I have known day lilies were edible for I don't know how long, but I had never gotten around to trying them. They are in full bloom alongside my house right now, and I decided to try some of the flower and the blossoms. You can also eat the little tubers that are in their roots, which apparently taste like a sweeter version of a fingerling potato.
Daylilies bloom for just one day, and have many blossoms on each stalk. The whole thing is edible, and quite tasty. The flowers are mild, a tiny bit sweet, and I put those in a salad, mostly for color and as an herb. I tried a bite of the raw blossom, and that was stronger and left a more pungent taste in my mouth the way garlic scapes do, but not garlicky. Maybe sort of green tasting, with a bit of radish. When sauteed, they taste almost like asparagus to me. They are tender and so good, and thus far in my recipe experimentation, my favorite way to eat them.
Minimal research on my part yielded the following info: Daylilies have lots of nutrients and are good as a body system detox, they have medicinal properties that make them an antidote to arsenic poisoning, and in China whole fields are grown to cultivate for eating - primarily using dried spent blossoms. One important note: some people have allergic reactions to daylilies. Test a small amount first to make sure that is not you!
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| Daylily buds - the largest ones |
Sauteed Daylilies
1. Cut however many daylily buds you want to eat/have available.
2. Saute them in butter or ghee, with salt over medium heat.
3. Enjoy!
*I put some garlic scapes with mine - if you do that, put the scapes in first as they need a little more time. The daylilies go pretty quickly, and are ready in just a few minutes.
Other daylily recipe experiments this week:
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| Salad with daylily flower leaves, tarragon, mint, dill, arugula and lettuce. And one nasturtium! |
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