Kudzu… It's HERE!

[MrScorpio]

[LiberalEsto]

1. It's going places nt

[In_The_Wind]

2. Kudzu ... is everywhere.

So ... we can talk about teh kudzu again.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Kudzu flowers

"In July kudzu blossoms begin to emit their pleasant sweet smell which can be detected hundreds of feet from the vines. These flowers vary in color but most are the color of the flower shown at the left. Initially the flowers are usually hidden under the kudzu leaves but later they become so prolific that they can be seen readily. The flowers can be used to make jelly and other tasty dishes. " - from http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/

[In_The_Wind]

4. Very pretty.

We made jelly from kudzu.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Really? What does it taste like?

There is kudzu growing all around the DC Beltway, but I've never been close to a kudzu vine. Yet.

[In_The_Wind]

6. Eat the weed.

http://www.eattheweeds.com/kudzu-pueraria-montana-var-lobata-fried-2/

Kudzu Quickie
The only thing worst than academic botanists who never get into the field is USDA agents who can’t tell a pumpkin from a cherry but they do indeed know it all.


It smells exactly like the very cheap, very intense grape-flavored chemical gum kids chew.


Kudzu's pods and seeds are NOT edible
Kudzu can be eaten many ways. The young leaves can be consumed as a green, or juiced. They can be dried and made into a tea. Shoots can be eaten like asparagus. The blossom can be used to make pickles or a jelly — a taste between apple and peach — and the root is full of edible starch. Older leaves can be fried like potato chips, or used to wrap food for storage or cooking. With kudzu you can make a salad, stew the roots, batter-fry the flowers or pickled them or make a make syrup. Raw roots can be cooked in a fire, roots stripped of their outer bark can be roasted in an oven like any root vegetable; or grated and ground into a flour to make a thickener, a cream or tofu. Kudzu is used to make soaps, lotions, rope, twine, baskets, wall paper, paper, fuel and compost. It can also be baled like hay with most grazing animals liking it, especially goats. Only the seeds are not edible.

[LiberalEsto]

7. Sounds yummy!

Thanks! Now I'll know what to do when it gets here.

[In_The_Wind]

8. We used to pick wild muscadines for jam in Atlanta.

http://addapinch.com/cooking/2010/09/29/muscadine-jelly/

Oh and ... hot pepper jelly

[davsand]

9. Creeps up on ya! n/t