Re:(Kudzu vine)

[Guest guest]

     Is Kudzu related at all to the plant family of sweet potatoes?  (They grow

morning glory-like vines, too.)  When my DH visited the west African country of

Liberia in '06 and this past Feb., he was served cooked rice with some cooked

greens on top of the rice.  He didn't know the first time he ate them what the

greens were, but said they tasted sweet and went very well with the rice.  He

was told it was the cooked leaves and small vine shoots of the sweet potato

plants.  He dislikes spinach, but the flavor is much like cooked spinach, that

is, spinach cooked with a sprinkle of brown sugar added!

 

      Kudzu vines LOOK so similar to sweet potato plant vines that it makes me

wonder if they might possibly have a similar flavor if cooked as greens.  Maybe

not!  I myself have only had sweet potato " greens " once--it wasn't too bad.  If

I were eating " wild " plants as foods, I think my choice might rather be

something like lamb's quarters (a weed, but tasty to eat).  However, in this

part of the country there are places where Lamb's quarter weed takes over quite

readily--though not nearly as completely as kudzu does!  Since kudzu is SO

prolific and plentiful in some areas of the country, there ought to be some way

it can be prepared and eaten if it is at all edible in the first place!

 

      You mention here that it was eaten during the Depression, " much like

stewed collards ...and turnips or cabbage might be... "   Does it TASTE like

collards, turnip greens or cabbage?  I LOVE collards--I would try kudzu in a

minute if I knew it tasted like collards!

 

This is an interesting musing, I must say!

--Laura B., in Illinois

 

 

    Posted by: " Jaysmailboxnc " Jaysmailboxnc jojotherapy

    Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:02 pm ((PST))

 

hey all! ..hey donna ..

 

from one red neck country boy here in the Carolinas...

 

kudzu vine is a? almost morning glory lookalike vine, but grows a lot in the

south and at a ALARMING RATE..sometimes a foot a day ..and can literally take

over a? plot of land in no time..sometimes u might see it growing along the I-95

corridore if u travel south.? was brought in to the usa south?during the

twenties to control soil erosion, it soon became a curse.? live stock can feed

on it and it is supposely high in protein, and so i had always wondered why

humans had not tried it. my mom had told me? during the depression some had

eaten it cooked much like stewed collards (gag!) and turnips or cabbage. might

be worth a try.....