This article will address everything to know about eating cattails for survival, and you should be quite attentive to it. Cattails grow abundantly in varying regions, wetlands to be specific. I’m sure you must have seen a lot of these if you grew up field exploring & hunting. I didn’t think much of them in those days, but now I see the goodness in them. This big corn-dog looking plant possesses essential nutrients & edible parts that can be cultivated at any time of the year.
How Cattails Grow Throughout a Year
Spring
Spring is the finest time of the year to harvest stalks or shoots when they are tender & easy to eat. You can also eat the male spike, which sits on the flower head, in early spring.
Summer
Male spikes are abundant at the beginning of the summer, and this is when you have plenty of yellow pollen, which contains a lot of protein & is usable in various recipes. Collect pollen on calm days & seal shut in an airtight container.
Fall
During fall, roots contain a lot of starch, which can be eaten raw or used in recipes as a thickener.
Harvest of Cattails
You have to be very careful with the identification of cattails, just as you should with any wild edible. Important considerations include a good location to harvest from & not overharvesting.
It is advised always to use an updated plant ID guide as Cattails may look like other plants. A lot of plants are environmental filters, which is what they do by absorbing different substances from their surroundings, some of which can be unhealthy & even deadly if eaten by humans. Cattails are particularly into this due to their wetland location. Cattails obtained from waterways close to urban farms, settings, or industrial complexes are likely to contain these harmful substances.
Always have it in mind to harvest only what you will need & eat. Don’t be greedy with your harvests as you’re not the only prepper, and even if you were, you’d need to keep things for the future.
Tools to Use for Harvesting
Harvesting cattails won’t cost you a thing, and you can make things even easier with a few tools, which are:
Knife: A knife will help to be more precise with the removal of certain plant parts. Any cutting tool will do.
Cordage: You will need a way to carry your harvest about, although this depends on the number that you’re harvesting. A simple bucket may work just well in some instances. And in its unavailability, a piece of cordage will work too. Lay cordage on the floor, arrange your harvests in the middle & tie them up to make a bundle.
Preparation of Cattails
The only thing to do when preparing cattails is to cover the mud at the roots of the plants. This is easy to do since the plant grows in soft soil close to water sources.
Preparing the Different Parts of Cattails
A good thing about cattails is that they have various parts, all of which are edible at the right season. Let us see these parts and how you can get the best out of them.
Roots
Before eating cattail roots, you must first wash them thoroughly in clean water, after which you cut off the stringy branching roots. If you have a vegetable peeler, you can use it to skin the roots as you would potatoes, leaving you with the main body to cook in numerous ways — such as grilling, baking & boiling until it is tender enough.
Starch Collection
The roots of cattails are rich in starch & can pass as a thickener in stews or soups. To collect this starch, you first scrape away the exterior of the roots & then bake in an oven at 200° until dry. The roots will then be skinned before removing the fibers. When done with this, grind the roots into a fine powder that may still be dried before further use.
H3: Spike/catkin Preparation
The catkin is the spike that sits atop the cattail, and you can prepare this in several ways.
During spring, catkins are green-looking. To eat, you have to wash & boil until well heated, after which you eat directly as you would corn on cobs. As already mentioned, spikes mature when it’s about summer ending & give birth to pollen. These pollen are typically rich in protein & are usable as flour for baking biscuits, bread, or rolls, or can just be sprinkled on your dishes.
H3: Shoots/Stalks
The best time to harvest shoots & stalks is springtime, as this is their most tender season. The emerging shoots & the stalk’s white parts can be gathered & consumed. After the cleaning & cutting, you can prepare the shoots & stalks just like asparagus.
If you’d like to sauté shoots or stalks, you need to first brush them in your preferred oil before putting them into a heated pan. Add in some salt, pepper & garlic powder. As this is ongoing, stir frequently until you get a light brown color from the outermost layer, giving your shoots some crunchiness despite their tenderness.
If you’d rather a softer texture, you have to cook your shoots for a longer time at a temperature lower than 200° until you can cut them with a spoon or spatula.
For a more fiery, earthy taste, you can use the above seasoning & oil suggestions to do your cooking over a grill or campfire. You’re missing a lot if you didn’t know (by now) that foods prepared over fire have an unbeatable flavor.
However, if you are without fire & don’t want to make one, you can always eat the tender shoots & stalks raw. All you need do is clean them, cut as you’d enjoy & eat raw. You’ll be treated to a crunchy texture attributed to celery.
Concluding everything to know About Eating Cattails for Survival
For one who frequents the wild often, cattails should be a regular food on their diet. It is easy to find & can be cooked in several ways. Read through this article again to be well aware of everything to know about eating cattails for survival.