A most excelent wild food

[tinknal]

Just tried young milkweed pods for the first time. Picked some 1-2 inch pods, steamed them in the nuke for 3 minutes, and then sauteed them in butter. Eaten whole, they are very good, with a slight bitterness reminiscent of Brussels Sprouts. Peel the skin off and just eat the inner pod and they are sweet and creamy. This is not just something that we will add to our diet as a survival food, we will eat this as long as it is in season. I think that I'll try to dry some too.

[northstitch]

I have never tried the pods before but I have eaten the blossom just before it opens up. I think they were steamed or boiled and served with butter. Its been a long time ago but seems like they had an asparagus taste.

[Callieslamb]

Wish you had posted this before I cut all mine down.....
I never imagined you could eat the things!

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

Wish you had posted this before I cut all mine down.....
I never imagined you could eat the things!

I get 3 harvests from them. The first is when they first pop out of the ground. I pull the young shoots, slowly to get as much of the root as I can. Steam them and saute, they are similar to asparagus. Second crop is the young flower blossoms. Steam or batter and deep fry, similar to broccoli. Now the pods. If you have a use for lightweight insulative material like quilts or jackets you can get a fourth harvest from the ripe seed pods. during WWII the government paid schoolchildren to collect the down for stuffing life jackets. I've also read that the fibrous mature stalks are good for cordage.

[motdaugrnds]

Wish I were more educated as to milkweed. I've explored so many wild plants this year and know this is one of them; but I have not found any here.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

Wish I were more educated as to milkweed. I've explored so many wild plants this year and know this is one of them; but I have not found any here.

I have no idea if they will grow there but in a month or so I could send you some seed. Remind me and send a SASE and I'll get you some.

[JohnL751]

I don't know how to post them, maybe that is why I like pictures so much!

[pheasantplucker]

A friend of mine told me the milkweed are good to eat, but he said there is another plant that looks almost identical to a milkweed (at least here in Ohio) that people often mistake for a milkweed. They eat them and find them disgusting. Next time I see him, I'll ask again what the name of the plant he's referring to.

[ldc]

tinknal et al, the fibrous down of the mature milkweed pods is called "kapok", and has a high insulating value, as the OP said. My mother and her brothers collected it during the depression for their granny to use as batting in quilts! ldc

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by ldc

tinknal et al, the fibrous down of the mature milkweed pods is called "kapok", and has a high insulating value, as the OP said. My mother and her brothers collected it during the depression for their granny to use as batting in quilts! ldc

Actually, I believe that kapok is from a different plant, and milkweed was used as a substitute where it wasn't available or in short supply.

[bee]

Only one caution here. There is a member of the milkweed family that can be confused with milkweed as a spring shoot. That is Indian hemp or Dogbane. It also has a milky sap. I read where it is poisonous. I use that for cordage..it is strong and flexable.

Because of the drought the deer moved in and ate my milkweeds(I keep them around for the scent of the blooming flowers) so I will have to wait until next year to try the pods.

[scooter]

I went and looked up milkweed and it contains latex. I'm glad I did, because I'm anaphalactic to latex.

[tinknal]

This is an excellent article on the subject.

http://www.wildfoods.info/wildfoods/milkweed.html

[DryHeat]

I can't imagine anyone deciding to try monarch butterflies as a food item, but perhaps useful as a caution if a kid might consider grabbing one and munching on it to show off... I recall a grad student when I was in school researching the critters and finding they concentrate a milkweed toxin, a cardiac glycoside, in their heads. Concentrated, as in, eat one butterfly head and your heart will stop. Not something to fool around with showing off "bizarre foods" appetites.

[VERN in IL]

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

Wish I were more educated as to milkweed. I've explored so many wild plants this year and know this is one of them; but I have not found any here.

I was always told in my youth milkweed was poisonous as were elderberries.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by DryHeat

I can't imagine anyone deciding to try monarch butterflies as a food item, but perhaps useful as a caution if a kid might consider grabbing one and munching on it to show off... I recall a grad student when I was in school researching the critters and finding they concentrate a milkweed toxin, a cardiac glycoside, in their heads. Concentrated, as in, eat one butterfly head and your heart will stop. Not something to fool around with showing off "bizarre foods" appetites.

Who said anything about eating butterflies?

Monarchs are not poisonous, they just taste awful, that is their defense strategy.

Nothing bizarre about it, just a lot of bad information by uneducated alarmists.

[motdaugrnds]

I know identifying edibles is a serious thing to do and requires some education as well as continued caution. (My state's agricultural lab identified pigweed as poisonous; yet much information on the net identifies it as edible, even though it should be eaten sparingly because of the oxalic acid it contains, especially in hot, hot summers. So, caution is indeed important.)

Tink, I would like some of those seeds. We are in zone 7 so not sure if they will grow here; but would sure like to find out. I'll send you my addy and will be glad to pay for them, as well as shipping.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by DryHeat

I can't imagine anyone deciding to try monarch butterflies as a food item, but perhaps useful as a caution if a kid might consider grabbing one and munching on it to show off... I recall a grad student when I was in school researching the critters and finding they concentrate a milkweed toxin, a cardiac glycoside, in their heads. Concentrated, as in, eat one butterfly head and your heart will stop. Not something to fool around with showing off "bizarre foods" appetites.

According to your reasoning I am dead right now............

[ne prairiemama]

how ya feeling tink?

[Rusty'sDog]

The Asclepias family are also hosts to predatory wasps, so they also keep many pests in balance.