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