In the latest issue the topic of the uses of the plant commonly known as cattails. I would appreciate anymore information on this pant specifically its uses as an energy source/food source. I have searched the internet and have not come upon any site that can furnish me with information about growing, harvesting and converting the plants rhizones into flour then fuel.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

-- Slippery Sam Smead (charmrus@hotmail.com), November 21, 1999

Answers

"Stalking the Good Life" and "Stalking the Wild Aspagagus" both by Euell Gibbons cover various ways to eat Cattails. However since this plant grows in marshes and low lying areas I would be very picky about the selection of a cattail patch. Insecticides, fertilizers and such washed from the fields gather in the marshes. How much of this do the cattails absorb?

-- chris engle (engle_c@yahoo.com), November 21, 1999.

Like the other poster said, a good guide book is warranted. Both the green "tail" and the roots can be used. Just batter dip the tail and cook it up. I'm not up on how the roots are to be used, but know that they can be.

-- greenbeanmnan (greenbeanman@ourtownusa.net), November 21, 1999.

Possibly Cornell Cooperative Extension[your state agricultural university] might be able to come up with some data. One note of caution:if you have a pond and value it,don't permit cattails to get established:you'll soon have muskrats and those vermin will destroy the banks and dikes of the pond by tunneling; additionally the 'rats appear to attract mink and mink will be hell on your poultry.

-- Karl Bechler (kbechler@frontiernet.net), November 21, 1999.

My books are packed in boxs as we are putting in book cases but in one of them i remember reading about cat tails. You can use the pollen spicks as flour. Hope to have shelves done by end of weekend so i will dig out book and look it up for you then.

-- kathy hart (saddlebronc@msn.com), December 02, 1999.

Found book, In encyclopia of organic gardening it states, cattails can be valuable food and other products source,acre for acre the cat tail can out produce corn.Harvested oct thru june,It offers four vegtables. And two kinds of flour.October green sprouts grow from rhizome,asparagus like it can be harvested all winter,springwhen sprouts get 18 inchs or more above water harvest use raw or cooked [taste like cucmber with carrot texture].Male flour in mid-june can be peeled and boiled and served like corn on cob,If allowed to ripen male flour produces yellow pollen which can be collected and used as flour in pancakes and muffins.The core of rizome can be used as potato substitute or to make a nutritious high gluten flour[i imagine to use as flour rizome would have to be peeled,dryed and then ground into flour?]. I remember a article were they made a beautiful straw hat out of the reeds and i know baskets can be made out of them also hope this helped.

-- kathy hart (saddlebronc@msn.com), December 03, 1999.

Forgot to add the cotton or down is used in life rafts and life preservers. The long basil leaves furnish materials from which rush seating is made for chairs. The by products from processing cattails for food can often be fed to livestock, And reeds can be composted or used as a mulch.Probably more then you wanted to know !.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), December 03, 1999.