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Salad Bar Lilies

© Gregg Pasterick

Last week I wrote, "I was going to write something about Indian Cucumber Root. I knew it was edible, so I began doing some investigating in that area and what do I find? It is only one of many lilies that have edible parts (and no, they don't taste like chicken)." So what about some of those other lilies fit for a salad bar?

Trout Lilies (Erythronium americanum), Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum biflorum), Carrion Flower (Smilax herbaceae), Day Lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) and Wild Hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) each have edible tubers, bulbs, rootstock or corms. Clintonia (Clintonia borealis), Bellworts (Uvularia) ssp., several Trilliums (Trilliums) ssp., Twisted Stalks (Streptopus) ssp., Solomon's Seal, Trout Lilies and False Solomon's Seal (Smilacina racemosa) each have edible leaves or shoots.

Trout Lilies, with both edible leaves and corms, have always been one of my favorite spring wildflowers; I don't know that I could bring myself to dig up even one for my salad. The corms, boiled for about 25 minutes, are tasty with butter, but they are so small, it would take a lot of them to account for much of a serving. As for the leaves, only the very young ones should be used, and they should be boiled for about 15 minutes.

The young shoots of Solomon's Seal can be chopped up in your salad or boiled, (minus the leafy head, which turns bitter) and served like asparagus. The rootstock, which is starchy, can be boiled and served instead of potatoes, or added to stews. The young shoots of False Solomon's Seal can similarly be used instead of asparagus, or in salads. The roots are also edible, but only after soaking overnight in lye and then parboiling. That's too scary for me.

The young leaves of Clintonia - before they have fully unfurled - can be used as a salad or cooked green, boiled for about 10 minutes. They taste a bit like cucumber.

The young shoots of Carrion-flowers, which might seem a more appropriate food for Turkey Vultures given the aroma of the flowers, provide a delicious asparagus substitute. The rootstock, crushed and run through a couple or three changes of water, will yield, when dry, a powder that can be added to flour, or used to make jelly.

Another spring favorite - all those Trilliums - is something else I'm not sure I could harvest. The young leaves, before they completely unfold, can be used in salads or as a cooked green.

Bellwort

Perfoliate Bellwort

Cintonia

Painted Trillium

Sessile Trillium

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