Cattail

One of the best wild plant foods. Roots can be made into a nutritious flour by peeling, drying and sifting the starch-like flour from the fibrous part. The white sprouts, which appear early int the summer, at the base of the plants can be eaten either raw or cooked. In the spring as the young shoots first come up, pull them loose from the rootstalk, peel the outer leaves away and use the tender cores in salads or cook as you would asparagus. The green heads of the cattail (before pollen appears) can be boiled for 10 min. and eat like corn on the cob. Ripe pollen can be collected by carefully bending tops over and shaking into a container. This ripe pollen is mostly protein and is good mixed with other flours for baking.