Native Americans have been using the harden roots for decades. We Ojibway call it "Wiikay". Great for colds and other ailments. You clean them, dry them for about a week, then grind them to power, then boil.
Only decades? Or did you mean centuries? Not being a smartass I'm really curious if it's something new that they discovered. New things are being found out all the time so ya never know
Safety Note! I think it's important to mention this. Cattails are natural ecosystem cleaners for rivers other water sources, meaning they soak up pollutants. Do not harvest or eat these around sketchy water sources, it could make you very sick. If you're unsure about how clean the water source around the cattails are, just don't harvest it for consumption. This is a good general rule of thumb for any plant that you may want to harvest for consumption in or around water sources, but especially things like cattails. For Native Americans who used this stuff all the time a few hundred years ago, they didn't need to worry about that so much. These days, you always need to be aware of it.
In a pinch for survival or if you don't have anything to boil them in, you can leave the skin on and just roast them on some coals in the fire. Then cut them open and just eat the insides. I've never tried it but I've heard it's actually sweet when roasted.
You don't have to boil the roots to get out the starchy flour. Just break up the fibers a bit (the more the better), soak it in water, and pour off the water carefully when a bunch of starch has settled on the bottom of the pan. Then dry the resulting flour. It tastes and looks like regular wheat flour. It will not ACT like wheat flour because it has no gluten in it to make things rise, but it can make excellent flat breads or mix half and half with wheat flour to make baked goods you want to rise.
Also a quick tip on extracting the starch from cattail. When raw you can put a decent ammount of good sized rhyzome into a container and pound them into a paste after adding a little water. After squeezing out what's left from the ryzhome you pour it out to dry on a piece of plastic or even a big leaf or leaf woven plate, etc. Once dry, it will be gray and relatively cardboard like. This can absolutely be used as a soup thickener. When roasted on a fire, the flavor is much better. Taste normally can't be helped unfortunately without spices. Certain times of year the still green flower shoots can be stirfried or straight up roasted or used as a pot herb. Good to note you can also use the leaves to make fishing line for small to medium size fish
@TheNorthwestForager very much so! Also supposedly the pollen can be used as a relatively protein rich flour additive. Some say flour substitute but it is a very very very hydrophobic substance and should be mixed with less hydrophobic ingredients. Though a word of warning! Any with allergies should avoid it at all costs because I didn't know I had any pollen allergies until I tried this...just saying. And we may be in the same neck of the woods. Western Washington here.
I was taught to slice them in half lengthwise, boil and serve with a dipping sauce. To eat them, we pulled through the teeth like an artichoke. No stringy goo in the mouth!
love the fact that you show nature and dont speak too much or overpresent. i just got my first cattail shoots and rhizomes out of the freezing water in the northeast yesterday. :)
There were two times in this video where I was disappointed, but within seconds you resolved my concern. The first time was when you tried the raw root and just said "Hm" and seemingly moved on. I was worried that was all you were going to say about it. The second time was when you first tried the cooked root... with added stuff. I was most interested in knowing how it tasted by itself. But then you tried it plain. I appreciate your descriptions and the thoroughness of your taste testing (drinking the water was a great touch). I'm researching foraged foods in the PNW for a story I'm writing.
I dehydrate them, put them in a food processor, and then it basically makes a flour identical to wheat flour but tastes kind of like earthy corn in bread.
You have to be careful around agricultural areas. All the fertilizer runoff from fields will cause bacteria and algae to grow rapidly creating more pollutants in the water, which will build up in the roots of cattails.
I know this comment was from 4 years ago, but I must ask now, will boiling not eliminate bacteria and contamination? Bacteria yes, but what kind of contamination are we talking about. This is a genuine question, and thanks ahead for any answers ✌️✌️
@@dommyboysmith I don't remember any specifics, but I'm certain some of the chemicals used in many fertilizers and pesticides would still be a problem after boiling.
@@Sebastian-But-Not-That-One assuming that they absolutely drown their land in chemicals. Which only shows how LITTLE you know about agriculture versus greenie wishful thinking. Where I am this week has a river full of cattails right next to agricultural land and the water is so good people can drink it without filtering.
Glad to see your channel. Born and raised in Western WA. I’ve eaten Cattail roots and my favorite (by far) after removing the outer skin is to slice them thin (max 1/4”) and sauté or better yet fry with steak. They will take on the steak flavor and those pesky fibers won’t bother you.
Nicely done! Cattail is such a versatile plant, and I happen to like them (cooked), and the unopened green flower heads are good too. Really liked the cinematic touch here and your B-roll scenery that you interspersed. Enjoyable to watch!
Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by and for the great questions. Now that I've had time to analyze the experience a bit the few things I'd like to add is: the flavor is more like a mix between starchy potato and corn with a neutral profile, not sweet not bitter and not sour. As some of you already realize this would make a great thickener for a stew and maybe a gravy. The only downside is the fibers but those can be avoided by either eating off the starch and spitting them out or boiling the starch out completely then filtering out the fiber strains. If you have any ideas for uses or more questions please keep them coming!
Their is a slimy liquid at the base in between the bottom leaves. This is great for wounds and toothaches apparently. Is has a numbing effect. Haven't ever tried this is what I read.
It is almost new shoots time of year. I spent last spring and summer grazing on the male pollen spikes with butter. I think I'll try this this spring. A note of caution though. Cattails are water filtering plants and will filter out metals, pesticides and other toxins. Be SURE that the plants you choose are well away from industrial areas, railroad, roads, livestock farms and other areas known for contaminated runoff.
That is so cool you explaining how to go about forging cat tails? Both The roots and shoots. My mother always had a fascination with them, but she never told me anything about eating them when I was a kid. I wonder if she even knew??
Thank you for posting this excellent video! Cattails can be found in many places where I live. So I’m sure going to try them out. I’ve read the sprouts taste something like asparagus. Is that true?
Hey Hank! I haven't tried cattail root yet. Mostly because of the areas I could harvest it from were not good harvesting locations. But I have tasked the young shoots leaves and it did taste good. you could definitely use those to help thicken a stew. And also I love the spice kit, that is cool kit! Totally fits in with your kits motif!
The Otter Outdoorsman You're definitely right about thickening soup! On my drive home I was considering different uses and that was one of them, also for making gravy why not. The spice kit was a nice coincidence, she ordered it around the time we had our chat about spices yet she had no idea we did! It's perfect for the backpack.
Hmmm, you have the food scientist in me thinking (that's dangerous, in a good way, a delicious way) The issue with adding starches like that for thickening, and why New Englanders like myself hate cornstarch based thickening in chowder (or pronounced when my Boston accent comes out Chowdah), is it can make it slimey. so it needs to be integrated properly. Possibly roasting them first, giving them a rough grind and then simmering them in a low amount of water to may work to produce a psuedo-rue that doesn't cause protein bubbles. but I would have to actually experiment to know. And life is funny like that! you think "hmmm I need something like this" and then either someone gets it for you, or one gets delivered to you. btw, thanks for the shout out.
14 yr old daughter asks if it's fibrous like steamed asparagus. is the texture the same old asparagus, tough. tender asparagus is delicious. made our mouth water
The roots are best used as a binder for making bread from nuts flour because the roots are extremely high in starch. Near the end of the route there's a bulb that can be eaten as you would have potato. But I don't recommend eating the roots raw like you did unless you cook them. You can boil it all the way down to where it becomes a powder of starch you would use an any primative flour that you've processed to make bread
Hi!! great video! I enjoyed cattails at a friends garden party last summer. I also found the cooked cattails to be very nice a little stringy but nice. I was hoping to do some swamp foraging next spring in our new lake as its full of cattails. A word of caution though It is very important not to mistakenly eat an iris, at certain times of the year the iris and cattails are near identical. The iris plant is poisonous. Happy Gardening, Scarlett
Maybe you'll have a cattail video in the near future?? Excellent point on the iris Scarlett! We have lots of water irises in Oregon too. It's something I neglect to mention mainly because I take the Cattail for granted and just assume the differences between the two plants is obvious. But that would be a poor mistake if one were to accidentally stomach the iris. Sounds like a video idea. Happy Foraging!
I'm really digging your video excuse the pun. I've been looking into harvesting wild cattails at a reservoir near me I think you so far helped me a great deal and I'm only halfway through with your video
Cattail is native to New Zealand too. It's called Raupo here. I want to get some established in a pond on our property so that it can become part of our diet. I wonder whether pounding the roots would help to separate out the fibres and make the eating experience more enjoyable? Something to try perhaps. I believe the seedheads can be used as flour too, although I don't know the process.
Sounds like a fun project adding it to your garden. That's something I'd like to do someday is to have an all native edible garden. I've read about the many different processes for extracting the flour. In this case I though it would be fun to try it the way Harrington explained it in his book, although the pounding of the root fibers makes sense. For the best extraction I think one just needs the patience to boil all the starch out then screen out all the fibers. I'd like to mix that flour with the flower pollen and see what kind of goodie I can come up with!
I've heard to take apart the head and singe the fluff off by heating it in the pan. Then you can more easily separate the fluff remaining and grind the seeds into flour. Drying the seeds first makes it easier to grind.
I really enjoyed this one! It was beautifully shot and full of good information. I have always wanted to try harvesting cattail roots, but haven't gotten around to it yet, so I appreciate the motivation. Pardon me if I missed it, but were you looking for anything in particular when choosing which plants to select? It looked like there were hundreds of them so I'm curious if you just picked ones that were easy to reach or if you had other criteria. On another note, I notice what appear to be licorice ferns in your video at 1:09. Do you have any experience with using those for tea or otherwise? Anyway, thank you for posting this for us. I can only imagine the amount of editing time that went into this, but it obviously paid off in terms of quality.
NW Primate Thanks dude, That's a great question! I was looking for the little new growth shoots sticking out of the mud. And then I reached down to see if I could feel a decent size rhizome. If so it was pulled up carefully so I didn't snap and loose most of it. Also good call on the licorice fern! I have tried it before and enjoyed it. We have some dried in our cabinet now maybe it could be worth making a video? Thanks for stopping by hopefully you will get a chance to try it for yourself.
@@TheNorthwestForager thanks for the response! I have no idea what's in the water, ill Probably boil and just take a small nibble to be safe. Awesome vid!
Hey, nice shoes! Also, that's so cool she got you the spice kit! Looks like the perfect size for your foraging adventures. :D It'd be cool if you linked it below. I looked there for it, but didn't see it. Thanks again for another great video!
That would help but you may still end up with little chew balls of fiber. It may be best to slice down the whole length of the cooked rhizome and scrap out the starch with a spoon. This video deserves of a revisit.
Only 61,000 views over five years. When the lizard people start trying to starve us out by shutting off the gas, electricity, and flow of food, this (and other videos like it) are going to become the most watched videos on the interwebs.
I have that book, thanks for recommending it, as I’ve never cracked it open thinking there wasn’t gonna be much overlap. As an aside, do you know any books for the high cascades and central Oregon deserts? When I try to search for the books all I get is stuff you would find for the rainforests
Water quality is always a concern. Most aquatic plants will absorb pollutants, so it's best to harvest from a clean water source. I boiled it till it was soft, 10-15min? If you want to extract the startch into the water, however, you'll need to boil it longer till it breaks all the way down.
Could you grate the rhizomes? How would that work? I recall seeing cattails on my dad's farm in Alberta, Canada. Long ago, I did not know they were edible. Great video. I have subscribed to your channel.
I've spent some time thinking about the best way to collect the starch from cattail. I'm thinking I'd like to boil a pot of the rhizomes till their soft and then crush them, reboil and strain out all the fibers. At that point, I'm guessing the residual starch would be more like a very runny batter rather than like a mashed potato. If I remember right Harrington in his book mentions that they dried the starch into a flour base. Perhaps it would be best for baking then?? So much to try and so little time. Thanks for stopping by Dwayne, appreciate the subb!
I bet it would be tasty simmered with some of those herbs. I've been wondering, in a survival situation, what would be the fastest, most nutritient rich food, "go to" food in the winter here in the northwest. I think cattail might be it. What would you say the top choices are?
That's actually a really good question. Nutrition of course would depend on the individuals needs at different times. Here in the winter time, foods rich in carbohydrates (such as cattail root, wild carrot root, wapato root, burdock root, field mustard root, dandelion root or most other edible roots) would be important for energy to help a person work and stay warm. When it comes to the needs of vitamins and minerals the leaves of stinging nettle, dandelion, bittercress/wild mustards, curly/broadleaf dock will provide vitamin A, C, B, iron, potassium, magnesium to some degree. All the roots and most of these plants can be found all through out the winter time. And there is likely many more plants to add to the winter menu that I have yet to explore.
The cattail is the one most valuable plant there is because the whole plant is edible, something for every season of the year as well. If you find cattails, you've found "the supermarket of the swamp".
We were taught that unless you are boiling for the sake of detoxifying or cleaning something, you should always drink the water to help reclaim the nutrition :)
The shoots are hollow. They are great for making fried onion-type rings, seasoning them as you want. Also slice across the stalks to make bite sized round shoots for soups, add other ingredients and seasonings for a hearty soup. They are called "Cossack asparagus", for another clue. Again, add your own seasonings...they are mild tasting in themselves. They would probably be good raw to dip in your favorite vegetable dip too. There is no end to what you can do with them if you're creative.
Happy Mormon Girl I didn't time it but must have been anywhere between 5-10. The longer it boils the more starch cooks out into the water. I boiled just enough to cook the rhizome through.
I'm flexible. Is there an area half way between you and here (Skamania) ? I'm fine if you want to come out this direction too. Looking at Friday night, sat, leaving early Sunday, or just an overnighter would work too; more fun and content with a two nighter.
Mike Fitch considering boots are important to you, you may like this video better since I'm still wearing my old pair: ruclips.net/video/tPuAu-7gO60/видео.html
Native Americans have been using the harden roots for decades. We Ojibway call it "Wiikay". Great for colds and other ailments. You clean them, dry them for about a week, then grind them to power, then boil.
Great information! Thank you for sharing 😁
Very interesting
When you put the powder in water and boil it, what kind of consistancy are we shooting for? Like between a tea and a poridge?
Only decades? Or did you mean centuries?
Not being a smartass I'm really curious if it's something new that they discovered. New things are being found out all the time so ya never know
Then, centuries would be a more accurate word. Our people use many, many natural plants and roots for medicinal purposes.
Safety Note! I think it's important to mention this. Cattails are natural ecosystem cleaners for rivers other water sources, meaning they soak up pollutants. Do not harvest or eat these around sketchy water sources, it could make you very sick. If you're unsure about how clean the water source around the cattails are, just don't harvest it for consumption. This is a good general rule of thumb for any plant that you may want to harvest for consumption in or around water sources, but especially things like cattails. For Native Americans who used this stuff all the time a few hundred years ago, they didn't need to worry about that so much. These days, you always need to be aware of it.
In a pinch for survival or if you don't have anything to boil them in, you can leave the skin on and just roast them on some coals in the fire. Then cut them open and just eat the insides. I've never tried it but I've heard it's actually sweet when roasted.
You don't have to boil the roots to get out the starchy flour. Just break up the fibers a bit (the more the better), soak it in water, and pour off the water carefully when a bunch of starch has settled on the bottom of the pan. Then dry the resulting flour. It tastes and looks like regular wheat flour. It will not ACT like wheat flour because it has no gluten in it to make things rise, but it can make excellent flat breads or mix half and half with wheat flour to make baked goods you want to rise.
Pound them with a rock for the best starch leeching :)
Also a quick tip on extracting the starch from cattail. When raw you can put a decent ammount of good sized rhyzome into a container and pound them into a paste after adding a little water.
After squeezing out what's left from the ryzhome you pour it out to dry on a piece of plastic or even a big leaf or leaf woven plate, etc.
Once dry, it will be gray and relatively cardboard like.
This can absolutely be used as a soup thickener.
When roasted on a fire, the flavor is much better.
Taste normally can't be helped unfortunately without spices.
Certain times of year the still green flower shoots can be stirfried or straight up roasted or used as a pot herb. Good to note you can also use the leaves to make fishing line for small to medium size fish
@@jabohabo3821 it's truly an incredible yet under appreciated plant!
@TheNorthwestForager very much so! Also supposedly the pollen can be used as a relatively protein rich flour additive. Some say flour substitute but it is a very very very hydrophobic substance and should be mixed with less hydrophobic ingredients.
Though a word of warning! Any with allergies should avoid it at all costs because I didn't know I had any pollen allergies until I tried this...just saying.
And we may be in the same neck of the woods. Western Washington here.
Your video highlights the joys of living close to nature. It’s both inspiring and beautiful!
I was taught to slice them in half lengthwise, boil and serve with a dipping sauce. To eat them, we pulled through the teeth like an artichoke. No stringy goo in the mouth!
Good to know! I love eating artichoke, which can be quite fibrous, so that technique makes the most sense.
At one point he pulled it through his teeth and I was reminded of how to eat artichoke.
love the fact that you show nature and dont speak too much or overpresent. i just got my first cattail shoots and rhizomes out of the freezing water in the northeast yesterday. :)
There were two times in this video where I was disappointed, but within seconds you resolved my concern. The first time was when you tried the raw root and just said "Hm" and seemingly moved on. I was worried that was all you were going to say about it. The second time was when you first tried the cooked root... with added stuff. I was most interested in knowing how it tasted by itself. But then you tried it plain. I appreciate your descriptions and the thoroughness of your taste testing (drinking the water was a great touch). I'm researching foraged foods in the PNW for a story I'm writing.
I dehydrate them, put them in a food processor, and then it basically makes a flour identical to wheat flour but tastes kind of like earthy corn in bread.
That's brilliant! Gonna try that.
I just found you earlier today and I'm really enjoying you and your information. Nice to meet you!
You have to be careful around agricultural areas. All the fertilizer runoff from fields will cause bacteria and algae to grow rapidly creating more pollutants in the water, which will build up in the roots of cattails.
I know this comment was from 4 years ago, but I must ask now, will boiling not eliminate bacteria and contamination?
Bacteria yes, but what kind of contamination are we talking about.
This is a genuine question, and thanks ahead for any answers ✌️✌️
@@dommyboysmith algae and bacteria produce toxins that usually survive much higher temperatures than the cells themselves
@@dommyboysmith I don't remember any specifics, but I'm certain some of the chemicals used in many fertilizers and pesticides would still be a problem after boiling.
@@Sebastian-But-Not-That-One assuming that they absolutely drown their land in chemicals. Which only shows how LITTLE you know about agriculture versus greenie wishful thinking. Where I am this week has a river full of cattails right next to agricultural land and the water is so good people can drink it without filtering.
If your starving does it matter? Laugh now with a full belly die later from GMO's . Everything is toxic.
Glad to see your channel. Born and raised in Western WA. I’ve eaten Cattail roots and my favorite (by far) after removing the outer skin is to slice them thin (max 1/4”) and sauté or better yet fry with steak. They will take on the steak flavor and those pesky fibers won’t bother you.
Nicely done! Cattail is such a versatile plant, and I happen to like them (cooked), and the unopened green flower heads are good too. Really liked the cinematic touch here and your B-roll scenery that you interspersed. Enjoyable to watch!
Thank you! Also like the green flowers, like miniature corn on the cob... yum yum!
Nice camera work! Made for a very enjoyable watch.
Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by and for the great questions. Now that I've had time to analyze the experience a bit the few things I'd like to add is: the flavor is more like a mix between starchy potato and corn with a neutral profile, not sweet not bitter and not sour. As some of you already realize this would make a great thickener for a stew and maybe a gravy. The only downside is the fibers but those can be avoided by either eating off the starch and spitting them out or boiling the starch out completely then filtering out the fiber strains. If you have any ideas for uses or more questions please keep them coming!
When you mentioned Townsend I was so happy. I love their channel and cooking videos!
Their is a slimy liquid at the base in between the bottom leaves. This is great for wounds and toothaches apparently. Is has a numbing effect. Haven't ever tried this is what I read.
Your videos are seriously amazing! Great job
Subscribed. I love the way you find, taste, explain in detail. Very informative. 😊
I appreciate the subb! Thank you :)
Thanks Buddy
Great descriptions, thanks. I use to have the same book, good book. Next weekend I will try cattails with my son.
Thanks for stopping by, Happy Foraging!
It is almost new shoots time of year. I spent last spring and summer grazing on the male pollen spikes with butter. I think I'll try this this spring. A note of caution though. Cattails are water filtering plants and will filter out metals, pesticides and other toxins. Be SURE that the plants you choose are well away from industrial areas, railroad, roads, livestock farms and other areas known for contaminated runoff.
Great video 👍
Wow, that’s the first time I’ve heard Townsends in another youtube channel
Townsend is the real deal! I'm surprised more people don't talk about his work.
@@TheNorthwestForager
Well said about your comment right here, the Northwest Forager...😏
That is so cool you explaining how to go about forging cat tails? Both The roots and shoots. My mother always had a fascination with them, but she never told me anything about eating them when I was a kid. I wonder if she even knew??
Great video dude! I would love to see more.
Thank you, I'll see what I can do!
Is the spice can from Jas Townsend? Yes they are amazing! ❤️ So much Love freely shared
I bet that starchy hot water, in place of milk, would make a nice cup of hot cocoa.
Subbed! Excellent! I’ve always had a love for cattails!💚
Thank you for posting this excellent video! Cattails can be found in many places where I live. So I’m sure going to try them out.
I’ve read the sprouts taste something like asparagus. Is that true?
Hey Hank! I haven't tried cattail root yet. Mostly because of the areas I could harvest it from were not good harvesting locations. But I have tasked the young shoots leaves and it did taste good. you could definitely use those to help thicken a stew. And also I love the spice kit, that is cool kit! Totally fits in with your kits motif!
The Otter Outdoorsman You're definitely right about thickening soup! On my drive home I was considering different uses and that was one of them, also for making gravy why not. The spice kit was a nice coincidence, she ordered it around the time we had our chat about spices yet she had no idea we did! It's perfect for the backpack.
Hmmm, you have the food scientist in me thinking (that's dangerous, in a good way, a delicious way) The issue with adding starches like that for thickening, and why New Englanders like myself hate cornstarch based thickening in chowder (or pronounced when my Boston accent comes out Chowdah), is it can make it slimey. so it needs to be integrated properly. Possibly roasting them first, giving them a rough grind and then simmering them in a low amount of water to may work to produce a psuedo-rue that doesn't cause protein bubbles. but I would have to actually experiment to know. And life is funny like that! you think "hmmm I need something like this" and then either someone gets it for you, or one gets delivered to you. btw, thanks for the shout out.
wow
:D
14 yr old daughter asks if it's fibrous like steamed asparagus. is the texture the same old asparagus, tough. tender asparagus is delicious. made our mouth water
I think you nailed it. Asparagus is a good texture comparison. Cattail root is just more starchy/gritty and less slimy than asparagus.
@@TheNorthwestForager you made her day or may i say night since its almost 10 pm Thank You for your reply
Love it
Crosscut in smaller chunks, like sliced carrots. It cuts the length of the fibers down.
Very cool. This kinda skill is so foreign to me. Will have to tune in for more.
The roots are best used as a binder for making bread from nuts flour because the roots are extremely high in starch. Near the end of the route there's a bulb that can be eaten as you would have potato. But I don't recommend eating the roots raw like you did unless you cook them. You can boil it all the way down to where it becomes a powder of starch you would use an any primative flour that you've processed to make bread
James Bender of Waypoint Survival has one I think?
Hi!! great video! I enjoyed cattails at a friends garden party last summer. I also found the cooked cattails to be very nice a little stringy but nice. I was hoping to do some swamp foraging next spring in our new lake as its full of cattails. A word of caution though It is very important not to mistakenly eat an iris, at certain times of the year the iris and cattails are near identical. The iris plant is poisonous.
Happy Gardening,
Scarlett
Maybe you'll have a cattail video in the near future??
Excellent point on the iris Scarlett! We have lots of water irises in Oregon too. It's something I neglect to mention mainly because I take the Cattail for granted and just assume the differences between the two plants is obvious. But that would be a poor mistake if one were to accidentally stomach the iris. Sounds like a video idea.
Happy Foraging!
How to Grow a Garden with Scarlett Damen I
I'm really digging your video excuse the pun. I've been looking into harvesting wild cattails at a reservoir near me I think you so far helped me a great deal and I'm only halfway through with your video
Thanks for taking the time to watch!
Will defiantly try it! Thank you.
Why be so defiant? Just go with the flow.
@@AraceaeFanatics Your response does not make sense.
@@MrDp2u it makes complete sense if you actually know how to spell.
@@AraceaeFanatics Get a life! You forgot to capitalize your "I" if you are about splitting hairs.
You have to season the roots with soy sauce and syrup....FROM KOREA
Lol...who says so?
Subbed, great video. Looking forward to more.
fab
Cattail is native to New Zealand too. It's called Raupo here. I want to get some established in a pond on our property so that it can become part of our diet. I wonder whether pounding the roots would help to separate out the fibres and make the eating experience more enjoyable? Something to try perhaps. I believe the seedheads can be used as flour too, although I don't know the process.
Sounds like a fun project adding it to your garden. That's something I'd like to do someday is to have an all native edible garden. I've read about the many different processes for extracting the flour. In this case I though it would be fun to try it the way Harrington explained it in his book, although the pounding of the root fibers makes sense. For the best extraction I think one just needs the patience to boil all the starch out then screen out all the fibers. I'd like to mix that flour with the flower pollen and see what kind of goodie I can come up with!
I've heard to take apart the head and singe the fluff off by heating it in the pan. Then you can more easily separate the fluff remaining and grind the seeds into flour. Drying the seeds first makes it easier to grind.
They're in Australia too. Actually my uncle planted some in the 60s and they went invasive in a dam on the farm my father inherited.
Would the book help me out in northern Arizona? I believe the rickies go this far south.
I’d heard growing up that Cattail roots smell and taste like potatoes, I’m very excited to watch your video and find out if it’s more than legend!
Super cool!
I really enjoyed this one! It was beautifully shot and full of good information. I have always wanted to try harvesting cattail roots, but haven't gotten around to it yet, so I appreciate the motivation. Pardon me if I missed it, but were you looking for anything in particular when choosing which plants to select? It looked like there were hundreds of them so I'm curious if you just picked ones that were easy to reach or if you had other criteria. On another note, I notice what appear to be licorice ferns in your video at 1:09. Do you have any experience with using those for tea or otherwise? Anyway, thank you for posting this for us. I can only imagine the amount of editing time that went into this, but it obviously paid off in terms of quality.
NW Primate Thanks dude, That's a great question! I was looking for the little new growth shoots sticking out of the mud. And then I reached down to see if I could feel a decent size rhizome. If so it was pulled up carefully so I didn't snap and loose most of it. Also good call on the licorice fern! I have tried it before and enjoyed it. We have some dried in our cabinet now maybe it could be worth making a video? Thanks for stopping by hopefully you will get a chance to try it for yourself.
I wonder if acorn flour, burdock and cattail could be combined add some walnuts/hickory nuts and berries too. Free food.
Salt makes everything taste better
Just dug up some myself!... Questioning the quality of the water it was in though.
Would boiling get rid of bad water?
That depends on what the bad water is. Boiling will kill any harmful pathogens but won't remove all the chemical contamination if any.
@@TheNorthwestForager thanks for the response! I have no idea what's in the water, ill Probably boil and just take a small nibble to be safe.
Awesome vid!
Beautiful Video
Thank you
Thank you for watching Amy!
Hey, nice shoes! Also, that's so cool she got you the spice kit! Looks like the perfect size for your foraging adventures. :D It'd be cool if you linked it below. I looked there for it, but didn't see it. Thanks again for another great video!
I have a couple ponds so I know there won’t be pesticides or runoff on them.
I would probably bake them and then fry em up in a bit of oil to get a bit of browning. Boiling them takes a lot of the starch out.
Is this harvested in the spring or in the fall?
Do you think that if you cut the roots up into really tiny pieces, the fibers would be more palatable?
That would help but you may still end up with little chew balls of fiber. It may be best to slice down the whole length of the cooked rhizome and scrap out the starch with a spoon. This video deserves of a revisit.
To me tastes a lot like cucumber with a peppery after bite. I wonder how they'd be pickled....
Only 61,000 views over five years.
When the lizard people start trying to starve us out by shutting off the gas, electricity, and flow of food, this (and other videos like it) are going to become the most watched videos on the interwebs.
Get the info now in case they take the Internet down and force you to get a digital ID to let you get back on. Digital ID/bad.
It is fibrous because it is a mature tuber. The younger tubers are not as fibrous
thank u
how does cattail treat
it tastes like a cucumber
Thanks for watching!
Here in eugene. Thanks.
it's kind of sad how we've become blind to how much food is around us.
I have that book, thanks for recommending it, as I’ve never cracked it open thinking there wasn’t gonna be much overlap.
As an aside, do you know any books for the high cascades and central Oregon deserts? When I try to search for the books all I get is stuff you would find for the rainforests
Cat tail root..one of nature's many potAtoe replacements. Freaking delicious with salt and pepper too!
If the water it grows by is bad, does the effect the taste, or how health the plant is too eat. Allso how long did you boil it for?
Water quality is always a concern. Most aquatic plants will absorb pollutants, so it's best to harvest from a clean water source. I boiled it till it was soft, 10-15min? If you want to extract the startch into the water, however, you'll need to boil it longer till it breaks all the way down.
I really like your pocket knife as well. What brand and model is it?
I'm not sure. It says Five Star 10-306 on one side and made in japan on the other.
Looks like a buck 112 ranger. Same idea
Where did you get the little cooker? I need one.
Could you grate the rhizomes? How would that work? I recall seeing cattails on my dad's farm in Alberta, Canada. Long ago, I did not know they were edible. Great video. I have subscribed to your channel.
I've spent some time thinking about the best way to collect the starch from cattail. I'm thinking I'd like to boil a pot of the rhizomes till their soft and then crush them, reboil and strain out all the fibers. At that point, I'm guessing the residual starch would be more like a very runny batter rather than like a mashed potato. If I remember right Harrington in his book mentions that they dried the starch into a flour base. Perhaps it would be best for baking then?? So much to try and so little time. Thanks for stopping by Dwayne, appreciate the subb!
Look up, "How to make cattail flour". It's actually fairly easy. Just takes a little time and manual labor.
@@TheNorthwestForager Don't make it so complicated. Just break up the fibers and soak them in cold water.
i chop into small chunks or sometime finely chopped
makes it easy to eat asnd swallow
Thank you for sharing!
Potato is a root and it's got more starch
Nah its a tuber
What month were you harvesting these? I am interested in trying these I live south of Roseburg,I am assuming you were near Eugene?
It was in January by Lewisburg saddle.
I bet it would be tasty simmered with some of those herbs. I've been wondering, in a survival situation, what would be the fastest, most nutritient rich food, "go to" food in the winter here in the northwest. I think cattail might be it. What would you say the top choices are?
That's actually a really good question. Nutrition of course would depend on the individuals needs at different times. Here in the winter time, foods rich in carbohydrates (such as cattail root, wild carrot root, wapato root, burdock root, field mustard root, dandelion root or most other edible roots) would be important for energy to help a person work and stay warm. When it comes to the needs of vitamins and minerals the leaves of stinging nettle, dandelion, bittercress/wild mustards, curly/broadleaf dock will provide vitamin A, C, B, iron, potassium, magnesium to some degree. All the roots and most of these plants can be found all through out the winter time. And there is likely many more plants to add to the winter menu that I have yet to explore.
The cattail is the one most valuable plant there is because the whole plant is edible, something for every season of the year as well. If you find cattails, you've found "the supermarket of the swamp".
@@TheNorthwestForager Wild carrots are not easily identifiable. Too much toxic look alikes other wise good list.
Animals and organ meats!
@@gabrielmorgan1885 you got it! You may survive on cattails, you will thrive eating animals and its organs.
How long did you boil it?
Can you drink the boiled water? Will it give you any nutrition?
Good question
Pint As a matter of fact you can. It's very starchy so you can drink it for a boost of energy.
We were taught that unless you are boiling for the sake of detoxifying or cleaning something, you should always drink the water to help reclaim the nutrition :)
Where did your wife get the spice kit
Find the Townsend's here on RUclips. He does 18th century Americana. It's at his store.
You should harvest some more and try baking them and batter dip and fry them. : )
Sounds like a future episode!
The shoots are hollow. They are great for making fried onion-type rings, seasoning them as you want. Also slice across the stalks to make bite sized round shoots for soups, add other ingredients and seasonings for a hearty soup. They are called "Cossack asparagus", for another clue. Again, add your own seasonings...they are mild tasting in themselves. They would probably be good raw to dip in your favorite vegetable dip too. There is no end to what you can do with them if you're creative.
I might have to try this out!
maniac541 It's worth trying it at least once!
😊How long did you boil it?
Happy Mormon Girl I didn't time it but must have been anywhere between 5-10. The longer it boils the more starch cooks out into the water. I boiled just enough to cook the rhizome through.
👍Info
From Malaysia
Would you be interested in meeting up for a wild edibles, survival weekend?
Possibly. When are where were you thinking?
I'm flexible. Is there an area half way between you and here (Skamania) ? I'm fine if you want to come out this direction too. Looking at Friday night, sat, leaving early Sunday, or just an overnighter would work too; more fun and content with a two nighter.
I'll message you.
CattailBeer???
Do you have a recipe?
NotYet However There be a LotaStarch /Sugar Potentials so IiHas it OnMyList OfProjects asap. IllLetYaknow how it turns out....
Hey, did you just pass 1000 subs?
I did a few months back now. I think...
Awesome! Congratulations! Looks like your views are picking up too! Super cool!
Thank you! Looks like I'll have to dedicate a little more time to making videos.
little salt and pepper wouldn't hurt....lol...
It'll keep your belly button from sticking to your backbone, but that's about it. Cut it in thin coins to help with the tuberous problem.
You're lucky you didn't get stung by some pissed off insect or snake playing around in that mucky water where those rizomes were.
Too bad you picked them too late. What you picked to eat is at the worst time of the season, try young cattails around May-September.
Thanks for sharing!
any british people down here?
I'm the 42nd view. Nice.
just like potatoes ? guess that’s why they were never domesticated
Looking up Nazi Rap music now this! 4chan is amazing!
Way too much editing good info though welldone remember full armor of god. #WEDONOTCONSENT
Once you showed me the new, shiny boots, I lost interest. Better luck next time! Bye!
Mike Fitch considering boots are important to you, you may like this video better since I'm still wearing my old pair: ruclips.net/video/tPuAu-7gO60/видео.html
You've never bought new boots in your life? You must not use them much.