Cattails

The rhizomes are a palatable, nutritious and productive root vegetable, generally harvested in the fall and winter. The pollen is also sometimes used as a flour supplement, and the young green flowering stalks can be boiled and eaten like sweetcorn.

The core of the thick branching rootstock, which grows horizontally in the mud, is very starchy. It can be cooked and eaten like potatoes, or dried and ground into flour used in baking and also as a substitute for corn starch. This flour can be fermented to produce ethyl alcohol valuable as anti-freeze, as a cheap industrial solvent, and for medicinal purposes. It contains more fat but slightly less protein than potato or wheat flours, and only potato flour has more minerals.

In spring the young shoots, which taste something like a cucumber and are called “Cossack asparagus”, are peeled and eaten as a vegetable or in salads. The young green flower-heads are said to be delicious when boiled or roasted. The pollen, which is very abundant and rich in vitamins and minerals, was harvested and used in bread by our American Indians.