Edible Plants in North America #1: Cooking Cattails

Introduction

Cattails are a species native to all U.S. states, and all Canadian provinces, excluding Nunavut and Newfoundland. Whilst most parts of the cattail are edible, the part I had cooked was the main root (or corm). The cattail corm can be grilled, baked or boiled, although I had grilled my cattail corm.

Instructions

When I grilled my cattail corm, I used this method:

• Rinse cattail corm thoroughly.
• Remove the smaller roots that branch off of the corm.
• Slice the corm into pieces 1 cm (0.4 in) thick.
• Grill the corm for 3 minutes on each side
• Eat the corm by peeling off the outer fibers to reach the soft inner cream coloured portion

Review

I would rate the cattail corm a 4 out of 5 stars. It is most enjoyable, yet there are two problems. The first problem is the preparation; you must first wash the corm off, rip out the smaller roots, chop it into slices, then remove the outer fibers before grilling it. The second problem is that of the texture, it is very fibrous and is hard to chew. Although these two things were a hassle, the taste was most enjoyable. The inside was a soft, buttery delight, whilst the outer fibers were the exact opposite, hard, fibrous, and taste less. It should not be eaten raw, for when uncooked, it is mushy and unenjoyable. I would highly recommend cattail corms, but only consume the cattails that have the actual “cattail”, for there are a poisonous look alike that does not posses the brown “cattail”.