Culinary Uses of Cattail—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café?

It boggles my mind to hear so many people wanting to learn how to forage, like living off the land when society collapses is going to be desirable or even viable. 

I don’t think it will be either of those options. 

That could be due to the fact that I live in a desert.  (Well, truth be told, it’s the edge of the desert on the side of the mountain and we get more rain than the average desert.  But I drive through the desert every time I go to town.)  Perhaps folks living where you get real rain, you know, where you have to pull off the road because you can’t see even with the wipers going full speed, perhaps you can forage food because every square inch of land is growing something.  And Bambi’s mother is out there somewhere waiting to become dinner. 

But even if your area is the land flowing with milk and honey, I suspect foraging in desperate times exposes you to desperate people competing for the same resources.  And I’d rather not expose myself. 

So I haven’t considered writing much about foraging, outside of the wild edibles growing right on my property. 

However, it occurs to me that I might need to offer suggestions to neighbors needing to supplement what they’ve stored at home (if they’re like most Americans, not much) or on the hoof.  There are a few goats, sheep, and cows in the neighborhood, and a couple dozen horses.  I suspect they’ll throw a tizzy fit if anyone asks how to prepare horse flesh. 

Fortunately, there are enough cattails at the end of the street to feed them for a few days.  Mind you, this is all theoretical.  Unlike with the lamb’s quarter, dandelion, and tumbleweeds, which I did prepare for and eat with my family, I have not tried the cattails.  They aren’t on my property and I have no idea what the rancher uses for chemicals down there.  It will probably take another year or two to work up the courage to try them.

Corn substitute

Catkins (the future brown flower spike) are boiled when they’re still green and hidden behind the leaves.  Eat them like corn on the cob.

Pollen flour

After the catkins have matured into a rich brown color in the summer, put them into a paper bag.  Shake off the pollen.  It is a protein-rich substitute for all-purpose flour. 

Pollen Biscuits

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup pollen

1 tablespoon baking powder

2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425°F.  In a medium-sized bowl, combine dry ingredients and then stir in the milk.  Cut out biscuits or drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.  Bake 20-25 minutes. 

Pollen Pancakes

2/3 cup flour

½ cup pollen

1 ½ tablespoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons lard, melted and cooled

1 egg

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pollen, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in the milk, lard, and egg.  Let sit 15 minutes.  Bake on a hot griddle.

Pollen Cornstarch

The pollen can also be used like cornstarch to thicken sauces and gravies.

Cattail Shoots

Young cattail stalks have an exterior sheath and a tender inner shoot. Remove the outer sheath and fry the shoots in a skillet.  They’re reported to taste like cucumbers. 

Scalloped Cattails

2 cups chopped cattail shoots

2 eggs

½ cup butter

½ teaspoon sugar (that’s what the recipe says)

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup scalded milk

Preheat oven to 300°F.  In a blender, puree everything but the milk.  Then slowly add in the milk.  Pour mixture into greased muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes. 

Stir-Fried Cattail Shoots

3 cups chopped cattail shoots

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon pepper

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter.  Add shoots and sauté for a few minutes, until softened.  Add remaining ingredients and continue sautéing until onions are translucent.  Serve with rice.

Cattail Roots

All the article says is to grill or boil the roots—nothing about how long to do it.  However, only the starch is edible.  The fibers are not.  So you are supposed to eat it like artichoke leaves. 

Cattail Root Flour

Harvest the roots when they are fibrous and tough.  Remove the outer fibrous layer.  Chop the core and dry the bits.  Then grind into flour.

Alternatively, soak them in water to separate the starch from the fibers.  Remove the fibers from the water and let the water evaporate from the starch. 

Supposedly, this flour contains gluten, so it will work well for yeast loaves.

Coffee Substitute

Roast, dry, and grind the cores of the roots.  Percolate like coffee.  Good luck.

Roasted Root Chowder

5 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

4 large, dried cattail roots

1-2 fish, diced (doesn’t say whether these are fresh or cooked)

Pepper, to taste

In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil.  Remove the woody exterior from the roots.  Place them in the water and boil for 45 minutes.  Add the fish and reduce heat.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes more. 

Links to related posts:

Medicinal Uses of Cattail