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Ever tried to eat cattails?!

This update takes a little side trip from our sea faring journey. To sign on to a whaling ship, Ann must have been a remarkable young lady. In Second Fury, Ann’s adventuresome spirit takes her over the Oregon Trail from California east to the States. Last week, I decided to try some of the fare she would have eaten on her trip…cattails. For those of you who like culinary adventure, here’s what you do. Find a patch of cattails; wade out into the muck; with a hand, follow a reed down into the black mud until it ends in a lateral root; trace the root till you feel a new shoot; cut the root 2 or 3 inches back; remove the root and the shoot. (This is how the pioneers did it. You might find it easier to dig with a shovel.) Now make sure you wash them well. The root will be shiny black and white. Strip off the outer layer of the root to reveal a clean white interior. THINLY slice the root and the shoot. Sandy and I tried them 3 ways: 1) fried with shallots (ok), 2) boiled (bland), and 3) in stir fry. The stir fry was the best. The cattail does not have much flavor and takes on the taste of other vegetables. The root has somewhat the consistency of a stringy potato. The shoot has the consistency of a tough onion layer. I am finding it hard to bring myself to prepare the one root and shoot we have left in our refrigerator. You can see the pictures here on my Thomas Macy author Facebook page Eating Cattails album.

More images can be found at FirstFury.com.

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