Canna x generalis stem pith edibility

 

I find the peeled young stem pith of Canna x generalis is edible and good to eat. Crisp and crunchy like water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis), of reasonable size, with little to no flavor but pleasant and refreshing. 

The inner youngish stem pith is fiber free and white, you really need to cut away the outer fibrous layers, it is not visually obvious where the fibers start and stop. Probably best raw or very briefly fried, boiling does not really add anything. 

Productivity is pretty good.

It seems a little strange there seems to be no record of the stem pith of any Canna being eaten by humans, unless references to the shoots being edible mean this, more likely they refer to the very young leaves. I can find no record of toxicity in Canna. The roots, seeds and and shoots of some species are well known as food.

I have not tried any other Canna stem pith yet, some at least are likely to be similar.  

Boiled they turn green

(At least some) Dianella nigra berries not bad to eat

There are several unreferenced sources online saying Dianella nigra berries are toxic to humans despite being popular with birds. According to the book "The Poisonous Plants in New Zealand", by Connor, the berries were suspected of causing the death of a child in the nineteenth century but there was no evidence the berries were the cause. This is probably the origin of the unlikely theory they are toxic. Connor goes on to say there is no evidence they are toxic.

Low (1) says all (Australian) Dianella that taste good are safe to eat in small amounts, he does not actually say large amounts are harmful, he may just be playing it safe.

 

I have been eating the purple berries of what I'm pretty certain is Dianella nigra planted at the parking lot of Appleton Park, Karori, Wellington, New Zealand. They are rather insipid, but of good juicy texture and the seeds have a crunch. I find them reasonably good if you count the interesting color, acceptable added to a salad, more of a small vegetable than a fruit as they are not sweet. I think worth having in the garden as a salad backup, especially for a shady spot. Left to dry and shrivel they resemble raisons in texture. I think one of the better native berries to eat, admittedly that's not saying much.

Interesting Crowe (2) says they are not known to be toxic but are unpleasantly bitter, I did not find them to be bitter at all. Perhaps I have been eating an edible Australian Dianella but this seems unlikely (see photos of what I've been eating below). 

It seems more likely there is variation in taste of berries, recently Dianella nigra was divided into three distinct species that can interbreed (3), Crowe may have sampled a different species or strain to me, the berries can vary in colour so variation in taste seems possible.    

 

References.

1 Wild Food Plants of Australia. T Low.

2) A Field Guide to the Edible Native Plants of New Zealand. A Crowe 

3)  https://www.oratianatives.co.nz/catalogue_extras.php?article_id=215&catalogue_id=305

Possibility of Dictator Therapy

One of the more thought provoking books I've read recently is the best seller 'Dopamine Nation. Finding balance in the age of indulgence' (2021) by Anna Lembke.

The book discusses the widespread addiction to dopamine from things that make you feel good without effort, such as drugs, many aspects of the net and consumerism. The author argues these things may release happy chemicals but will make you feel bad afterwards and you will need more and more to get less and less of a high.

Instead she suggests pain may be initially unpleasant but you will get a high afterwards. Taking the middle path between pleasure and pain being the wise, healthy option, much as Buddha said, but arguing we now also need to push slightly towards pain to balance the over abundance of addictive pleasure in the economy.  

The author talks at length about her own addiction to vampire romance novels and Fifty Shades of Grey. I can't help wondering if she is talking about masochism when she advocates pain, which certainly does provide pleasure for some people but may be unhealthy, especially extended to all aspects of life not just sex. 

But the book does get you thinking about how much "happy" neurochemicals (not just dopamine, also endorphin, oxytocin, adrenaline and serotonin) influence or even control people's behavior. 

Many things release these chemicals, and different people seem to get this high from different things, presumably due to a combination of genes and upbringing. Being kind "the helpers high", winning, harmony or beauty, competing, cooperating, sharing, drama/crisis or "action", discovery, creating or achieving something, solving a problem, status, power and probably many other things are different, in some cases seemingly incompatible, ways of getting a high. 

Achievement is especially interesting and resembles the high following pain Lembke talks about, but I think it is different in an important way. Working to achieve something is often painful or difficult but you get a flood of positive neurochemicals when you see the result. This is not the same as as the release of chemicals to comfort you when you eat chili peppers or get into cold water, which Lembke advocates, but perhaps that happens as well.     

It is worth asking which highs are appropriate and desirable in civilization, which many or all of these neurochemical highs predate. Some may be more healthy and ethical than others. Is the ancient instinctive high of "winning" for instance really appropriate anymore in modern civilized, especially egalitarian, society? 

We may be able to increase our self-control and quality of life through awareness of how these chemicals influence or determine our behavior. It may also be that kind people, say, are actually no more ethical (in intent) than cruel people, they may both just be seeking the same neurochemical high in different ways. Is it even possible to act contrary to what these chemicals are telling us to do, to act on principle when it doesn't feel good say, or is acting on principle also pursued because of positive reward from neurochemicals?*

Perhaps rehabilitative psychotherapy could be developed to help a criminal or dictator addicted to the exhilarating neurochemical high of dominance/winning to transition to getting a high from harmony or sharing. Quite likely a more mild, civilized, sustainable high as Lembke advocates. 

I have not thought much about how exactly.

 Maybe this sort of thing is being done already but I'm not aware of it.    

* I suspect acting on principle, morals, is feeling based. Logicians think they have discovered the rules of reason, but we probably pursue it because it feels satisfying and fulfilling to create or follow a rational argument. No contradictions, consistency with evidence, parts fitting together well, feels good, much as beauty in the arts and tidiness in the home have been scientifically found to release happy neurochemicals. Winning is probably a much more intense high, but it is boom and bust, less sustainable and reliable and depends on another's misery.     

  

Fight for Harmony. Complete Online Art Exhibition - Book of Paintings by David Nicholls.

A 74 page fantasy about transforming evil into good and a harmonious self-transforming community that follows.

Giant parasitic leech enters pristine wilderness.

Astro medicates leech with milk, tears form civilized pasture. 

Parasite blossoms into assassination-proof orator hydra. 

Next generation parasite sucks life out of Astro.          Oratory enlightens parasite.

Reformed parasite makes heart-reason wedding cake, applied for mouth to mouth resuscitation.

Astro revives to see galaxy heart city, baby cakes emerge

Cakes arrive at civilized pasture, lay micro-cities

Newly evolved carnivorous toilet emerges from ground, eats cakes.

Astro builds a home for toilet

Astro squeezes life back out of toilet, finds place in community for toilet's new home

Blood-smoke from chimneys forms communal heart. 

Newly arrived flying Rafflesia predator attacks

Life drained from heart, becomes asteroid.                Light liberates parasite

Mask removed

Mask appropriated by Astro to become instrument for good

Astro opens to reveal it is just a suit, protective and nurturing culture.  Reformed mask joins heart and still living body 

Former foes unified.

Remains of community, hearts form asteroid belt.

Healing begins.

Astro sacrifices arms to join and complete community

Community members rearrange to become like Tristan de Cuna, the most remote community

and regroup - party

members rearrange to form Amazonian tribe like community  

and exchange places

Transform into Manhattan-esque community

Manhatten-esque freely communing

Community becomes Ancient Egypt-esque

Transforms into Inuit-esque community

Climaxing community

Pregnant tropical community inside arctic iglo

Housefly larvae taste test

I tried eating two larvae, or maggots, from a housefly, I believe it was Musca domestica but am not certain. I have been unable to find a description of what they are like to eat anywhere in any book or on the net so decided to investigate. I could also find no detail on how they are prepared, or cooked, in regions where they are traditionally consumed by humans (apparently only rural China and Mexico).  

I boiled them for twenty minutes, considerably longer than the amount of time reportedly necessary to kill or neutralize the many pathogens Musca domestica can carry.

I was surprised how good they tasted, even excellent I would say, somewhere between pork and cheese, there is a report online they are called "cheese worms" in Mexico, where several indigenous groups raise and eat them (1). The skin is a bit problematic, slightly tough, requiring deliberate chewing. It would be worth testing if frying or putting them in a blender or other techniques eliminates this toughness. The consistency of the flesh is very soft, like cream or puss. Various cooking techniques such as making patties or fritters out of them to see if they are as satisfying as common meat seem worth investigating.

I think they deserve further investigation as possible meat substitutes or alternatives, however they do not contain vitamin B12 according to one analysis* (2).  

Despite the very deep, and partly justified, taboo against eating housefly maggots I think they may deserve attention as a simple way for anyone to produce meat, or animal protein, in a small area as well as as an apparently environmentally friendly way to produce meat (black soldier fly larvae reportedly reduce greenhouse gas emissions) (3), the opposite of common commercial meats. So a realistic view may be that beef is more repulsive than maggots, in the big picture.

A number of other fly larvae have been used as food and probably deserve investigation, such as the New Zealand native blowfly, Calliphora quadimaculata, once eaten by Maori, which is not reported to carry diseases and eats rotting plant matter, does not require rotting meat (4). 

* Tiger worms may be the easiest livestock for a small area that contains B12, not quite as simple as maggots, see my earlier post "Cooking tiger worms so not tough and rubbery"

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2006780035499549072/1585908280519215466?hl=en

References.

1)  Edible Insects of the World. Jun Mitsuhashi. 2017.

2) Vitamin B12 level in selected insects. 1984. Wakayama et al.

3) Black soldier fly larvae mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from domestic biodegradable waste by recycling carbon and nitrogen and reconstructing microbial communites. FangMing Xiang et al. 2024. 

4) Which New Zealand Insect? Andrew Crowe. 2002.

  

Dahlia tubers as food

I tried eating the tubers of a Dahlia I found growing wild in a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. I am not sure what species or variety it is, Dahlia coccinea x pinnata is reported to grow wild in New Zealand (1), it seems most likely to be this, photos below, let me know if you know. Both Dahlia coccinea and pinnata are edible cooked (2)  so it is safe to assume any cross between them is too.

The tubers are available in winter, I had to leave a marker in summer to find them as it goes dormant for winter so tubers can be hard to find. The plant produces an abundance of good sized tubers.

I tried them raw, they are crunchy like an apple with a slight taste of uncooked potato, but basically bland in flavor. I also boiled them. They remain crunchy after boiling with very little flavor, much like potato in taste but very different in texture. After prolonged boiling they get a bit softer but are still crunchy. I would say they have a slightly coarse texture, they also leave the mouth slightly dry I find, but they are basically okay.

I found them better roasted for 20-30 minutes, luscious in texture and more tasty, though still hard to describe.

Based on eating them once I would say they are not quite as good as more well known root crops, though a taste could possibly be acquired for them, they have been a traditional part of the diet in parts of South America (2). The fact that they are perennial, compete with weeds and require little or no care may still make them a worthwhile crop overall.    

The skin is sometimes reported to taste bad, I did not find this but it is a bit tough and can be slightly fibrous. 

The flowers of some Dahlias are also reported edible (3) these ones had little flavor but are colorful and good to eat.  

References.

1) New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. 

https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/dahlia-coccinea-d-pinnata/

2) Food Plants in the Americas: A Survey of the Domesicated, Cultivated and Wild Plants Used for Human Food In the Americas. Brian Kermath. 2018.

https://www.academia.edu/1139225/Food_Plants_in_the_Americas_A_Survey_of_the_Domesticated_Cultivated_and_Wild_Plants_Used_for_Human_Food_in_North_Central_and_South_America_and_the_Caribbean

3)The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America. Francis Couplan. 1998.

Hemerocallis middendorffii Seeds Tasty

Ainu Ethnobiology by Dai Williams 2017

https://ethnobiology.org/sites/default/files/publications/contributions/ainu-ethnobiology-final-web-01-09-2018.pdf

 reports the relatively large seeds (about .5 cm) of Hemerocallis middendorfii were once eaten by the Ainu people in Japan. No details on preparation are given. I tried a few, raw they are ok, but roasted for 15 minutes they taste surprisingly good, like nuts, the texture is not as good or smooth as popular nuts, a bit crumbly, but okay. Perhaps I cooked them for a bit too long. 

I am only aware of one other report of Hemerocallis seeds (in general) being edible, Eat the Weeds by Green Deane: 

https://www.eattheweeds.com/daylily-just-cloning-around-2/

he also says the pods are good to eat. I have not tried the seeds or pods of any other species or variety of daylily yet. It seems quite likely they are all edible. It would be worth testing other daylily seeds roasted to see if they taste the same as H middendorfii seeds, if they do I would infer they are also probably safe to eat. 

It is worth noting the roots of at least one Hemerocallis species are considered toxic and the flowers of some of the thousands of hybrid varieties are thought to be slightly toxic, I have had a semi-allergic reaction to some.

Getting a reasonably large nut-like food from such a small perennial is rather rare and desirable, most nut trees are too big for the average garden. 

Lespedeza bicolor seed taste

Another seed reportedly once eaten in Japan is that of Lespedeza bicolor (bush clover). There seems to be only one reference, the seeds were boiled with rice (Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. 1976), although I found one paper that mentioned it in a discussion of prehistoric grains (Tools to Live By. Emma Keiko Yasui 2021).

I assume from Tanaka it was used the same way as rice and could potentially be used as a substitute.

There seem to be no reports on taste so I tried a few from a seed for sowing packet (don't have access to a plant). They are a bit smaller than rice, 2-3 mm. I boiled some for 10 minutes, they were then soft, a bit softer than cooked rice, and stayed the same size as before cooking, they tasted like mild bread or wheat, not bad. Presumably they'd be firmer with briefer cooking.

I think it would be worth trying larger quantities to see if they make a good rice substitute for places where rice won't grow, although you can't help wondering if there is a good reason why it is no longer used. It appears going by photos one bush produces a lot of seeds, I don't know how quick or easy harvesting would be, that may be the problem. 

Anemone rivularis seed taste test

 

The book 'Plants and People of Nepal' by Narayan P Manandhar  (2002) reports the reasonably large (5 mm by 1 mm) seeds of the very shade tolerant plant Anemone rivularis are roasted, then pickled then eaten in Nepal. 

I tried some raw (which appeared to be alive but might not have been) they were tasteless and really too chewy but did not seem to be acrid as has been reported. I tried roasting some seeds. After less than a minute at 250 C they were no longer chewy, they were crisp, but basically tasteless if not slightly woody in flavor. Boiled for 10 minutes they were still pretty chewy and tasteless. Fried for a few minutes they were only a bit better. 

Perhaps pickling in some special way as well makes them palatable, I did not try that. It seems like an unpalatable food to me though might be nutritious being a seed.  

  

The Way. Painting by David Nicholls.

The Way. (Auto-family on Road-river). By David Nicholls. 2024. Acrylic on Canvas.