- I have always heard that you can pick and eat the unopened day lily flower 'buds' (a.k.a. pods) raw or cooked and that cooked they are to taste similar to asparagus. I'm still thinking on this asparagus thing, I don't know. There is something in common with it but I think it really has a more unique fresh green taste of it's own. I do suppose it is a good reference to decide what to do with them since they are prepared the same way. Now I am learning that not only can the flower buds be eaten but also the flowers, the tubers, and the greens when they are young in the spring(I will have to try eating the greens next year since I learned about that too late this year but I also hear they can be used as a painkiller and has a mild uplifting effect, I will have to also try and add to my medicine kit, next year!)
- The orange flowers can be eaten raw, cooked, stuffed raw with yummy fillings( savory ones like leftover rice and veggies with cheese or nuts) or more on the sweet side(cream cheese with green onions) try filling with ice cream and berry layers! I haven't tried this yet but I definitely have some ideas going and will be trying them soon. Also you can dehydrate the flowers for later use, the Chinese did this and they were referred to as 'golden needles' adding to soups and other winter foods! The flower part has a sweet flavor(just think sweet lettuce when trying to get cooking ideas) and does taste good raw and is a colorful addition to salads, sandwiches or just about anything else!!!
- I have heard that you can make a batter of flower and water and dip the bulbs in and then fry tempura style but I have not tried this yet. Also can be fried in a little oil (just plain buds) until lightly browned(this is the famous asparagus style). I have also heard some ambitious people pickle the buds, if I ever have time to try this I will write about how it turns out. For now mostly I just enjoy snacking on them while walking through our garden since they are everywhere growing like weeds!!
- While weeding our garden we often just pull these lilies out and throw them in the compost pile not having time to do anything with them. I am trying to be better about using them but really there are so many of them it hardly matters, I could still pick enough for a giant meal any day! A couple of days ago Javi and I were weeding and I decided to bring in a pile of the tubers and use them. There are still a bunch sitting in a bowl of water on my counter but some we did wash, chomp on raw(they taste sort of like water chestnuts) and also we sliced up a bunch and added them to some black bean burgers we threw together last night, gave them some more texture and tasted really good. I have heard you can also boil them or use in any way like potatoes but I have not tried this yet, though being a big potato fan I sure plan to!! Also when you boil the tubers the skins supposedly pop right off(though you can eat them) and they acquire a buttery flavor, sounds good to me!
- I also heard a pretty dye can be made out of the flowers and in the fall the bigger green leaves get very strong and can be used for weaving baskets and even used to make footwear, day lily green sandals sounds pretty cool to me, I hope I find time to try that out:)
- Oh I almost forgot to mention day lilies are high in protein and vitamin C and also have vitamin A, Beta Carotene and iron!! Pretty exciting so everyone go try them now and let me know what you think! I would also love to hear if anyone has any good recipes! I could use some more ideas for eating these yummy flowers!
- Happy foraging!!
