Why do you think cattails are never edible in these games?

[Ash Wednesday Valentine]

They're one of the very few things I regularly forage IRL. They're always present in this genre as decorations, but you can almost never eat them. Just seems odd.

[umop-apisdn]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Do you need to process them to be edible? Some things, like poke-salad, are almost toxic without several steps (for those, its toxic levels of vit-A that you soak out). And some of it is desperation food... its edible, but nasty and only a great deal of poking can make it remotely tolerable. To be fair, I count turnips in that category too.

Technically speaking, you can eat them raw, but the tubers need boiled to not be... let's just say very chewy. The shoots are also somewhat... woody.

Unfortunately, harvesting the young plants to get a more tender bite is dangerous, because there are a couple varieties of iris (the flower) that look very similar to young cat tails before they bloom... but the entire iris plant is toxic.

[Ash Wednesday Valentine]

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

there are a couple varieties of iris (the flower) that look very similar to young cat tails before they bloom... but the entire iris plant is toxic.

If I ever knew that, I sure forgot!

That's why, no matter how many books I've got or how many smart people I've been out with, I ONLY only eat the few things I know don't look like anything else. Cattails, morels, hen of the woods...I think that's everything. I like tree ears, but I don't bother. Lucky enough to live somewhere with blackberries, mulberries, and pawpaws, if they count.

Talking about lookalikes, I used to do puffballs, but got shy about them. I pull up ramps this time of year even though there's something damn poison that looks similar, but smelling like garlic is a pretty good ID.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

Originally posted by jonnin:

Do you need to process them to be edible? Some things, like poke-salad, are almost toxic without several steps (for those, its toxic levels of vit-A that you soak out). And some of it is desperation food... its edible, but nasty and only a great deal of poking can make it remotely tolerable. To be fair, I count turnips in that category too.

Technically speaking, you can eat them raw, but the tubers need boiled to not be... let's just say very chewy. The shoots are also somewhat... woody.

Unfortunately, harvesting the young plants to get a more tender bite is dangerous, because there are a couple varieties of iris (the flower) that look very similar to young cat tails before they bloom... but the entire iris plant is toxic.

Iris is even toxic to other plants. When you trim the leaves in the fall and every 5 years or so when you have to thin out the rhizomes you can't use any of them for mulch. You have to let them dry and then burn them and then you want to bury the ash someplace you aren't going to grow anything. I like to dump it on ant hills. It will kill the ants eventually but if you are going to make your ground non-fertile anyway borax works better.

The best (and safest) thing to get rid of ant mounds is boiling water. A couple gallons of boiling water will soak all the way down to the bottom of the mound and kill every thing in it. It also kills all the plants that you pour it on but the good news is you can plant again the very next day without any worries.

[jonnin]

the topic drifts but I love those guys that pour liquid aluminum in the ant nests and pull it out after cooling to sell as a sculpture.