprinkle in the yeast.

7. Cover the beer and leave it to ferment in a warm place for 3 days.

8. Pour off the beer and bottle it, adding  t. sugar per pint.

1. 9.Leave the bottles undisturbed until the beer is clear-about 1 week.

Nettle, Dandelion and Burdock Beer

Ingredients:     450g young nettles

120g dandelion leaves

120g fresh, sliced or 60g dried burdock root

15g root ginger, bruised

2 lemons

4.5 litres water

450g plus 4tsp. demerara sugar

30g cream of tartar

Brewer’s yeast (see manufacturer’s instructions for amount to use)

Put the herbs and the thinly pared rinds of the lemons into a large pan with the water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Put the lemon juice, 450g of sugar and the cream of tartar into a large container and add the strained liquid from the pan, squeezing the herbs well. Stir to dissolve the sugar and cool to blood heat. Sprinkle in the yeast. Cover the beer and leave to ferment in a warm place for three days. Rack off the beer and bottle it, adding half a teaspoon of sugar per pint. Leave the bottles until the beer is clear – about one week.

This recipe will make a strong syrup which will then need to be watered down with soda 1:4.

Heat 1.5 litres of water in a pan, when boiling add:

* 2 teaspoons fine ground dandelion root (Might need a mortar & pestle)

* 1.5 teaspoons fine ground burdock root (Might need a mortar & pestle)

* 5x 50p sized slices of root ginger

* 1 1/2 star anise

* 1 teaspoon of citric acid

* Zest of an orange

Leave that little lot to simmer for 15-20 minutes, it will smell a lot like a health food shop, then strain through a tea towel, muslin isn’t really fine enough. Whilst the liquid is still hot you need to dissolve about 750g sugar. If you prefer is sweeter or ‘not-sweeter’ adjust the sugar. If you’re finding the drink a bit flavourless simply add more sugar, it accentuates the flavours of the roots and anise. In the summer mix it with plenty of ice and stir through borage flowers for the ultimate English soft drink! Enjoy.

Greek Cardune , with thanks to Wildman Steve Brill

4 cups immature burdock flower stalks, sliced, parboiled 1 minute in

salted water (to remove the bitterness), with dashes of any vinegar

and olive oil

2 cups water or vegetable stock

2 red onions, sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

4 small tomatoes, sliced

2 cups carrots, sliced

2/3 cups basmati brown rice

3 tbs. fresh dill weed, chopped

The juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp. salt, or to taste

1/4 tsp. white pepper, ground

Simmer all ingredients together over low heat in a covered saucepan 70

minutes, or until the rice is tender.

Serves 6 to 8

Heart of Palm and Controversy

The state tree of Florida isn’t a tree, but it is a weed of many edible parts.

Cabbage Palm

The Sabal palmetto, actually an overgrown bundle of grass, is native to the southeastern US and West Bahamas Islands that produces many products.

At the top of the list is dark amber honey made from the palm’s sweet edible flowers. It’s esteemed and pricey. Next is the bittersweet thin fruit coating on the seeds, which are about the size of a pea. The layer of fruit is extremely thin, a skin really,  but it does have a prune-like flavor. As for the seeds themselves…That is a bit of debate:

Of all places, the US Army Field Manuel on Survival (FM 3-05-70, dated 17 May  2002) says the seeds can be ground up and used for flour. It is quoted on several sites on the Internet and is the only source I know of that specifically refers to the seeds themselves as edible.

Several authorities, Dr. Julia Morton among them, seem to agree the seeds are edible but their language is always ambiguous, For example, Morton writes: “the Indians reduced the dried fruit to a coarse meal with which they made bread.”

The lack of detail in that sentence is telling to anyone who has tried to reduce the dried fruit to a coarse meal. That meal could or could not include kernels. Of course, anyone who has “eaten” the fruit of the cabbage palm knows there is almost no fruit at all, just a layer of edible paint on a round flattened seed. It would be nearly impossible to get enough “fruit” to make bread from it without using the kernel. It makes sense that they ground up the entire fruit, it just is not mentioned specifically by anyone other than in the US Army manual, which I have a copy of.

Young leaves of the Sabal palmetto (SAY-bul pal-MET-to) are also edible raw or cooked which leads to the most controversial edible of all, the heart of the palm, the inner core of the terminal bud. Taking it kills the tree, thus the controversy. It’s called swamp cabbage and millionaire’s cabbage though it doesn’t taste like cabbage at all. Raw it is similar to cattail stalks, read it is mild and crunchy, artichoke-ish. Cooked it tastes just like cooked asparagus to me. To get it I just go to places where developers have permission to take down the trees and I get my palm hearts that way. Once you have a tree you can do “heart surgery.” Here’s how you do it:

Cut off the top three feet below where the fronds are growing. Then cut off the top foot of that three foot section The young fronds in the center of that one foot piece are edible cooked but are tough. Now concentrate on the lower two feet or so that you have left. To remove the heart, which is the central core, the outer leaf stems are cut or pulled away.  The fronds have a woody base called a boot which wraps around the trunk. They are shaped like upside down “Y’s”. The “boots” are stripped from the section until the tender, closely wrapped, central core is reached. The core is the swamp cabbage. It’s cylindrical, creamy white, and composed of leek-like layers of undeveloped boots (leaves really) with the texture of regular cabbage, but a nutty flavor. Many foraging sources tell us the lower pith that resembles a sponge is also edible. I have always found it too bitter to eat, raw or cooked, so I cannot vouch for its edibility.

Swamp cabbage can be prepared in various ways. Edible raw, the most popular Florida Cracker way is to cut it into thin slices like cole slaw and cook with meat seasoning until done, turning it from white to yellow brown. or gray-brown. When served raw in slices with dates or guava it is Heart of Palm Salad. Incidentally, the natives did not eat heart of palm until Europeans introduced metal axes.

This “recipe” is from Wild Edibles by Marian Van Atta, whom I knew in Rockledge, Florida, in the early 1980’s. Swamp Cabbage: Cut hearts of palm fine or shred into fine pieces. Optional: Soak in ice water for an hour. Slaw: Mix with mayonnaise and 1 or 2 teaspoons pickle relish. Season to taste. That’s it, not much to it.

Marion Van Atta was a rotund, slightly shorter than usual woman who always wore a straw hat and what looked like homespun clothes. A blue denim-like outfit was one of her favorite, judging by the number of times I saw it.  I worked on a small weekly paper at the time — the Rockledge Reporter — and she would drop off her weekly column “Living off the Land.” Though a forager she leaned towards gardening and homemaking. She’s and my Florida mentor, Dick Deuerling, did not always see eye to eye. He thought her knowledge of trees was lacking.

Now, what of the fruit and seeds, or kernels?

Pulp is paint thin on hard seeds

The kernel is extremely tough. You have three choices. Eat the thin pulp off, which is prune-ish in flavor but also astringent, then use the bare kernel. Or let the entire fruit dry as is with the pulp on it. You can grind up the pulp and kernel to make a crude flour or you can grind up just the kernel to make a crude flour. Either way it is a huge amount of work. It definitely is more calories out than in. I don’t know how Native Americans did this efficiently. Mill stones would be my guess, or perhaps they sprouted the kernels.

I have obtained a coarse powder by tossing roasted kernels into an industrial strength coffee grinder to break them up and then putting them through a grain grinder. If you roast the pulp-less kernels at 350º F for 20 to 30 minutes they break up much easier and grind easily. The powder has a nutty flavor and makes a passable coffee-like drink, especially to the nose.

If ground raw crude cakes can be made from the pulp and kernels with a little water and cooked. It’s roughage and roughing it, and you might end up with brown goop  I’ve tried boiling them to no success. They remained as hard as rocks. Roasting was easy but reduces the ground up kernel to an additive rather than a flour.

Historically, the palms have had many uses. The trunks are used for wharf pilings, brushes and brooms can be made from young leaves. The Seminole Indians used the large fan-shaped leaves to thatch their traditional buildings called chickees.

Fiber is obtained from the leaf stalks and is used to make brushes that remain stiff in hot water or caustic materials. Parts of the bark has been used for scrubbing brushes and the roots contain about 10 percent tannin.  The trunk is still used to make canes and the leaves are woven to make coarse hats, mats and baskets. Fronds are also shipped around the world for Palm Sunday services.  The boot fiber makes excellent tinder and if one digs some dry tinder can usually be found there even in the rain. And in case you need to know this, when the wood is struck by cannon balls it bends but does not break or splinter.

Keith Boyer, in his book, Palms and Cycads Beyond the Tropics, proposes that the genus name is derived from the Latin for palmetto, that is, “palmetto” comes from the Italian version of the original Spanish for “little palm.” Sabal is anyone’s guess  but he suggests is it is a French anagram of La bas, which means “down there.”  Labas also is  a word in Lithuanian that means good and is usually used in greeting.  But I think La bas and Labas are reaching. My guess is “sabal” it is from the sound alike sable, as in the fur, which was sabel in Middle German, zobel in Old German, and sobol in Slav and Polish for “black” like the color of the berries. That seems more sensible to me than an anagram for a bit of awkward French.

It is not without surprise that the palm also provides a substantial part of the diet of many animals including deer, bear, raccoon, squirrel, bobwhite, and wild turkey.  And while the S. palmetto may not make up much of the human diet, palms themselves are the third most important crop for humans. Cabbage Palms also like their feet dry so in swamps and other wet areas they are a signal for higher, dryer ground. Look for them when slogging through swamps. Also, the Silver Palm (aka Florida Silver Palm, Coccothrinax argentata) also has edible fruit, not too appealing, and the terminal bud is also edible. It is a fan palm, dark blue green above, silver below.

Lastly, is the tree protected? I was certainly taught that over 30 years ago, and have read so many times. I think I also said so in my video. But it was recentlhy brought to my attention that it might not be so. And indeed, I can not find a state wide law protecting though I did find some local ordinances that protect the tree. In fact, the law that made it a state tree in 1953 specifically said its designation shall not prevent it from being harvested and used. If anyone knows of a state law that says otherwise, please let me know.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Tree up to 60 ft. tall, long spreading leaves to 9 feet, yellow-white flowers in many branched clusters; fragrant, fruit 1/4″ wide. Ends of the fan fronds are folded in half vertically. The only reishi mushroom that grows on palms is Ganoderma zonatum.

TIME OF YEAR: Evergreen, fruits in summer to fall.

ENVIRONMENT: Brackish marshes, seacoast, woodlands or hammocks and sandy soils near the coast and inland.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Fresh  fruit, ground seeds with or without pulp, growing end of young leaves, the heart. Roasted pulpless kernels have a nutty, if not coffee taste when ground. There is sugar in the fronds but it has to be beaten and soaked out. Incidentally, if the palm’s top is cocked, going off at an odd angle, or it is recently deceased, look for Palmetto Weevil grubs, about an inch long, edible raw or cooked. Burned stalks can yield an ash that tastes salty.