Reed Mace

[Steve R]

I went for a bimble round last Wednesday and came back with, among other things, two Reed Mace heads.

Broke them down to ‘fluff’ and tried some with the firesteel, one strike, WOW! Like throwing a match at petrol (so I am told ), excellent result, and I have quite a large bag of the ‘fluff’ still to play with

My first time ever with Reed Mace and I was impressed.



Edit to add,

I hope 'bimble' means to wander round, I think it does

 

[John Dixon]

Were you not tempted to get the roots and cook them? Taste pretty good..

 

[Steve R]

Tempted, yes, but was not set up for wading and my mate told me it's deep there, I just reached off the bank and took two heads.

I certainly intend to try them sometime.

 

[Matt Weir]

Even when the heads are quite damp on the outside, when broken and teased apart it goes up like no ones business doesn't it? Fantastic pre-tinder.

Matt.

 

[Steve R]

They were, it does and it is

 

[rich59]

What is some good ways to eat the root?

 

[Longstrider]

What is some good ways to eat the root?

Once you have gathered the roots and cut off any little stringy bits just treat them as if they were spuds and you'll not go far wrong. They taste pretty good if simply layed in a bed of good embers and left until they smell cooked. Peel off the outer skin and any burned bits and get stuck in. Good tucker!

 

[Nathan Sturgess]

Yep they taste good. They were my first wild food. There is also the bit at the base of the stem but i have never eaten that. I think it can only be eaten at certain times of the year.

 

[Osprey]

My daughter and I spent the weekend clearing the burn that runs past our garden and tidying up the banks. I noticed that a neighbouring farmer had recently cleaned out a pond, and there were a lot of reed-mace roots lying around.
We have planted a lot of the roots to the banks of the burn and hopefullly we will have our own supply of tinder in a couple of years