Asian Style Cattail Shoots

If any vegetable--wild or otherwise--comes closeto bamboo shoots in the Great Lakes bioregion, it's cat tail shoots. Their flavor, shape and growth habit are reminiscent of the common bamboo shoot, but with their own special something's of their own. Whilst picking some nice tall shoots I was inspired to create this recipe, and it was a winner.

Cattail shoots are best when between 1 and 3 feet tall, depending on their location. Pull close to their base and pop them off their root. Peel off all of the fibrous outer layers until you reveal the tender inner core. I bend and nibble sections to find those that are most tender...

Asian Style Cattail Shoots

What You Need:

10 ~2 foot cattail shoots, peeled--about 2 cups
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 scallions
a couple sprigs cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp dried cayenne/hot pepper flakes
2 tsp sesame seeds
drizzle of soy sauce or tamari
drizzle of sesame oil
drizzle of maple syrup
drizzle of rice wine vinegar

• Peel cattail shoots. Chop into 2 inch segments and cut lengthwise.


• Fill a sauce pan with one inch of water and put it onto the boil. Set up your steamer basket inside and pop on a lid.


• In a skillet, heat the sunflower oil on medium heat. Once hot, add the pepper flakes, garlic, and ginger.


• Sizzle the pepper flakes, garlic, and ginger until the garlic just starts to turn golden brown and remove the pan from the heat. Immediately stir in the sesame seeds.


• Set the cattail shoots in the steamer and cover. Allow to steam for 30 seconds to 1 minute checking often to make sure it doesn't over cook. Once they're heated through, quickly remove and add to the skillet.


• Into the skillet drizzle the soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup, and rice vinegar. Stir everything together and taste. Adjust soy/sesame/maple syrup/rice vinegar to taste/


• Serve immediately with the freshly chopped cilantro. Chopsticks optional!

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Japanese Knotweed & Serviceberry Crumble

*This is a guest post by Mary Angelini. Mary is passionate cook and foodie. She spends much of her free time studying cook books, dreaming up recipes, and, of course, cooking delicious foods. She is starting a small food business centered around using locally sourced ingredients—selling at local markets and providing custom-made nutritious loca meals to busy families. She lives on a suburban homestead with her family in Clarkston, MI.*

This dish pairs the almost rhubarb-like tangy qualities of Japanese knotweed with the rich and sweet qualities of serviceberries, a fantastic wild fruit. If you haven't got your own frozen foraged serviceberries, you can always use frozen blueberries—or frozen wild blueberries, which would be all the better! Serve it hot with a nice local vanilla ice cream, homemade whipped cream, or my favorite, tangy yogurt...

Japanese Knotweed & Serviceberry Crumble

What You Need:

2 cups frozen serviceberries
2 cups knotweed stalks cut into thick coins
1/2 cup all-purpose flour + 2 tbsps
1/2 cup whole oats
1/2 cup brown sugar + 4 tbsps
1/4 cup butter
pinch of baking soda
pinch of baking powder
pinch of salt
cinnamon to taste
1 tsp pure vanilla
Pinch of ground cardamom

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


• Cut the butter into the flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla,
  cardamom and cinnamon until it forms a crumbly mixture.


• Sprinkle half of this crumb mixture on the bottom of a greased 9 x 9 pan.


• Mix the frozen serviceberries with the 4 tbsps of brown sugar and the 2 tbsps of flour until
  well mixed and coated with the sugar and flour.


• Spread the serviceberries and knotweed in the pan and place the remaining crumb over the top.


• Bake 40 minutes or until lightly browned on top and bubbly.

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Oniony Roasted Japanese Knotweed

A while back, I tasted roasted asparagus for my first time, and it was lovely. I had a glut of Japanese knotweed on hand and figured it would make an awesome star for a roasted dish like the asparagus. The lemony flavor of the knotweed, the carmely flavor of roasted chives, and the richness of the oil, is perfect.

Oniony Roasted Japanese Knotweed

What You Need:

30-40 tender Japanese knotweed shoots
1/2 cup of chopped chives
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP Hazelnut Oil
Pinch sea salt
Pinch black pepper

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees.


• With a sharp paring knife, peel the knotweed shoots to remove the thin skin. This takes just the ~slgihtest~ pressure—I sort of scrape lightly to just peel the skin. Too deep and you'll cut the knotweed in half.


• Spread the knotweed on a baking sheet


• Sprinkle over the chives and the two oils. Toss the whole lot together


• Add salt and pepper to taste


• Bake for 4 or 5 minutes, until the knotweed turns pale and the chives crisp up. Serve immediately

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Wild, Weedy & Edible: Garlic Mustard

*This is a guest post by Lisa Rose Starner. Lisa is an urban homesteader, wildcrafter, forager, gardener, and herbalist who lives in Grand Rapids, MI. She runs a small herbal CSA and writes about local foods and herbalism. Learn more about her work @ Burdock & Rose*

What is the adage, "A weed is a plant that is growing where you don't want it?"

[caption id="attachment_526" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Young garlic mustard shoot"][/caption]

Abundant in areas of disturbed soil—at the forest's edge, along roadsides, and on river floodplains, the Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is deemed by conservationist organizations like The Land Conservancy to be more that a noxious "weed," but an invasive species—choking out native vegetation and spreading wildly across the state. The National Park Service describes the earliest appearance of the Garlic Mustard on the Atlantic coast to be documented in 1868. It is believed that it was brought along by settlers to the area of Long Island, NY for food and medicinal purposes.

Since that time in the 1800s, Garlic Mustard has spread south and west and has wrecked havoc on natural areas throughout the Eastern United States, particularly throughout fields, floodplains, and woodlands here in the Great Lakes BioRegion.

What makes Garlic Mustard able to take over so much area in so little time? Garlic Mustard thrives on disturbed land and areas under development. It is winter hardy and can reproduce lightning fast with its ability to produce hundreds of seeds once it goes to flower. And once the plant sets its seed, the seeds can remain viable in the soil for many years.

Behind Every Vice… The Garlic Mustard's Virtue

And while Garlic Mustard continues to persist throughout our Great Lakes bioregion and threatens to crowd-out wildflowers and native vegetation, we can consider one of its virtues: It is edible!

Like many early spring greens, the flavors of the Garlic Mustard are predominantly bitter. Different parts of the plant, as well the age of the plant can affect the degree in the bitter flavor.

Great Lakes Herbalist Jim McDonald believes that the Bitter flavors of plants, while having a negative connotation to many, may be one of the keys to our wellness. Bitter flavors help stimulate digestion, bile production and can support healthy liver function. Other bitter plants that are beneficial to add into the diet include parsley, arugula, romaine, radicchio, endive, dandelion, and coffee. Best thing about Garlic Mustard as a bitter—it can be easily harvested for FREE with little concern of damaging its plant population!

Forager and wild food expert, Steve Brill, explains early basal roots are more bitter in the spring, the fleshy stems less so—and it is sweeter in the fall after a frost. The roots are slightly nutty, and the second year plant should be harvested just before it flowers… But don't get caught up in these rules—if you are pulling it to preserve other plants in your garden or a participating in a pull, use it and partner it with other flavors like parsley, walnuts and lemon to suit your palate!

One of the most popular ways to prepare Garlic Mustard is preparing it as a versatile, delicious pesto. Variations on pesto recipes can vary to suit personal taste preference and the flavor of the Garlic Mustard that is being harvested.

Want to prepare a large batch? Pesto can be made without the nuts (they tend to taste rancid after thawing) and froze into ice-cube sized portions that will last for several months until the local Basil is ready for harvest here in Michigan.

Need ideas for uses of the Garlic Mustard pesto? The pesto can be added to pasta, used in soups (like a French soup au pistou), served on crackers with cheese as an elegant appetizer, or even used as a base for a wild foods pizza of local Michigan Morels, homemade soft cheese, and wild onion.

Basic Foraged Greens & Garlic Mustard Pesto

What You Need:

4 cups leaves, stems of Garlic Mustard (washed)
1 cup wild chives
1 cup wild garlic scapes
1 cup parsley (if desired)
1 cup walnuts (or pinenuts - though I am not a fan)
4 TBSP olive oil
1tsp sea salt, pepper, squirt of lemon juice to taste

• Add all to food processor, puree.


• Check flavor, add parsley, salt, pepper to preferred taste.


• Serve over crackers, on pizza, pasta, soup… the ideas are limitless and the pesto can be used in similar ways to traditional basil pesto.

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