This having been the week for "Pancake Tuesday". We decided to throw a completely different spin on the concept of a pancake. We decided to make Cattail Crepes.
Of course we're not talking of the cat tails of the animal kingdom, but rather those "weeds" often found in marshes and also called bulrush.
Somewhere I had read than an acre of cattail produces maybe ten times more food than an acre of potatoes! This was quite interesting since one part of our land proved problematic for me.
Our acreage is divided into two parts by a stream which feeds a pond. The pond was created by a beaver dam and downstream we now have a large marsh overflowing with cattails.
We had to discover their use. So this week we started harvesting some cattail rhizomes (roots). The frozen edges of the marsh made it relatively easy to get to these plants and we dutifully pulled our first cattail root.
The first root was so small we were somewhat suspicious of the claim that a lot of food could be gathered. However, this first root did allow us to identify the general morphology of the plant. As shown in this picture, the longitudinal root has a tendency to spur new growth called a "corn", a distinctive hook-shaped bud.
After a short period of time, we started to gather some rather large roots and were quite surprised with the amount we could pick over a rather small area. We were pleased to return home with a good harvest to experiment with.
The first step to processing cattails is simply washing. Basically these rhizomes come out of the ground with a rather significant amount of mud.
The next step is to cut off the "corns". These small shoots are actually edible on their own. They are small and from our harvest we did not have much to try. However, I couldn't help feeling that I was gathering "cat teeth" rather than "cat tails".
We took these and pan fried them. The result was surprisingly good.
Even though I expected them to taste like swamp water, these small shoots have a nice mild flavour and would go well in any stir fry.
A quick note here: the corns are structured almost like an onion with multiple layers. The outer layers are tougher than the inside. I would recommend you peal one or two of the tougher outer layers before using these "corns".
The next step in the processing of the rhizomes is to peal them. We used a sharp knife but a potato peeler would probably work just as well, as long as you peel lengthwise.
Now you simply chop them up and place them in water. I found that to chop up the rhizomes, it was easiest to slice them lengthwise (exposing a soft almost creamy interior) and use scissors to "slice" them (allowing you to more easily cut the very fibrous exterior).
Using your hands you can mash the very fibrous roots in the water and the result is a gooey soup (the texture reminds me of Chinese corn soup). In fact, this is where you begin to realize how much starch these roots hold. Your hands will come out almost feeling soapy from the residue.
Once this is done, we strained the roots from the fluid (I also washed them over the colander to get as much of the starch as possible)....and stepped back to wait for the starch or flour to settle.
This is where Christine comes in. Coming home to find a "pot of dirty water" on the kitchen counter she decided to toss it out! Tristan and I had to go back to "square one".
Returning through all of our initial steps (perhaps a little wiser in our approach), we got back to the settling of the starch. After about 3 hours, we took the upper clear portion of the liquid and decanted as much of it as possible. The bottom of the container was loaded with a wet starch or flour that we put in the oven (for a lack of a dehydrator) at its lowest temperature.
We did not wait until the starch was completely dried before using (being somewhat impatient). The colour had turned orange on the edges which I believe was due to the stove being on too high (I think next time using a dehydrator and baking sheets for a more even process should do better).
Tristan being the resident expert on crepes (a thin French pancake) took it up from there. He added an egg (to what was maybe half a cup of cattail starch), some milk and brown sugar.
Our first crepe fell apart, but actually was quite tasty. The texture had a slight grit to it almost like a corn meal. We decided that the texture of the cattail starch may not allow for proper binding so we added a very small amount of flour....and the results were superb!
We added a dollop of our blackberry jam (processed earlier this summer) and had a crepe that had a slight taste of corn and whole wheat. This was definitely a worthwhile discovery for us (we're now thinking breads, pastas and cookies!).
Having succeeded in this first experiment with cattails, we can hardly wait for the year to progress. Apparently and to my surprise, cattails produce different food throughout the year. In the spring you can eat the shoots - cooked or raw (in Russia they refer to these as Cossack Asparagus). Later you can eat the flower (that distinctive brown pod). It is eaten just like corn when it is green. And if this was not enough, you can also collect the pollen and use it as a flour! Needless to say, we'll have quite a few additional experiments to report on.
On the farming front we encountered quite a few set-backs this week. We continued with our pruning and managed to finish off the McIntosh and Empire Apple trees.
However, we did encounter difficulties with our pole pruner. It kept stalling. It turned out to be a carburetor issue. Luckily our friends at Pic's were quick to help us out.
This allowed us to move to the more challenging row of Pippin apple trees. They do not seem to have been pruned for decades and have grown to well over 30 feet. They were also infested with vines (which is one reason it took us a while to identify them earlier in the season).
Nevertheless, we tackled our first tree. The key issue was the cutting of major limbs. Invariably we would get our pole pruner stuck in the limb while cutting it. We also faced major issues when a limb would fall. First large portions of the branch would be damaged by "tearing" the bark. Then these large branches would be entirely entangled in the remaining portion of the tree (the remaining vines in the canopy did not help).
The bottom line is that we will have to develop a new approach to our cutting before we tackle the remaining 4 Pippins.
One of the issues we also discovered is that pruning largely neglected trees produces a lot of wood. Some of this will make good fire wood, but we still had to dispose of the smaller branches.
We could not set a burn close to the trees. We were too close to our barn and our raspberry crops.
We decided to use an old flat bed trailer with our trusty Massey Ferguson tractor.
Once again, we had another set-back. One of the trailer tires was flat and the tractor could not pull the trailer since beneath our snow we had a good amount of ice.
The solution: a bicycle pump.
Of course once we gathered all our wood, things could not go smoothly. Tried as we might we just could not get a burn going. The wood was much too "green" to build a sustainable fire....We'll now have to continue to gather wood and perhaps wait until Spring before cleaning up this entire mess.
I leave you this week with a couple of notes on the renovations and restoration projects. While working on the farm, we still managed to move all of the major furniture from the "West Wing" of the house into our container.
We also took delivery of a dumpster, indicating that yes new work will finally start on the old Victorian home this coming Tuesday.
The barn itself has progressed marvelously. It is really looking like new.
Inside the store walls are now paneled with pine boards and all of the wood has been stained and finished. We're so pleased with the final look, it has given us new ideas on how to transform the second floor of the barn.
The floor is tiled and waiting for grout. The only things remaining are the electrical fixtures, and the finishing and equipping of the new tea room kitchen.
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