Babiana--TOW
Rodger Whitlock (Sun, 20 Apr 2003 23:33:21 PDT)
On 17 Apr 03 at 15:30, IntarsiaCo@aol.com wrote:
...A couple of years ago mice nested in the greenhouse, they
ate only the Sparaxis and Babiana. So I tasted the dry Babiana
corms, nuttyish flavor, nice crunch, not bitter like acorns. I'd
bet they could be ground into a flour.
I've read -- possibly in Brian Mathews' "The Crocus" -- of crocus
corms being sold in the markets of Damascus, braided together like
garlic. "Salap", an ancient foodstuff still available if you know
where to look, is made from tubers of Orchis species; it makes a
pudding of a peculiarly sticky nature. And I've tried bulbs of
Camassia, steamed: they looked and tasted like, and had the texture
of, library paste. They might have been better baked or roasted.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island