Dwarf reedmace - edible ??

[leon-b]

hi guys im calling upon you for help again , well i bought some dwarf reed mace - Typha minima for my pond and was wondering if the root is edible like in the normall ones
thanks leon

 

[Toddy]

I don't know, but the plant I bought for my pond three years ago has gone nuclear this Spring, and is now nearly four feet high and has filled out quite considerably. If it is edible then it neatly tidies up my qualms about redding it out a bit, I was going to use some of the stalks for basketry too.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[leon-b]

basketry sounds cool, even if the roots is edible they will need to grow a bit before i can eat them
leon

 

[rich59]

Plants for a future quotes it the same as other members of the typha family. So probably fine.

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Typha+minima

 

[leon-b]

nice, i look forwad to trying them then
leon

 

[xylaria]

For the arial part, the solid bit of the stalk at the bottom of the plant that looks like a trimmed leek can be eaten as well. If you can't weave with it you can eat.

Does anyone else think that the root is more tasty in the winter than the summer?

 

[JonnyP]

Does anyone else think that the root is more tasty in the winter than the summer?

I reckon its bound to be....By the time you have broken through the ice, turned your hands and arms blue with cold and filled a welly up with icy water, they are definetly going to taste better....

 

[leon-b]

some more questions
are there any parts of the plant that can not be eaten ?
what can be eaten raw ?
leon

 

[xylaria]

I reckon its bound to be....By the time you have broken through the ice, turned your hands and arms blue with cold and filled a welly up with icy water, they are definetly going to taste better....

I use a walking stick you prod around the root to loosen the mud then hook under used the handle then pull, you don't that wet. And I don't need wellies.

It is just I have noticed I could get enough starch out in the winter to make cookies and now a if i do the same process I get vertually nothing.

 

[Toddy]

Kind of makes sense since the aerial parts die off and the roots are used to store the energy to grow again next year.
Are they stringy like the greater reedmace can be?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

Kind of makes sense since the aerial parts die off and the roots are used to store the energy to grow again next year.
Are they stringy like the greater reedmace can be?

cheers,
Toddy

I have never eaten a typha minima, but any of typha I have ate have been pretty much stringy, but there some variation in taste but now I am eating it regularly I am beginning to wonder if that is seasonal not variety.

If anyone is worried about trying a new variety I will volunteer to be the lab rat . Typhas dont make any toxins but I always cook water plants to kill off water borne pathogens. I am utterly certian that minima are fine.

 

[leon-b]

ok so i just boil them up ?
i might go into the pond and get one tommorow, they are in a pot at the moment with soil
leon