Edibility of Bulbs

Judy Glattstein via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Mon, 22 Mar 2021 07:03:54 PDT
I forage, both in my garden and in the woods. Arisaema triphyllum is 
often mentioned as having edible tubers. Which must first be boiled in 
three changes of water. I would think that gives them the same gustatory 
delight as eating library paste.

However, that's what European settlers suggested. Looking at older 
sources that reference Native American cookery - the tubers were coated 
with clay and baked in the fire's coals. Which inactivated the oxalic 
acid crystals that made them unpleasant to eat raw (as if anyone would!)

While we are on the topic of edibility of bulbs - canna tubers are a 
know source of starch. I have also read that the young shoots are 
edible. Last year, for the first time, deer chowed down on young canna 
shoots. Has anyone here ever tried them? And what about dahlia tubers?

Judy in New Jersey where assorted galanthus are flowering, even in 
places where I'm sure I did not plant them


On 3/22/2021 4:49 AM, Shmuel Silinsky via pbs wrote:
> Just ran across this thread. Arum palestinum is mentioned frequently as a
> food in Israel in the Mishnah written about 200 CE. I was evidently a
> cultivated crop as well as wild gathered. Both the bulb and leaves were
> eaten. Boiling 7 times is mentioned, presumably to get the toxins out.
> Don't know if it was the leaves, bulbs or both that needed boiling, but I
> ran into a fellow once in Jerusalem's Old City with a big bag of Arum
> leaves. He said he was going to a person who knew how to prepare them.
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