Delicious Daylilies

This is daylily season, and these beautiful flowers help to brighten our day with their orange and yellow blossoms. However, there is so much more to these plants to be enjoyed. From the time the young shoots emerge from the ground in the spring, the plant can be eaten. Even the roots contain dozens of small edible tubers. However, this is the season for harvesting and enjoying the flowers.

Although the open flowers are good for eating and garnishing dishes, the unopened flower buds make a tasty and colorful addition to any dish savory or sweet.

I never let this season pass by without taking advantage of the large daylily patch in my front yard. I rarely prepare a greens dish at this time of year without adding some chopped daylilies. They add their own piquant flavor and a rainbow of exotic shapes and colors.

Another great thing about this season is that I often manage to find wild mushrooms growing in the woods. Last year I found a a white pored chicken of the woods growing at the base of an oak tree. Although this choice fungus is delicious sautéed by itself it is all the more attractive and delicious when accompanied by chopped daylilies.

This year I’m exploring ways to preserve buds for later use. I’ve tried a vinegar pickle in the past , but they lost all their color and turned limp. This time I am trying a brine pickle.

So, enjoy your daylilies for their beauty, but use them to brighten up your meals, even if only as a garnish.

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