What is Cattail Foraging?

This Tourism Week across Canada we are running a series on cattail foraging! We agree with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), that “We encourage all Canadians this #TourismWeek, to take the pledge, and when you are able, plan and travel in Canada this year!

Enjoy this Fermented Cattail Heart recipe, the little cattail shoots taste so much like cucumbers, and with a bit of radishes and garlic added to the brine, they come out amazing!

If you cut your newly harvested spring cattail shoot recipes into 1/2 inch rounds, then you can cook them up like shallots to enjoy! Here is an amazing Shallot and Garlic butter recipe that converts to nicely to cattails from Epicurus.

This Tourism Week we encourage you to have a “staycation” at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area or George Genereux Urban Regional Park in Saskatoon! In 326 acres, and 147.8 acres, there is lots of room to socially distance, and enjoy the mixed woodlands, meadows, wetlands and wildlife.

Stay tuned for more recipes during Tourism Week as we explore Cattail Nutrition and Cattail recipes. Did you know that the fresh spring cattail heads taste like corn on the cob?

A super easy recipe is to just barbecue your foraged cattail heads. Clean them first by rinsing, and soaking in vinegar, and then rinse off the vinegar. Next parboil them for a short while. Now you can brush a bit of olive oil on them and grill or barbecue them for a short while.

Also the pollen can be collected in paper bags, or by inserting the cattail head into a bottle? Just give the head a shake, while it is all wrapped up inside, and the pollen will be so easy to collect, and so healthy to add to any of your baking dishes, or to your rice pilaf or pasta dishes! Stay tuned for some more amazing cattail recipes!

Young cattails are loaded with nutrition, and according to specialty produce, cattails provide beta-carotene, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, potassium, phosphorus, and Vitamin C.

Cattails are a great way to try your hand at foraging, they are everywhere and are easily identifiable.

Shawn Bailey

Alternatively, you can peel the fibers away, and eat the tender root. Parboil your root, and then grill with a sauce made from your favourite salad dressing!

Send us a comment on how you succeed with your foraging adventure! Stay tuned throughout tourism week for more Cattail recipes for your outdoor foraging foray. Remember to be safe around the water.

Avoid harvesting your cattails with your puppy dogs with you in the spring while waterfowl are nesting. “For waterfowl, other marsh birds, and small mammals, broadleaf cattail provides food and important nesting, brooding, and loafing habitat. Broadleaf cattail is extremely important to common muskrats. It provides a major food source and important nesting habitats and materials” FEIS source

Today, during Tourism Week across Canada! We agree with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), that “We encourage all Canadians this #TourismWeek, to take the pledge, and when you are able, plan and travel in Canada this year!“ Why not venture out to the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, and enjoy Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area or George Genereux Urban Regional park. They are great places to socially distance in 326 acres and 147.8 acres respectively.

Typha latifolia, the common cattail, or one of its varieties, will be found all over the Northern Hemisphere. There is everything to like about this plant: it’s all edible (and tasty!), easy to identify, and easy to harvest. This makes it both a fine staple and an excellent survival food.

Fred Demara

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mold myself.

Henry David Thoreau

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Pinterest richardstbarbeb
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas

YouTube

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date! Canada Helps

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

““Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”

Richard St. Barbe Baker

You Will Thank Us – Tips About Cattail Nutrition You Need To Know

There are truly amazing benefits to cattails. They are high in Manganese, Vitamin K, and Magnesium. The roots ground into powder to provide a high protein flour for your favourite recipe.

Manganese supports bone health, reduces blood sugar, aids in the formation of blood clots alongside of Vitamin K, and helps the body form superoxide dismutase, an anti-oxidant enzyme which may indeed reduce inflammation related to inflammatory bowel disease for instance according to Medical News Today.

Healthline reports that magnesium is essential to facilitate the biochemical reactions taking place in your body. These include energy creation, protein formation, prevent depression, gene maintenance, mitigates Type-2 diabetes, aids muscle movements, prevents migraines and aides in the regulation of your nervous system.

There is a very easy way to forage for your cattail roots according to Northern Woodlands is by baking the roots in the oven under a slow oven about 200 degrees Fahrenheit to let them dry overnight. Then place the roots into your coffee grinder or use your mortar and pestle to create a fine high-protein flour. This flour is wonderful to use as a gluten free thickener, or to make pancakes for instance. Just reach down, and remove the connecting rhizome between two cattail plants. The outside layer of the rhizome is spongy, and not great to eat. Just peel your rhizome like a banana peel separating the outer layer with your thumbnails, remove it and you should be left with core.

The Farmer’s almanac says that to “prepare a cattail root, clean it and trim away the smaller branching roots, leaving the large rhizome.” A great means to clean your cattail harvest is to rinse, then soak in vinegar for a few minutes, then rinse again.

There are two choices in using your newly harvested cattail roots.

You can bake the roots in the oven under a slow oven about 200 degrees Fahrenheit to let them dry overnight. Then place the roots into your coffee grinder or use your mortar and pestle to create a fine high-protein flour. This flour is wonderful to use as a gluten free thickener, or to make pancakes for instance.

Markus Rothkranz believes that God wants us all to be healthy and happy and so has given us free foods and medicines all over the planet. As he points out, there will be wild plants we can eat and others that will make us well, growing outside where we live and in our neighbourhoods.

Steve Andrews

Alternatively, you can peel the fibers away, and eat the tender root. Parboil your root, and then grill with a sauce made from your favourite salad dressing!

Send us a comment on how you succeed with your foraging adventure! Stay tuned throughout tourism week for more Cattail recipes for your outdoor foraging foray. Remember to be safe around the water. Try not to forage cattails with puppy dogs in tow during the spring nesting season. Audubon mentions that the Pied-billed Grebe “nests are unusual too – little platforms of plant material that float on water, hidden behind vegetation. …Martin Muller, an expert who loves unravelling the mysteries of Pied-billed Grebes: “Well, there’s the nest…there it is! We didn’t even see it because we were standing on the wrong side of the cattails, so if we step back a little bit…without the bird seeing…us directly staring at it, it’ll carry on.”

Today, during Tourism Week across Canada! We agree with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), that “We encourage all Canadians this #TourismWeek, to take the pledge, and when you are able, plan and travel in Canada this year!“ Why not venture out to the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, and enjoy Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area or George Genereux Urban Regional park. They are great places to socially distance in 326 acres and 147.8 acres respectively.

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mold myself.

Henry David Thoreau

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Pinterest richardstbarbeb
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas

YouTube

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date! Canada Helps

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

““Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”

Richard St. Barbe Baker

Many more people are becoming interested in foraging and are going out looking for free wild foods. This puts them in touch with nature and with ways of the hunter-gatherer our ancestors were long, long ago.

Steve Andrews

Everyone Loves Cattail Recipes for Tourism Week

Today, the Sunday of the long weekend of May marks the beginning of Tourism Week across Canada! We agree with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), that “We encourage all Canadians this #TourismWeek, to take the pledge, and when you are able, plan and travel in Canada this year!

To that point, we encourage you to have a “staycation” at Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area or George Genereux Urban Regional Park in Saskatoon! In 326 acres, and 147.8 acres, there is lots of room to socially distance, and enjoy the mixed woodlands, meadows, wetlands and wildlife.

For an activity, this spring, the spikes or stems are amazing to eat, as are the roots, and the pollen-covered cattails heads are also wonderful. Off the Grid News recommends that after harvesting your cattails, to rinse, them at home, and then soak in vinegar for 10-15 minutes, and then rinse again. The little shoots make a delightful spring vegetable to eat with your favourite dip!

Don’t forget to try the Marinated Cattail Hearts recipe. Right now is the best time to forage for your cattail leaf hearts. You may want to wander out to the wetlands with a pair of rubber boots on for the best and tastiest morsels. This delicious Marinated Cattail Hearts recipe makes a divine relish that is very delicious.

Send us a comment on how you succeed with your foraging adventure! Stay tuned throughout tourism week for more Cattail recipes for your outdoor foraging foray. Remember to be safe around the water. Try to forage for your cattails without puppy dogs in tow as spring is when waterfowl are nesting. Pied-billed Grebes, for instance, “build floating nests of cattails, grasses and other vegetation…..look for Pied-billed Grebes on small, quiet ponds and marshes where thick vegetation grows out of the water.” Cornell University All About Birds.

Foraging for food is a little like a mythic quest. You may think you know what you want and expend a lot of energy and dogged determination making lists and plans for obtaining it — losing a lot of sleep and garnering no small amount of heartache along the way — only to find it shimmering elsewhere, like a golden chalice, just out of reach.

Risa Nye

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Blairmore Sector Plan Report; planning for the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, George Genereux Urban Regional Park and West Swale and areas around them inside of Saskatoon city limits
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)?with map
Pinterest richardstbarbeb
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Facebook: South West OLRA
Reddit: FriendsAfforestation
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Mix: friendsareas

YouTube

Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date! Canada Helps

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

““Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven..”

Richard St. Barbe Baker

Earth was not built for six billion people all running around and being passionate about things. The world was built for about two million people foraging for roots and grubs.

Douglas Coupland
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