On Cattails and Edible Parts

So today while my dad was getting his car appraised at Carmax just for the hell of it, I went over their little tiny fence and at the edge of a little manmade pond there were a ton of cattails! I didn't have my field guide with me so i didn't want to eat anything of it I just wanted to check it out. So I pulled out my Swiss Army Knifeand cut some stalks off and checked them out!

They didn't have the polen heads or flowers or anything which was dissappointing because they are supposed to but anyways I cut them open at the bottom and it was in layers, part of a stalk, outside of a layer of white stuff and then another part of the stalk, it smelled like cucumbers too Laughing

. Is this one of the edible parts? if it isnt then what is? also I noticed the sticky substance at the bottom of the little stalks and I think that I remember my field guide saying that cattails had a sticky fluid somewhere between it flowers or its stalks i can't remember which but it said that it had Antiseptic properties and that if you had a toothache you could rub it on your gums and it would numb your teeth, the author even said that his dentist expressed some amazement when he used that sticky stuff instead of novocaine prior to having a tooth pulled. Laughing

I didn't get to check out the roots though due to heavy spiked weeds around all the cattails.

So how about them? I also noticed that the cattail head was a little funny, i thought you could just stab them open. Guess not, I had to stab them and then pull out to push the down out. Well anyways it kept me occupied while dad was getting his car appraised.

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You can eat a couple things on cat tails. The bottom of the stake before the roots onces you peel it.

You can also eat a part of the roots. I say ray mears boil some roots.

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"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

This might help Very Happy

eric

Yeah, I've seen all those things before and I was wondering if comeone could actually like take a picture of the actual cattail stalks, cut them open and show me exactly what they are and how to eat them.

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A lot of times on his shows, Ray Mears will show how to eat cattails Very Happy

I'm having a hard time finding cattails around here, when I was a kid there was a lot Confused

eric

yes I've noticed the darnest thing. All the cat tails here have "Exploded" They are not brown on top but there is jsut tons of fluff, and the rest is all dead and dry. I cant eat that so its hard to find fresh ones Confused

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"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

	turd wrote:
	A lot of times on his shows, Ray Mears will show how to eat cattails I'm having a hard time finding cattails around here, when I was a kid there was a lot eric

Any links to one of those videos?

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Here, but it's a 10 gig torrent.

eric

Holy crap!!!

lol, but i will keep that link in handy, I don't have a torrent thing on this computer, no do I have NEAR enough space on this one.

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So I got some cattails, but I don't know what to do with them. I think I didn't picked them early enough Confused

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w95/ghillieguy23/IM001974.jpg

eric

They look like they should still be ok turd. Im not a cattail expert but it looks like you could still use them.

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

What should I do with them?

I got a little pollen from them, but not much.

eric

	turd wrote:
	What should I do with them? I got a little pollen from them, but not much. eric

peel some off & try it for tinder starter, see how it works. Get the old firesteal & strike away.

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Lol. I just got an idea from my "Guide to Edible and Medicinal Plants"

I want to work out something with our local small library and make an event called "taste of wildlife"

With a little help and a little more experience I can try to make natural salads, with rose petals and the like, make some pine tea, some cattails, etc etc.

Anyone have ideas for this? Also I need to get much more informed about this, I dont want to poison the people on accident Laughing

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Sounds Like a great idea Very Happy

eric

lol. I'll make a new topic for that.

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