Persimmons can persists after the leaves drop making them easy to spot.

Persimmons: Pure Pucker Power

About the only bad thing you can say about a persimmon is that it has pucker power, if you pick it at the wrong time. If the fruit’s skin isn’t wrinkly it will be inedible.

You have competition for ripe persimmons.

What most people don’t know is that the persimmon is the North American ebony, Diospyros virginiana (dye-OSS-pih-ross ver-jin-nee-AY-nuh.) There are few trees more versatile than the persimmon. The fruit, actually the largest native berry in North America, can be eaten out of hand or cooked in various ways. Its seeds can be roasted and ground for a coffee extender. The leaves are loaded with Vitamin C and the hard, closed-grain wood can be worked (often to be made into “natural” wedding bands. )

Persimmons do not like to grow in the forest or field.

Persimmons like to grow along the edges of things; fields, roads, rivers, rail roads, fences, trails. They can be anything from a spindly shrub to over 80-feet tall. I can well remember the first time I found a green persimmon fruit on the ground locally. I was hiking in the Wekiva State Park in Florida along Rock Springs Run. What was memorable about the event was I couldn’t find the tree. I turned 360 degrees and still couldn’t see a persimmon tree until I looked up, way, way up. Competing with other trees river side they were incredibly tall, and not nine inches through. They were spindly 70-foot tall trees! Quite atypical.

Most of the persimmons trees you will see, especially in Florida, are only eight to ten feet tall, occasionally 15 to 20 feet. Persimmons are found in the eastern half of the United States excluding northern border states. They’re also found in Utah, California  and range into Mexico. Oddly, they are not naturally found along the Appalachian Mountains or the Allegheny Plateau. Perhaps altitude is an issue. 

The Persimmon’s native range.

The Persimmon is usually the last tree to leaf out in the spring and the first to lose it leaves in the fall, a strategy to thwart predatory insects.  The champion persimmon tree in the US, as of 2009, is in Yell, Arkansas.  It is 94 feet high, 12.5 feet around and as a crown spread of 78 feet. It’s been around since the first English settlers came to North America. One of them, Captain John Smith, wrote about the persimmon in 1608. He said it tasted like an apricot and by 1629 it was introduced into England. In fact that was a main part of Smith’s reason to come to the Americas, find new plants.

Persimmons get smutty but the black smut does not bother it nor us. Photo by Hillpond.org

While many authors say the ripe persimmon tastes like dates they taste like persimmons to me. I have no idea where they get a “date” taste unless they are just copying each other. Interestingly persimmons can be interchanged in any recipe with bananas, measure for measure, weight for weight. Yellow persimmons will ripen off the tree but the best ones are the wrinkly ones you have to fight the ants for. There is an old saying that persimmons don’t ripen until after a frost but that’s not true according to researchers nor here in Florida where any frosts show up a couple of months after persimmons fruit.   Shaking a persimmon tree is the standard way of collecting the fruit. Process them by rubbing them through a colander. The pulp can be used to make jelly, syrup, beer, wine, liquor, bread, pancakes, pudding, molasses, fruit leather, dried fruit and ink. The pulp can also be frozen and eaten like ice cream. A peanut-like cooking oil can be squeeze from the seeds. Each persimmon can have one to eight seeds. Happiness is finding a persimmon with one seed, when there are eight there isn’t much to eat. The seeds, however, were used as buttons by the Confederate Army during the American civil war.

The fruit, especially the skin, can be made into fruit leather. Photo by KerbieCravings.

Another use for a persimmon tree is reportedly as a remedy for the itch of poison ivy. Remove a few twigs from a persimmon tree, cover with water, and boil for 20 minutes. Strain and cool the liquid. Several applications are said to dry the rash. By the way, persimmon tea is not universally praised. I have a friend who describes the taste of tea from green leaves as “dirty dishwater.”  Tea from dried leaves is better. In fact, the longer the dried leaves are stored the better the tea tastes.  Dry the leaves in a slow over for two hours. To make the seeds into a coffee substitute or extender clean them and roast them in the same slow oven. You can also throw the tough fruit skins into a blender, put the slurry on a cookie sheet and dry them along with the seeds and leaves in the same oven. Personally I eat the fruit skin and all but not the seeds

As an ebony, Persimmon wood has many uses.

What Diospyros means is subject to a lot of mistranslation from Greek. The complicating factor is the distortion from Greek to Latin and the different alphabets and pronunciations. (There are five ways to represent the “ee” sound in Greek.)  Then there’s the translation into English and its use by those who don’t speak Greek or know Latin. Such is the headache with Diospyros. Briefly it can mean “what God has sown” “God’s Grain” or “God’s fire.” Making it worse, the most common translation “food of the Gods ” does not land well on Greek ears. Ambrosia means “food of the gods. Diospyros does not.

Theostratus coined the name Diospyros

In 300 BC or there abouts, Theophrastus called a local tree, the European hackberry, Diospyros.  The  fruits were astringent which ripened to sweetness and that is supposedly why Linnaeus called the persimmon tree Diospyros when he was naming plants. With that said lets tackle Diospyros. The disagreement is whether the two Greek words are “dio/spyros” or “thios/piros.”  It comes down to Greek spelling. The most common translation is the more unlikely. As mentioned, Diospyros is often translated as “fruit of the gods” or “food of the gods.” That would be very bad Greek.  Some translate Diospyros as “the fruit of Zeus” which is just plain silly. There’s also “heavenly plant”  “God’s fire” Divine pear” and “Jove’s pear.” Jove’s Pear? That’s expired poetic license.  Jove was the Roman equivalent of Zeus, or the Roman name for the top god. Where the pear came from I have no idea though in Texas the persimmon is sometimes called Jove’s Fruit.

Roasted Persimmon seeds can be used to extend coffee. Photo by Really Raw Food.

A third possibility is Diospyros meaning “God’s Fire” in reference to the astringent unripe berries of the European hackberry but that would require changing a plural to a singular which is not likely in this case in Greek. Carl Linnaeus, the fellow who started naming plants, had the right idea of calling the persimmon after the ancient hackberry because of the way it ripens.  He was not good at Greek yet his “food of the gods” has stuck. “God’s Wheat” is the closer translation for ancient Greek, which would mean the Diospyros in the modern vernacular means the “best food” or as Alton Brown says “good eats.”

Horses should not be pastured with Persimmons or they can get bezoars, as can some people.

Virginiana is of Virginia but in botanical terms it always means North America.  Persimmon is the Anglicized version of an Algonquin name that means “dry seed” or “dry fruit” referring to the high level of tannins in the unripe fruit.  That tannin is a good substitute for oak tannin.  Persimmons do, however, come with two warnings. The first one is if you do not digest food well or have had gastric bypass surgery excessive consumption of persimmons can create intestinal blockage called a bezoar. It happens more in farm animals than man but people who consume huge amounts of persimmons or who have gastric issues are at risk.

Nothing resembles a ripe wild persimmon tree.

As for the second warming. While the seeds can be roasted then ground into a black powder to extend coffee there may be reasons not to use it exclusively as a coffee substitute. See the “letter to Green Deane” below. The writer mistakenly made “coffee” out of the seeds rather than using them as a coffee extender, like chicory. It is included here in its entirety should it be important some day.

There is hardly a woodland creature that doesn’t like the persimmon. Its waxy, fragrant flowers help produce honey. The persimmon is also sometimes called “possom wood” because opossums know a good food when they find it.  It even has entered the folky and now politically incorrect literature of Uncle Remus:

Even Green Deane breaks his no-flour rule for some hot Persimmon bread.

“B’rer Bear rushed into the patch and shook the persimmon tree. B’rer Possum dropped out from the ripe persimmons, landed on the ground and started running for the fence like a race horse. B’rer Bear chased him and gained with every jump. When B’rer Possum made it to the fence B’rer Bear grabbed him by the tail. B’rer Possum went between the rails on the fence and gave a powerful pull to get this out of B’rer Bear’s teeth. B’rer Bear was holding so tight and B’rer Possum pulled so hard that all the hair came off in B’rer Bear’s mouth, and if B’rer Rabbit hadn’t come along with a gourd of water B’rer Bear would have choked. From that day to this,” said Uncle Remus, knocking the ashes carefully out of his pipe, “B’rer Possum ain’t had no hair on his tail, nor any of his children.”

Persimmon Bread

3½ cups sifted flour
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 to 2½ cups sugar
1 cup melted unsalted butter and cooled to room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2/3 cup cognac, bourbon or whiskey
2 cups persimmon puree

2 cups walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
2 cups raisins, or diced dried fruits (such as apricots, cranberries, or dates)

Optional: Orange zest or orange extract

1. Butter 2 loaf pans. Line the bottoms with a piece of parchment paper or dust with flour and tap out any excess.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Sift the first 5 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center then stir in the butter, eggs, liquor, persimmon puree then the nuts and raisins.

5. Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Persimmon Pudding

2 cups pureed persimmon pulp

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups condensed milk (unsweetened)

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Stir condensed milk, sugar, butter, flour, and persimmon puree well and pour into glass baking dish. Sprinkle top with chopped walnuts. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes at 375F. Serve warm or cooled to room temperature. Delicious topped with a crème Anglaise or rum.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Tree, shrub size to 80 feet, usually 15 to 20. Leaves are oval, pointed, 3- to 6-inch long, lustrous dark green, sometimes covered with a harmless dark soot that can be washed off. Two handy identifying characteristics of the persimmon is young twigs are fuzzy and on new growth the branch will have leaves of different size. Bark on older trees is broken up into square blocks. D.  virginana has leaf tips that are pointed, on D. texana the tip is flat, rounded or notched,

TIME OF YEAR: Fruit ripens in September/October. Fruit is not ripe until the skin is wrinkled.

ENVIRONMENT: Grows along edged of fields, roads, rivers and the like. Will grow in dry ground and partial shade but prefers moist soil and full sun. Slow growing, hardy to Zone 4

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Numerous:  The pulp can be used to make jelly, syrup, beer, wine, liquor, bread, pancakes, pudding, molasses, fruit leather and dried.

HERB BLURB

The Native Americans had some herbal uses for the tree. The Alabama boiled the roots for a tea used in “bowel flux.”  The Catawba used a bark infusion to treat thrush in babies. The Cherokee used it for bowel problems, sore throats, heartburn, liver problems, piles, thrush, toothaches and venereal disease. The Rappahannock used an infusion for thrush and sore throats. The tannic acid in the green fruit was used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, and uterine bleeding.

I received the following letter in 2010 in response to my article on persimmons.  The writer says he made two pots of persimmon “coffee” rather than using the ground seeds just as a coffee extender. The first pot — four cups — was made from seeds fresh from ripe fruit off the tree, then roasted. No ill effects reported. The second pot was made from seeds picked up off the ground and/or from rotting fruit (enzyme action?) Then instead of directly into the oven the second batch of seeds were boiled first (taking something away? Changing something?) and then roasted. Two other possibilities are the first pot did not reach some critical chemical level and or he didn’t have an allergic reaction until a certain point with the second pot. And of course something else might be acting as well. I do not know the truthfulness of the account below but it seems reasonable to include it.  More so, if it is accurate it is something foragers and researchers should know.

“I just wanted to shoot you a quick note about my experience with Persimmon seeds last fall, sorry it took so long for me to write. I have several of the trees in my yard and near my home, and I always enjoy the fruit in the late fall after frost. But I had never heard of making coffee out of the seeds before. Being the adventurous sort I gave it a try, and my first pot of roasted and ground up seeds taken from the fresh fruit right off of the tree was wonderful, thank you.

“Later I began collecting the seeds off of the ground around the trees where the fruit had fallen off and rotted, carefully avoiding the piles of possum poo of course. When I had about a quart of seeds I put them in a small saucepan and boiled them for about 5-10 minutes to kill any bacteria and clean the residue off of the seeds, then I slow roasted them on about 250 until I could hear them steadily crackling and popping.

“After the seeds had cooled I anxiously ground up a handful for a full eight cup pot of coffee. My first pot from the earlier experiment was only about four cups. I brought my fresh, large mug of coffee (About 3.5 cups) to the computer and I enjoyed it immensely while watching videos. But almost as soon as I began the second mug full I began to feel a little funny. In a few minutes I became dizzy and stopped drinking. A few more minutes passed and I became very ill and evacuated my stomach of any remaining persimmon coffee lol.

“I have a heart condition so I made sure that I was not in cardiac distress, and when everything seemed OK i stumbled off to bed. The next day, after a very sweaty night, I still felt a little peculiar, which is not unusual for me. But I was no longer dizzy or nauseous.

“Now for the really interesting part. I have Cardio Myopathy and severe heart disrhythmias, so I can usually feel my heart skipping and pounding. But for about three months after this incident I was like a normal person, heart rhythm wise that is lol. I have actually been able to feel my heart beat since I was a young boy, and I have only rarely had a steady rhythm for short periods. So not being able to feel my heart beat or detect rhythm problems was phenomenal for me.

“My heart is back to its normal skipping and pounding now, and I have been trying to decide if it was worth the risk to try lowering the dose of persimmon coffee down to a sip or two and see if I get positive results. I am not writing for advice because I know that it would be too much of a liability for you to give me the go ahead on something like that, but I did want someone to know what had happened with my adventure in drinking persimmon seed coffee.”

Fruits in the Syzygium genus come in make different shapes and sizes.

The apple is in the Rose family but the Rose Apple is not though it can sometime taste like rose water… and watermelon… but not apples.

The redder the Rose Apple the sweeter.

Like many fruit of Asian origin this species and relatives have dozens of common name and a few botanical ones as well: Bell Fruit, Champoo, Cloud Apple, Jamaican Apple, Java Apple, Lembu, Lian-Woo, Love Apple, Makopa, Malay Apple, Mountain Apple, Royal Apple, Water Apple, Wax Apple, and Wax Jambul. Its most significant other botanical name is/was Eugenia javanica. That should tell you two things: It’s from the Java area and is related to the Suriname Cherry and the Simpson Stopper. How closely related is a good debate. The blossoms look similar and the leaves are aromatic. The genus is Syzygium — more on that later — and there are 1,139 members in that genus including the tree that produces the spice “cloves.” You will have to take the common names, as they say, with a grain of salt in that related genus-mates often have the same names. Add to that different botanical names and it is a drunk-botanist mess.

The flower buds of one Sygyzium become cloves.

As one night surmise the Rose Apple (Syzygium samarangense) has a long history in Southeast Asia. Not only does it have a wide range it is also the most commonly cultivated tree in that area of the world. Native from Bangladesh to the Solomon Islands it’s commonly planted in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Taiwan, India, Zandibar, Pemba, Surinam, the Antilles, northern Australia, and the Philippines where it is naturalized. It was intentionally introduced into Florida in 1960 and some trees can be found in Arizona and southern California. The species does not like high altitudes (must be below 4,000 feet) nor temperatures below freezing though mature trees can take 28F for a while. It likes well-drained soil, morning sun and afternoon shade if temperatures are regularly over 90F. Self-pollinating the tree easily grows from the non-edible seeds, grows very fast, and can fruit within three to five years. It is not unusual for a five-year-old tree to have 700 fruit per season. The fruit can also grow on the trunk and branches and reach maturity in 63 days. As for the fruit…

Jambul Fruit being made into wine. Photo by Green Deane

They range in color from pinkish white to deep red almost black. The darker the fruit the sweeter also the more ripe it is and the less citric and oxalic acid it has. Traditionally the bottom of the fruit is removed with the core and seeds as one often prepares a green pepper for stuffing, leaving it hollow. The fruit has more water content than an apple, on par with a watermelon, and the flesh is softer than an apple despite its name. They are eaten out of hand or made into jelly, juice, sauces and wine (fruits of different color produce different colored juice.) The fruit is a sliced addition to salads, can be pickled, and is use as a food decoration. Nutritionally per 100 grams they have about 0.3 grams of protein, no fat, 3.9 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fiber, 253 IUs of vitamin A, traces of vitamin B1 and B2 traces, one milligram of vitamin C and 80 calories. It’s 90% water. A close relative of the Rose Apple is the Jambul or Java Plum. That is more commonly found in Central to South Florida. As far as I can tell all the species fruit at about the same time which can range locally from late July to mid-September.

Syzygiums have two equal leaves at the end of each branch.

As for the botanical name Syzygium is Latin-mangled Greek for “yoke mate.” Greeks call their spouse their yoke-mate. The genus got the name because at the end of the branch there are two equal leaves, see photo left. They are not off set but equal. It’s a good identifier. S. samaragense is more ambiguous. The central city of Java is Semarang and was perhaps named for that. S. jambous is from Indian names of that fruit (which can also means guava) and S. cumini… That’s bit more complex. It means “cumin” like the spice going back to the Greek Kimion but it also has the meaning of being a spice or a drug. The dried buds of S. aromaticum (aromatic) are “cloves.” “Clove” by the way goes back to Dead Latin and means “nail.”

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION

The tree, 16 to 50 feet tall, has a short trunk, 10 to 12 inches, thick, and open, wide-spreading crown, pinkish-gray, flaking bark. Opposite leaves are nearly sessile (stem-less) elliptic-oblong, rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base; yellowish to dark bluish-green; 4 to 10 inches long and 2 to 4 3/4 inches wide; very aromatic when crushed. Flowers drooping panicles of 3 to 30 at the branch tips or in smaller clusters in the axils of fallen leaves, fragrant, yellowish-white, 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches broad, four-petalled, with numerous stamens to one inch long. The waxy fruit, usually light-red, sometimes greenish-white or cream-colored, is pear-shaped, narrow at the base, very broad, flattened, indented and adorned with four fleshy calyx lobes at the apex; The skin is thin, the flesh white, spongy, dry to juicy, subacid and very bland in flavor. One or two somewhat rounded seeds 3/16 to 5/16 of an inch or none.

TIME OF YEAR

In its native range year round or late spring and early fall. In central Florida late July, August usually, some times September.

ENVIRONMENT

Rich, well-drained soil, morning sun, afternoon shade in hot climates, top of a hill rather than the bottom of a hill, temperatures not lower than 28F and elevations not over 4,000 feet.

METHOD OF PREPARATION

Fruit raw or cooked (not seeds.) Can be made into jelly, juice, wine, sauces, or pickled. A recipe is below. 

Herb Blurb

The flowers are astringent and have been used to treat fever and diarrhea. The principal compound seems to be tannin. The fruit also contains desmethoxymatteucinol, 5-O-methyl-4′-desmethoxymatteucinol, oleanic acid and B-sitosterol and show weak antibiotic action against Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium smegmatis, and Candida albicans.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms with Rose Apple Filling

Ingredients:
2 bunches (approx. 20 pieces) squash blossoms
3 tablespoons oil, divided
1 medium white onion, minced
1 cup canned button mushrooms, drained and chopped finely
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped finely
4 tablespoons minced Rose Apple
1/2 cup finely cubed soft, un-aged white cheese
3 egg whites, beaten lightly

Prepare the squash blossoms: Snip off the stems, wash, and carefully pat dry with paper towels. Remove the pistil from each flower. Set aside. In pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Sauté the onion for a couple of minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Add tomatoes. Season it with salt and pepper. Add makopa, mabolo, and kesong puti. Toss well. By using a teaspoon, stuff it filling into the squash blossoms. In a nonstick pan over medium heat, pour remaining oil. Dip each stuffed squash blossom into the egg whites and pan-fry, turning once to make sure both sides are cooked through.

Crunchy tip: If you want it crunchy, combine rice flour, egg white, and water to make a batter with a pancake like consistency. Dip stuffed squash blossoms into the batter and deep-fry quickly.

Kudzu, Pueraria montana var. lobata, the vine people love to hate. Photo by Green Deane

The state government tells me that the plant growing at the end of my street isn’t there.

It’s kudzu, the plant that grows so fast it can follow you like a puppy. It’s not a mile from here. And about eight miles further north I was collecting it some 20 years ago. Yet the government says it is not in this county. It also makes me wonder how the federal Department of Agriculture gets by.  I read the USDA plant distribution maps with a skeptical eye. I’m not sure they are updated every century. And if you write to them and tell them their map is wrong… they get very attitudinal. Kudzu, Ear Tree, Wild Pineapple… NONE of them grow here officially. The only thing worst than academic botanists who never get into the field is USDA agents who can’t tell a plum from a cherry.

Kudzu leaves have hair on the edges. Photo by Green Deane

Rant over, Kudzu, Pueraria montana var. lobata, (pew-er-RAY-ree-u MON-tah-nuh var. low-BAH-tuh) is an extremely versatile plant. We just don’t use it enough. But know this: If Kudzu grows near you, you won’t starve. Indeed, economic times may make Kudzu valuable again. It’s not on menus yet but you may wish it were. A couple of years ago there’s was a Kudzu methanol car-fuel plant in the works in the U.S. but the plans stalled. The only thing about Kudzu I don’t like is the smell of the flowers in bloom: It smells exactly like the very cheap, very intense grape-flavored chemical gum kids chew. You can detect it from hundreds of feet away. Very strong, but good for identifying. If you like that aroma let your nose guide you. (I like the smell of grape, it’s that cheap artificial grape smell I can’t stand.  That’s what Kudzu smells like. Kudzu has no choice, so I don’t blame it. But the gum makers do have a choice and they make the wrong one. )

Kudzu was introduced into the United State in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The exposition was to celebrate 100 years of the United States being an independent country. Japan built a garden using Kudzu. Then it was at an exposition in New Orleans in 1883. American gardeners fell in love.  By 1908 Kudzu was being promoted as a forage crop in Florida then it was widely distributed in the 1920s by a Florida nursery. (At one time they proudly displayed a ground zero Kudzu plaque.)  It was planted by the conservation corps during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl Era of the 1930s and in the 1940s the government was paying farmers $8 an acre to let it grow for soil conservation. (In 2008 dollars that is $134 an acre.)  It was called “the miracle vine” and cotton was no longer king of the south.

Removing root starch is labor intensive

But, by 1953 even federal employees suspected something was wrong. The government stopped paying to plant it. Kudzu can grow a foot a day and when escaped from cultivation, it can smother and kill an entire forest. By 1970 the government called it a weed and it’s been a “pest” ever since finally getting on the Federal Noxious Weed List in 1997, some 44 years after the alarm was raise.  A half a billion dollars is spent annually trying to contain it. Granted Kudzu is a problem, but “pest” or “resource” is a matter of attitude and policy.  It’s a huge amount of food not being consumed, a resource not being used. What would a country in famine do with those hundreds of thousands of acres of food? I doubt they would call it a noxious weed. Perhaps instead of sending dollars to the starving we should send them nutritious kudzu.

Kudzu’s pods and seeds are NOT edible

Kudzu can be eaten many ways. The young leaves can be consumed as a green, or juiced. They can be dried and made into a tea. Shoots can be eaten like asparagus. The blossom can be used to make pickles or a jelly — a taste between apple and peach — and the root is full of edible starch. Older leaves can be fried like potato chips, or used to wrap food for storage or cooking. With kudzu you can make a salad, stew the roots, batter-fry the flowers or pickled them or make a make syrup. Raw roots can be cooked in a fire, roots stripped of their outer bark can be roasted in an oven like any root vegetable; or grated and ground into a flour to make a thickener, a cream or tofu. Kudzu is used to make soaps, lotions, rope, twine, baskets, wall paper, paper, fuel  and compost. It can also be baled like hay with most grazing animals liking it, especially goats. Only the seeds are not edible. And while the root starch is edible, it takes hours of pounding to get the starch out, as my friend Doug Elliott wrote in his book, Roots. 

Kudzu, to someone not familiar with it, does have a couple of look-alikes, such as the Desmodium rotundifolium, or the Ticktrefoil.  Kudzu has very hairy young stems, the D. rotundifolium does not… that and that Kudzu goes wild and outgrows it. The hog peanut, Amphicarpaea bracteata, may be mistaken for young Kudzu vines, but it does not have hairy stems or climbs into trees. The key is to look for hairy stems on the young Kudzu, and when it blossoms follow the grape aroma.

The word “kudzu” comes from the Japanese word “kuzu” which means vine. The name itself comes from a particular region of Japan where the people are also called Kuzu. It is not known which came first, the name or the people. Pueraria was named after the Swiss botanist Marc Nicolas Puerari who taught in Copenhagen. Montana means mountainous. Lobata means lobes. Sometimes the plant is called Pueraria lobata, skipping the Montana part. In China it is called gé gēn.

Kudzu is not a famine food but prime fare. We call it a weed because we are not hungry enough… yet. Recipies on bottom. By the way goats love Kudzu and it is by far not the most invasive species in the South. The Asian Privet is.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Kudzu is a climbing, semi-woody, vine that can reach up to 100 feet in length. Stems can reach the diameter of ½ to 4 inches, old ‘stumps’ can be nearly 12 inches across. Leaves alternate, compound with three broad leaflets to 4 inches across. Leaflets may be entire or deeply 2-3 lobed hairy underneath. Flowers are ½ inch long, purple, highly fragrant in long clusters. Flowers in  late summer, seeds pods brown, hairy, flattened, containing three to ten seeds.

TIME OF YEAR: Shoots in spring, young leaves anytime, blossoms July through October, roots best in fall or early spring.

ENVIRONMENT: Likes full sun, heat, plenty of water.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Nearly too numerous to mention.  Most of the plant is edible in some way except the seeds and seed pods.  They are not edible.

Herb Blurb

In the Orient, it is used to treat dysentery, allergies, migraine headaches, diarrhea, fevers, colds, intestinal problems and angina pectoris, to help with the digestion of food and reduce blood pressure. Kudzu has been used successfully for centuries as a treatment for alcoholism, and this is a main focus of modern kudzu medical research today. Experiments with hamsters and rats, show that a compound in kudzu actually causes the repression of alcohol consumption. This research could have great value in the future for the treatment of alcoholism

 Kudzu Blossom Jelly

Spoon over cream cheese, or melt and serve over waffles and ice cream. The blossom liquid is gray until lemon juice is added.

4 cups Kudzu blossoms

4 cups boiling water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 (1 3/4-ounce) package powered pectin

5 cups sugar

Wash Kudzu blossoms with cold water, and place them in a large bowl. Pour 4 cups boiling water over blossoms, and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. Pour blossoms and liquid through a colander into a Dutch oven, discarding blossoms. Add lemon juice and pectin; bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.

Stir in sugar; return to a full rolling boil, and boil, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim off foam with a spoon. Quickly pour jelly into hot, sterilized jars, filling to 1/4 inch from top. Wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands.

Process in boiling water bath 5 minutes. Cool on wire racks. YIELD: 6 half pints.

Rolled Kudzu Leaves

Kudzu Leaves

1 can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons salt

3 cloves garlic, cut in half

Juice of 3 lemons

Bacon Grease (optional)

Stuffing ingredients: 1 cup rice, rinsed in water

1 pound ground lamb or lean beef

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon of allspice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Gather about 30 medium-sized young kudzu leaves. Make sure area has not been sprayed with chemicals.

Wash leaves. Drop into salted boiling water. Boil a 2-3 minutes, separating leaves. Remove to a plate to cool. Remove heavy center stems from the leaves by using a knife and cutting down each side of the stem to about the middle of the leaf. Combine all stuffing ingredients and mix well.

Push cut sides together and fill with 1 teaspoon stuffing and roll in the shape of a cigar. Place something in bottom of a large pan so that rolled leaves will not sit directly on the bottom of the pan. Bacon grease is great for seasoning.

Arrange Kudzu rolls alternately in opposite directions. When all are in the pot, pour in a can diced tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 3 cloves of garlic, cut in half. Press down with an inverted dish and add water to reach dish. Cover pot and cook on medium for 30 minutes. Add lemon juice and cook 10 minutes more.

Kudzu Quiche

Makes 4-6 servings.

1 cup heavy cream

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup chopped, young, tender Kudzu leaves and stems

1/2 teaspoon salt

Ground pepper to taste

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 nine-inch unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cream, eggs, kudzu, salt, pepper, and cheese. Place in pie shell. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until center is set.

Kudzu Tea

Kudzu leaves

Mint

Honey

Simmer 1 cup of finely chopped Kudzu leaves in a quart of water for 30 minutes. Drain and serve with honey and a sprig of mint. If you prefer a sweeter taste use honey to sweeten the tea.

Deep Fried Kudzu Leaves

Pick light green leaves, 2-inch size.

Thin batter made with iced water and flour

Oil

Heat oil. Rinse and dry kudzu leaves, then dip in batter (chilled). Fry oil quickly on both sides until brown. Drain on paper toweling. Eat while warm.

kudzu powder

Kudzu powder can be prepared on a small scale from wild kudzu with little equipment. Roots no smaller than 1 1/2” in diameter should be harvested during the winter months, December through March. Kudzu root should be washed, cut into approximate one-inch thick slices and pureed in a blender with enough cold water to blend the root well. The puree should be strained and the solid fibers squeezed to extract all the liquid to be used for further processing. The remaining fibers should then be saturated with water, stirred, and strained again, collecting the liquid into the container with the other extract. The brown kudzu liquid should be filtered through muslin or lower grade cotton fabric and left undisturbed in a cool or cold location for 24 hours. The fibers can be composted and the brown liquid should then be discarded as grey water. The clay like substance remaining in the container should be broken up and mixed well, until thoroughly dissolved with clean water once again, and allowed to rest for 24 hours in a cool environment. The liquid should again be discarded and the starch redissolved into a second batch of clean water, this time leaving the mixture for 48 hours in a cool place. The liquid should then be discarded and the layer of gray impurities removed from the starch. The starch is then ready to be used immediately or can be dried to preserve it indefinitely. To dry the kudzu starch, place kudzu chunks on a tray or on layers of paper and set it in a cool, well ventilated place for 10 to 40 days until thoroughly dry. Store dry chunks of kudzu in a sealed container. The dry chunks of kudzu, when pulverized, become kudzu powder.

Kudzu Flower Wine

4 quarts water

6 quarts fresh kudzu blossoms

yeast

4 cups sugar 1 gallon jug 1 balloon

Pick kudzu blossoms when they are dry (mid-day). Wash in pan of water containing 1/2 cup vinegar to kill any bugs. Pour 2.5 quarts of boiling water over the blossoms and stir. Put a lid on the container and stir twice a day for four days.

Strain the liquid through a clean cloth. Press the blossoms to get all the liquid from them. Add four cups sugar. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Pour the dissolved yeast into the liquid. Stir well. Transfer to a one-gallon jug. Add enough water to bring the liquid within 2 inches below the neck of the jug. Attach the balloon and secure it with twine or a strong rubber band. Place jug in a cool dark place that is between 60° F to 75° F.

Every other day gently loosen the balloon and allow the gas to escape and then replace the balloon firmly on the neck of the jug. In approximately 6 weeks the balloon will stop expanding and the wine is done. Strain the wine through a clean cloth and transfer it to airtight bottles. Allow it to sit for an additional two to twelve months before drinking.

Kudzu Root Sucker

In a survival situation, any kudzu root between 1/2 to 3/4 inches in diameter can be washed, cut at both ends to a length of about 6 inches, and then all the exterior bark should be scrapped off. The raw root can then be sucked on to gradually remove all its internal nutrients. Only suck the nutrients out of the root. The root is wood. Wood is NOT digestible. Do NOT eat the wood.

Kudzu Root Tea

The thin, tender young roots can be dug up, washed, diced, boiled, and strained to make a tea.

Canna edulis

How many species of Canna are there? There used to be perhaps 100 but now there are 20 or so, plus one Scottish island with a …ah.. population problem. And don’t misspell it Cana with one ‘N’ or you will get a cremation society.

I lived with a Taiwanese family for a while, perhaps that’s where I got my skills at cooking down home Chinese food. They grew Canna, red blossom with skinny petals (well, blossom parts that look like petals.) See above. I thought at the time the flowers were Taiwanese Canna because they looked so different in blossom than Canna found in the southern United States, which has large fat blossoms of yellow or gold. My presumption was that Canna was Asian. Come to find out everyone thought that but Canna is originally from the Americas. It went east and west and then it came back and got discovered.

Golden Canna, Canna flaccida

Canna is called a lily in common terms — Canna Lily — but it is not a lily. It’s in the order of Zingiberales which includes ginger, bananas, and marantas. The resemblance is in the leaves. How it got to be called a Canna Lily is unknown though it can be a bit orchid looking and was once called the Orchid-Flowered Canna. One can also easily see the ginger relationship just as kids in a family can look similar. Its leaves are large and green, some times brown to maroon, occasionally variegated. Blossom color varies but usually favoring the red/orange/yellow range. Hybrids are often multi-colored. The blossom is rather odd in that what attracts our eye is often modified stamen (reproductive parts) rather than true petals. But I’ll call them blossoms for convenience. Like so many plants misnamed and renamed by personality-void botanists the genus proliferated with species and varieties and cultivars until it was a mangle morass of monikers. It took two botanists two careers to sort them from a big mess to a little mess. Here’s what happened.

Canna indica

Cannas are native to the warm areas of the Americas. They were taken to warm areas of southeast Asia, then called the East Indies.  From there they went to Europe. The first named species was Canna indica, which means Canna from India. In those days that meant from the West Indies but that was overlooked and the notion arose that the Canna was from the East Indies rather than the West Indies. More so, indica today mean from India not the West Indies. Subsequent botanists “discovered” Canna in Africa and Asia thinking it came from the India. Then they were “discovered” in the Americas, for a second time. It would be centuries before there was general agreement that Canna are native Americans and that scores of different Canna species was probably only one score. (Ya gotta love academics, like doctors, oh so right and oh so wrong.)

Canna edulis roots in the Andeas

So, what of the Canna, which parts can be used? If you believe everything on the Internet the entire plant is used, seeds to rhizome. Reality is a bit different. The seeds are tough. How tough? They can stay viable for 600 years and have been used for buckshot. That’s tough. Young seeds can be ground and eaten. Unfortunately references that say mature seeds can be sprinkled on tacos was not written by anyone who ever tried it this buckshot replacement. Cooked immature seeds, however, are edible. In some species the young shoots and leaves are a cooked green — usually boiled — and in some species the root starch is edible. In fact, it is the largest plant starch, molecularly speaking, and among if not the easiest to digest. Arrowroot starch, used as a thickener, comes from a relative of the Canna, Maranta arundinacea.

Canna indica purpurea rhizome

The best-known Canna for food is Canna edulis, also called Achira. It can have a rhizome clump two feet long. At harvest time the plant is three to six feet high with alternative leaves that are a foot long and almost half a foot wide. The unisexual flowers have orange red petals and three petal-like staminodia, each of different lengths. Those lead to a three-cell seed capsule with round black seeds. Its starch has been used for food for at least 4,500 years. Canna indica roots are edible, too, as are the rhizomes of Canna coccinea. C. indica It looks similar to Canna edulis but is shorter and has brighter red flowers.

Locally the edible member of the species is Canna flaccida,  KAN-uh FLACK-sid-uh, also called Golden Canna. It’s a showy, immersed native that typically grows to four to five feet tall. Golden Canna is found in small stands at the edges of marshes, swamps, ponds and lakes. It is found throughout the southern United States. It also has been hybridized and found in household gardens around the world. Golden Canna flowers are showy yellow and usually open in the afternoon. Hybrid Golden Canna flowers are orange tinged, or have large fat petals that are orange and red (compared to the skinny red species.) The three-inch-long flowers grow in clusters at the tops of long stalks. They attach in a spiral along the stem as do the leaves. The leaf shape is oblong to elliptic, tapering bases and pointed tips. Leaves can be two six inches wide and three feet long. Veins are parallel and sharply angled. The three-part seed capsule is rough to the touch turning black. Roots are long, thin, and white. Synonyms: Canna anahuacensis, Canna flaccidum, Canna reevesii. (That’s how they ended up with 100 botanical names, nearly everyone thought they had found a different species.)

Canna root does not store well so it is best left in the ground until when you intend to use it, say within a few days. It can be eaten raw, or is often boiled. Best method of preparation is long baking. The roots are not peeled before or after baking. Once cooked they are slit and the soft, shiny starchy content scooped out. A lot of the starch can make you hiccup. In the mountains of Peru the roots are baked in ground pits with coals and hot rocks covered with dirt, usually 12 hours at least.

Propagation: Plant the small corm-like rhizome segments. Flowering plants have rhizomes tinged with purple, immature plants have white rhizomes flesh. Rhizomes of the Canna iridiflora are not eaten because it is among the few Canna that does not produce fleshy rhizomes.

Canna Island, Scotland

You will read that Canna means reed and is from a Celtic word. Partially true, and there is a Scottish island named Canna. But the Celtic word is from the Dead Latin word Canna which is from the Living Greek word Kanna. Kanna was a certain reed Greeks used to weave into mats and fences. And about Canna Island…

As detailed in my previous article it is an island, left, with about a dozen residents (in 2010)  though the Scottish government would like to increase that. The island had a rat population problem. A few years ago they got rid of the rats then had a rabbit  population problem because the rats weren’t around to keep the rabbits in check.  Bunny birth control eased that problem but the low human population remains a problem. The island is a tourist destination and at one time presumably had Canna, or more specifically local reeds.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Golden Canna, Bandana of the Everglades

IDENTIFICATION: Canna flaccida: Rhizomes fleshy. Leaves: sheath and blade hairless, narrowly ovate to narrowly elliptic, 20 to 50 inches long, base gradually narrowed into sheath, apex acute (pointed.) Inflorescences racemes, simple, bearing one-flower each, fewer than five flowers per inflorescence; Flowers pure yellow, pedicels short, sepals narrowly oblong-elliptic, petals strongly curve back, lobes narrowly oblong-elliptic, base sharply reflexed; three staminodes, broadly ovate, seed capsules irregular ellipsoid, seeds brown, nearly round.

TIME OF YEAR: Usually summer time. Roots should be harvested before the plant flowers.

ENVIRONMENT: Full sun, shallow water around six inched deep, open marshes, lake margins, ponds, savannas, ditches,  and inundated pine flatwoods. Although Canna is frost sensitive it also grows very fast and has been grown in extreme northern climates such as northern Alaska and Canada because of the long days.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Canna edulis roots are either boiled or baked, or eaten raw. Usually they are slow roasted, usually 12 hours minimum, a good oven on low heat can do that in half the time. Young shoots are eaten as a green vegetable usually cooked but I have had one Hawaiian forager tell me he eats young shoots raw. Leaves can be used to cook food in. Immature seeds cooked. Starch can be used like arrowroot. Canna flaccida roots are usually ground and washed letting the starch settle. The water is then poured off and the starch dried then ground. Cooked Canna starch can be used to make alcohol. The stems can be used to make fiber.