A buffet of eating invasive species news and notes from around the internet!

• Our Pick of the Week is a charming invasive species cartoon over at the Bugwood Blog
• The Institute for Applied Ecology recently hosted their first Invasive Species Cookoff
• Interesting conflict surrounding the edible invasive water spinach in the US
• Next week, a spearfishing tournament in Englewood, Florida will target invasive lionfish
• Neat: we found proof online that someone has actually tried one of our recipes! (The Lazy Loni, in this case)

Robb from Boise

Robb from Boise gave Japanese honeysuckle a try.  You’ll recall our line of awesome honeysuckle mixed drinks a while back.  He helped us realize we forget to mention something important about brewing it: don’t brew in hot water!  Here’s his story:

1.  Find nice selection of blossoms.
2.  Pick enough to fill a standard size coffee filter.

3.  Using a “Mister Coffee” ice tea brewer (cause thats what I have and was too lazy to do it the old fashioned way), fill brewing tray, water and ice as directed.

4.  Start brew sequence.

The resulting tea had an ominous color, but not too bad.  The brewed blossoms looked like soggy marsh grass and smelled like rotting alfalfa.  Unfortunately, the iced tea tasted like rotting alfalfa, too.  I tried to save the concoction by adding sweetener, which only made it taste like sweetened rotting alfalfa.

5.  Pour failed experiment down drain!

Thanks Robb!  We’ve always said that eating invasive species is a learning process, and sharing failures is as great as sharing success!  Next time, Sheina recommends soaking the blossoms in COLD WATER overnight, in the fridge, for the best results!

Here’s another helping of eating invasive species news and notes from around the internet!

A new law in Michigan makes it illegal to possess feral swine for hunting.

Elsewhere, goats are again being utilized as natural invasivores.

Fall is a great season for identifying invasive species in your yard, but be sure to dispose of them carefully.

We love seeing the creative ways people are getting the word out on invasive species!

University of Maryland Alpha Phi Omega members remove invasive Japanese honeysuckle from a local park.  Hopefully they saved the flowers to make syrup!

The vibrant red of the watermelon is not only pleasing to the eye, but also to the the taste buds.  I recommend enjoying a Hummingbird Fizz on a warm summer evening while listening to the John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes forever and watching patriots light up the sky.  If you prefer more organic light shows, have a sip while listening to the Back Porch and counting fireflies.

Ingredients:

• Honeysuckle syrup (made the same day or one day before)
• Watermelon chunks
• Club soda
• Rum
• Ice

Instructions:

1. Muddle watermelon chunks at the bottom of a glass
2. Add one part honeysuckle syrup, 4 parts club soda, and a shot of rum
3. Serve over ice
4. Garnish with a tiny umbrella or something else that would look nice on the rim of the glass

Serving suggestion for a Hummingbird Fizz. (Photo credit: S. Sim)

Prost!

In the genus Lonicera, the honeysuckle blooms in summer and thus makes a refreshing drink for a warm and lazy summer afternoon.  I’ve tried to combine the delicate fragrance of honeysuckle with flavors that won’t compete or completely mask it.

Lazi Loni ingredients:

• Honeysuckle syrup (as usual, fresher is better, as the honeysuckle fragrance will decay over time)
• Fresh pineapple chunks
• Club soda
• Rum
• Ice

Instructions:

1. Muddle pinapple chunks at the bottom of a glass
   

   Muddled fresh pineapple

2. Add one part honeysuckle syrup, 4 parts club soda, and a shot of rum
3. Serve over ice
4. Garnish with tiny umbrella, leftover flowers, or other invasive species

Lazy Loni serving suggestion (Photo credit: S. Sim)

Mabuhai!

We’ve been busy here at Invasivore… busy concocting delicious mixed drinks!  That’s right, we’re combining invasivory with mixology and sharing the recipes for our adult readers.  Please feel free to do some experimentation yourself and as always, drink responsibly!

Ingredients:

• Honeysuckle simple syrup (to optimize the honeysuckle flavor, use freshly made honeysuckle syrup)
• Club soda
• Rum
• Lime cut into wedges

Instructions:

1. Mix one part honeysuckle syrup with 4 parts club soda and a shot of rum
2. Finish with a squeeze of lime
3. Insert tiny umbrella or garnish with a leftover honeysuckle flower or another invasive species (for example, Himalayan blackberry in the picture below)

Feel free to adjust the ratios to your tastes and eliminate the alcohol to make a kid-friendly beverage.

Lime Honeysuckler with Himalayan blackberry garnish (Photo credit: S. Sim)

Slainte!

On my way home one day I caught a whiff from a flowering vine and found the Japanese honeysuckle.  Its flowers were fragrant and sweet, and I thought some of is leaves didn’t look honeysuckle-like until I saw that it was in fact choking out a tree.  I flicked off the ants also trying to collect the delicious nectar and harvested all the honeysuckle flowers blooming that day.

Honeysuckle on the vine (Photo credit: S. Sim)

Honeysuckle vines choking out a resident tree. (Photo credit: S. Sim)

Ingredients:

• Bowl of honeysuckle flowers
• Bowl of water
• Several cups of white granulated sugar
• Squirt of lemon juice

Bowl of picked honeysuckle flowers (Photo credit S. Sim)

1. Break off the green base of the honeysuckle flower (if present)
2. Submerge all the flowers in a bowl of water and refrigerate overnight (use more flowers to increase honeysuckle flavor)
3. Combine honeysuckle water with equal parts sugar (1 cup water to 1 cup sugar) in a saucepan and heat at low temperature to dissolve sugar
4. Once all the sugar is dissolved, allow to cool
5. Mix in one squeeze from a wedge of lemon to prevent crystallization

The possibilities for this simple syrup are endless!  Over the next few days, we’ll be channeling our inner-bartenders to mix up some tasty honeysuckle beverages.

***For recipes featuring this delicious syrup, check out our Lime Honeysuckler, Lazy Loni, and Hummingbird Fizz!***

The smell of Japanese honeysuckle reminds me of the national flower of the Philippines, the sampagita, which bloomed around my birthday.  The fragrance of Japanese honeysuckle flowers strongly triggers memories from my youth, and luckily, I can enjoy the scent as I harvest the blossoms and participate in invasivory.

The invasive Japanese honeysuckle

Japanese honeysuckle (Photo credit John D. Byrd of Mississippi State University and USDA Plants)

My first encounter with the Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) was at my undergraduate campus, the University of California, Irvine.  The pathway that forms a circle around the campus (called “ring road”) is well landscaped and lined with manicured trees and shrubs.  Oddly enough, on my way to my plant evolution and systematics class, I noticed this innocuous-looking creeping shrub with white and yellowish flowers, an intoxicating smell similar to that of Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac), and at the end of its long carpel is a reward of a delicious drop of sweet honeysuckle nectar.

Distribution and ecological harm

Little did I know, this modest shrub—with its sweet smell and taste—was a dangerous invader!  Native to east Asia, and introduced to New York as an ornamental and for erosion control, the Japanese honeysuckle has been documented to have invaded most of the lower 48 states and Hawaii.   It is known to kill neighboring shrubs and saplings by girdling with its fast-growing vines;  so native plants beware, these east Asian invading creep(er)s are fragrant, silent, and deadly.

Distribution of Japanese honeysuckle in the US (green is where it is present). Image credit: EDDMapS.org

Edibility of Japanese honeysuckle

Though Japanese honeysuckle berries are interesting in their own right as a potential cause of hybrid speciation in Rhagoletis fruit flies, the berries are unfortunately unsafe for human consumption.  On the contrary, both the flowers and nectar are safe and quite tasty.  From an Invasivory standpoint, harvesting flowers is doubly beneficial because the flowers can be consumed (or simply enjoyed for its bi-lobed and bilaterally symmetrical beauty and fragrance) and it prevents that flower from setting seed and further spread (as its primary method of seed dispersal is by bird).

***Check out our recipe for Honeysuckle Simple Syrup to see how to use this fragrant flower***