I like the flutter of expectation and curiosity I get in my stomach just as I try something for the first time.  Before the boil, the butter and the salt, with only a precursory rinse I explore the flavor over my pits and buds.  Unexpected sweetness.

“Cossack asparagus” is traditionally the young shoots from Common Cattail (Typha latifolia), but it’s very close to the Phragmites shoots we collected Monday.  And like asparagus, one of the best recipes is the simplest.  A little boiling, butter, salt, and pepper.  I’m not going to make a fancy recipe because there’s little need.  It’s is just good.  More importantly though, the easier it is, the more people might try it.  So I’m going to keep it simple.  But feel free to experiment, every part of this plant is edible*.

Harvest

In early spring, you can spot Phragmites from a distance.  Last year’s tall, brown, bushy-headed stalks wave gently above their wetland habitats*.  Just always be sure to correctly identify your species, as we discuss here.  The young shoots are simple to find, just look where the old shoot meet the damp earth.  With your fingers, probe around the base of the shoot into the soil, and pluck the shoot from where it meets the underground stems.

*It is important to note that plant roots are excellent at sequestering heavy metals from soils.  While this provides a great land management strategy known as phytoremediation, it also means that eating plants in polluted areas can be dangerous.  Phragmites commonly grows in ditches and along roadsides, but you should forgo these populations and only harvest from parks and other lesser polluted areas.

Tasty Phragmites young shoots. Photo by A. Deines

Ingredients

½ lb Phargmites shoots, washed

1 Tbs butter

1 Tbs salt

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Bring several quarts of water to a boil with 1Tbs of salt.  Add the shoots to the water and boil for 10 minutes.  Strain the shoots and place in serving try, melting and evenly distributing the butter over the top.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy

Serve the shoots still warm but at a handling temperature.  Peel 3 or 4 of the tough outer layers off the shoot, to reveal the soft core.  Holding the shoot by the hard green end, bite off the core.  Alternatively, peel the shoots and cut off the tips before serving.  I like finger food.

Peeling the boiled shoots of Phragmites. Photo by J. Deines

Andy Invasivoring a Phragmites shoot. Photo by J. Deines

Everyone has leftovers, here’s what I did with some of mine:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 cup frozen yogurt
• 1 cup thoroughly washed and frozen Himalayan blackberries
• ½ a frozen banana
• ¾ cup orange juice

Photo courtesy of Sheina Sim

Instructions:

1. Place ice cubes in a blender and crush
2. Add the rest of the ingredients in the order they are listed (orange juice last!)
3. Blend to desired consistency

The important thing is to keep everything but the orange juice frozen.

To keep things simple and honor the deliciousness of the theme ingredient, I decided to make a blackberry custard pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 9″ Pie crust (you can buy one frozen or make it yourself)
• 2 cups vanilla custard (directions below)
• 2 cups Himalayan blackberries

Instructions:

1. Bake pie crust at 450⁰F for ~20min until it is golden brown
2. Allow to cool
3. When the pie crust is cool to the touch, pour in refrigerated vanilla custard
4. Completely cover the custard with fresh and thoroughly washed Himalayan blackberries

Photo courtesy of Sheina Sim

Vanilla custard ingredients:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• ¾ cup evaporated milk + ¼ cup water (hot but not boiling)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla custard instructions:

1. Combine sugar and flour
2. Cream in egg yolks
3. Slowly add hot milk while stirring over low to medium heat
4. Add butter as it gets hot and thickens
5. Add vanilla
6. Remove from heat when it reaches desired consistency
7. Allow to cool and then chill in the refrigerator

When I started this project, I had the goal of baking a pake (a pie baked into a cake) to pay homage to a fellow science blogger, but my execution was poor and though the pake turned out delicious, it was horribly ugly.