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Hosta Cookery . . . . . . By Ernie Flippo In response to the questions about whether hostas are fit to eat, I can offer the following from my limited experience in cooking with hostas. I recall at least one Hosta Journal article, (but not the author's name) that described his use of hosta leaves in place of spinach. To enjoy hostas as a steamed vegetable, treat them as you would any other edible wild green leafy item. I.e., the young spring leaves are the most tender and tasty. You will find that the mature foliage at this time of year is somewhat fibrous and tough, unless you are a ruminant with four stomachs or a slug with a rasp-file for lips. It is thus more suitable for soups and recipes that allow for long cooking. Last year I used lancifolia and ventricosa leaves to prepare dishes for several New England Hosta Society gatherings. The lancifolia leaves seemed a little less on the bitter side. Chopped, simmered in chicken stock, and pureed, they made a nice cream of hosta soup (with some herbs and cream or milk to taste). I also made a "hostakopita" with cooked chopped hosta leaves in place of spinach in the Greek savory pie that includes layers of greens and feta cheese baked in dough. Among lovers of hostas, such items are novelties, and good conversation pieces, especially if you point out to your host how delicious the meal would be if you could go out and chop down his/her most expensive hosta to add to the next course. Which brings to mind that what is one person's ornamental prize may be no more than grist for another's mill. Several of the participants in last year's expedition to China in search of plants, seeds, bulbs etc., later described their chagrin at finding that the wild arisaemas they were seeking (you will see these relatives of the Jack-in-the-pulpit in specialty catalogs for $25 and up) were widely dug to feed to hogs, and that masses of wild epimediums were to be found not in the woodlands, but dried for sale in the markets as a folk medicine to enhance potency and sexually whatever ails you. I hope this information does not lead our robin readers to rush out and strip their shade gardens in favor of a few meals and thrills, but as my classically trained Latin-speaking neighbor to the north, Glen Williams, might say --in gustibus est non disputandum (there's no accounting for tastes, or something along those lines). Now for lunch...there's nothing quite like a nice plate of free-range, hosta-fed slugs sauteed in garlic butter.... |
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AAA Ornamentals,
8S953 Jericho Road, P.O. Box 277 ~ Big Rock ~ Illinois |