Staying close to the nest today I decided to try some Day-lily buds as a cooked vegetable. Last year I dried a lot of flowers for use in tea and soups and have been very pleased with them, also the fresh flowers were very crunchy and good in salads last summer. This year I will explore the flower buds during their 25 days of development before flowering which from what I’ve read change quite a bit in taste and nutritional value with the buds being most beneficial to eat in the last 4 days before flowering.
Day-lily bed
These few buds here are a little over 2 inches long and were delicious boiled in a small amount of water for 4 minutes. I honestly rate them as better than any cooked green beans I ever had which I also tend to enjoy, so. Here you also see my Stinging Nettle, Jerusalem Artichoke patch with Day-lilies behind them. Some Day-lilies varieties may not be totally safe to eat so I suggest you learn to recognize and stick with Hemerocallis fulva the (Tawny Day-lily) which has become a very common wild Day-lily on the east half of N.A.
1left 
Thanks to a previous post of yours i’ve started munching on Day-lily petals while out on my morning bike ride. They really are quite delicious. Almost like a sweet lettuce (at least to my taste buds). 🙂
I happen to agree mobius, the flowers have a high water content and lettuce-like crispness that is quite refreshing and sweet, their texture was the biggest surprise when I first tried them.
I had planned on trying some, but the deer beat me to mine…
nut I don’t have the old fashion orange one…my Grandma grew…so…
it is probably better that I didn’t try…
What is Jerusalem artichoke, it sounds..and looks familiar….
Thanks for once again 1Left….showing/teaching me something I didn’t know….
Take Care…
)0(
maryrose
It’s a sunflower which produces edible tubers, it grows wild mostly along brooks and rivers in the eastern half of N.A. as far south as Ga. They do have a few commercial varieties people are growing in gardens now. It can grow rather tall up to 8 or 9 feet and was one of the first plants brought back to Europe as a potential crop by the early explorers to North America. Claude Monet in 1880 did a painting of a vase of Jerusalem Artichoke flowers while living in France, I also like to do up a vase of flowers in late Sept. as they are nice to look at and by removing the top part of the plant this helps to increase the size of the tubers below the ground to be harvested later in the fall through to spring. Thanks for visiting LBR
I’ve always heard of eating the roots but not the buds, so this is interesting!
I find the flowers very good and the buds excellent, well worth trying.