Dioscorea bulbifera, the infamous Air Potato

The “Cheeky Yam, or Yam on the Lamb

Yam B, Dioscorea bulbifera,  is definitely second best to Yam A, Dioscorea alata. Why is Yam B, the D. bulbifera second best? For two reasons. It requires more work to prepare it to eat, and doesn’t grow as big as D. alata. Let me tell you right now I have not yet dug up a Yam B tuber, but not from lack of trying. Despite decades of looking I’ve never found one.  My friend, Dick Deuerling, has however, did. He’s the author of “Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles.”  Dick was a stickler for taxonomy so when he says he dug up a D. Bulbifera tuber,  not a D. alata tuber, boiled it twice and ate it, I believe him.  I’d ask him to do it again but he’s past 90 and doesn’t get around well anymore.

The yam in question, D. bulbifera, ((Dye-os-KOH-ree-uh or in Greek thee-oh-skor-REE-uh))  is the green scourge of Central Florida, ….and South Florida, ….and North Florida…. watch out Georgia here she comes…. It was sent to a researcher in Orlando in 1905 as a possible ornamental and food crop. He reported it would be a dangerous plant to Florida but didn’t kill the plants he experimented with. A little over a century later it now carpets many parts of the state.

That D. bulbifera can be an attractive ornamental is attested by tourists mistakingly taking it home to plant. That it was a potential food crop is debatable. While there may be one species of D. bulbifera there are many varieties. I have noticed, for example, that some have smooth tan round in-the-air bulbils (probably Asian backgound) and others have dark brown bumpy round in-the-air bulbils with tan pimples (probaby African background.) What variety was sent to Orlando was not recorded.

D. bulbifera’s underground root is always referred to as toxic but also eaten in some places. How’s that for ambiguous?  And it gets worse, the …. in-the-air bulbils… wrongly called “air potatoes” apparently vary in toxicity, some edible some not. While the bulbils are constantly called toxic by authorities rumor persists they are edible (with special preparation.) In fact I had a visitor from Brazil a couple of years agoy while I had some D. bulbifera bulbils (Asian: Smooth and tan) on my desk. He said his mother cooked them all the time. I asked him to ask her how she does it. (Crushes, dries, bakes, leaches then uses.) On the other hand Dick had two friends boil D. bulbifera in-the-air bulbils and had to go to the hospital (Asian or African not known.)  To make matters worse some writers make no linguistic distinction between the above ground in-the-air bulbils and below ground (in the dirt) roots compounding the confusion by calling them both “tubers. ” And technically the underground tubers are not roots but rather “adventurous stem material.”

Yam A, the Alata on let with in-the-air bulbils, on the right is Yam B, with in the air-bulbils. No root is shown.

The D. bulbifera has large round ball to heart-shaped leaves and a round stem. It climbs at eye level from your lower right to upper left (called the S-twist) and has in-the-air bulbils that are round, brown and lumpy (African) or round smooth and tan (Asian) hence the nickname “air potato vine.”  And to add to the confusion, Yam A, the Dioscorea alata, (uh-LAT-tuh) has dark brown bulbils as well but they tend to be 1) cylindrical and or 2) very misshapen, neither round or cylindrical, L-shaped, Y-shaped, or a lumpy lump.  D. Bulbifera’s in-the-air bulbils are, to my knowledge, always round regardless of color. D. bulbifera can grow a root about the size of a softball (occasionally to a basket ball,) but apparently does not grow a large root too often if rarely in Florida. That would explain why I have never found one. In fact, I became so frustrated with the D. bulbifera, Yam B,  I put it on the back burner, the way in the back, for over a decade.

Many years later I became a fan of Ray Mears, a British bush crafter. I ordered some of his DVDs and one of his books about wild edibles in England. Unexpectedly, the Dioscorea bulbifera came up. One of Mear’s episodes was about the Aborigines in Australia. They dig up two kinds of yams, one called “long yam” and one called “cheeky yam.” They steam roast them for a couple of hours then eat the “long yam” immediately but not the cheeky yam.” They grate the cheeky yam then leach it in a flowing stream overnight. Then they eat it. No botanical name was given for either yam. But when I was reading his book Mears happens to mention in passing there is one non-edible yam in England. Then he said it is similar to the one the Aborigines eat in Australia,  the D. bulbifera.  Well, as one might expect, that caught my attention. I was beginning to think my friend Dick was the only one who ever found a D. bulbifera root to eat but apparently the Aborigines had found them, too. Alas, we don’t know what varieties.

Researching yams again, this time with the internet, I discovered the “long yams” the Aborigines eat are, Dioscorea transversa. The D. transversa (trans-VER-sa)  like the D. alata, twists when it grows, lower left to upper right, he Z-twist (as does Yam C, the Dioscorea polystachya mistakenly called D. oppositifolia.) The D. bulbifera, however, twists lower right to upper left, the S-twist. By now I was getting the idea that readily edible yams at eye level climb from your lower left to upper right. Z-twist, then behind. The ones that twist the other way, S-twist, need special preparation or are not edible at all. That may seem like a small observation but it took about a dozen years to sort out.

So I do know two things. Dick has eaten the D. Bulbifera undergound root and I have eaten the D. Alta’s underground root. In Dick’s book he says he boiled the root twice to get rid of the bitterness. Then, after peeling, he used it just like cooked potato. In Australia, to remind you, the Aborigines roast it for a couple of hours, grate it, and then leach it overnight in a flowing stream. I know Dick’s method works for Yam B found here in Florida. I don’t know if the Aborigines’ method would work with Yam B’s here. If I ever find one, I will try both ways and let you know.

And what of the bulbils? The bulbils of some D. bulbifera are reported as edible but they require special preparation as mentioned above. Just boiling will not do it. Often their preparation is peeling, sun drying (read long term chemical decay, not short term in an oven) then boiling. Another report is they are soaked then boiled. As third says they are cooked with lye, a method used with some horse chestnuts. A fourth says none of them are edible anyway.

My suspicion is there are different varieties of D. bulbifera and some may be edible in-the-air bulbils. What we do know is that even where they are eaten they are cut open to see if they turn brown quickly. Those that are are not used. And, in someplaces even after being careful in selecting the Yam B in-the-air bulbils and preparing them the are fed to a dog first to make use.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Dioscorea bulbifera:  ”Air potato vine.’ Large heart-shaped leaves, alternating, stem round,  climbs from lower right to upper left. Bulbils usually tan, round and smooth, Asian, or  round and dark brown with light  dimples, African. Underground root roundish, can be lumpy and distorted when grown in hard soil.

TIME OF YEAR: Fall, September to December. For two months the vine dies back making locating difficult.

ENVIRONMENT: Yams do well in sun or partial shade and prosper with ample rainfall. They require good drainage, and therefore, are often planted on mounds or ridges.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:  Undergound roots, should you find one:  Boil in two changes of water, peel, then slice or mash it, or bake it or chill it and use in a “potato” salad. Make sure it has absolutely no bitterness. I consider the in-the-air bulbils of the D. bulbifera as not edible. If they are it involves considerable process using multiple cooking methods.

Dioscoria alata, yam whose root is most prized

The  Dioscorea Dilemma: Which ones are edible, and what parts?

One wouldn’t think wild yams would be hard to sort out. It only took me about a dozen years.

I’m not talking about anything related to the sweet potato. That’s the Ipomoea family. I’m talking about real yams, in the Dioscorea family. Like many imported plants into warm climates, the Dioscorea (Dye-os-KOH-ree-uh or in Greek thee-oh-skor-REE-uh) have become an invasive weed. And as you know, the motto here is eat the weeds. Let’s see if we can sort them out. There are three escaped yams locally. I call them Yam A, Yam B and Yam C.

The Root of the D. alata, Yam A grown in hard soil

The most common yam in the South is, unfortunately, probably the least edible, Yam B, the Dioscorea bulbifera — B for bulbifera (bul-BIFF-er-ra.)  It was first sent to Orlando in 1905 as a possible ornamental and food crop. The fellow who got the D. bulbifera concluded it was dangerous to Florida but didn’t eradicate while he had the chance. It has since escaped and become a scourge of the countryside. I have not personally proven its edibility. I have a separate article elsewhere on this site called “Yam B: The Bulbifera.”  Yam C is the Chinese Yam or the Cinnamon vine yam. It’s botanical name is Dioscorea polystachya (mistakenly called D. oppositifolia.) It is covered in a different article as well. Yam C: The Chinese. This article is about Yam A, Dioscorea Alata — A for Alata uh-LAY-tuh. It is also called the Winged Yam because its stem is very square.

D. alata, Yam A, under cultivation in soft soil

Yam A, or the winged yam, is also called the “water Yam” the “great yam” the “lesser yam,” and the “purple yam” among others.  It’s not born free anywhere in the world but is a product of cultivation that has escaped into the wild. Researchers think it was an intentional hybridizing of two wild yams by man some 8,000 years ago. So while Yam A, the D. alata, is found in the wild, it is not a wild yam.

Under cultivation, varieties of D. alata  are the most common yam in the world.  It has an underground root that can grow upwards of 7.5 feet long and a 136 pounds (the known record is 180 pounds.)  When cultivated it can grow long and uniform. In hard soil, or in old age, it can be lumpy and malformed. Young roots tend to be solid and straight, older roots tend to branch out. Boiling (or roasting) of the root makes it edible. It got to Africa from Asia around 1,500 B.C. and probably came to the Americas with slaves by the 1700s. By the 1950s D. alata was the most common Yam in the state. The D. bulbifera did not take over for a few more decades.

Above ground differences betwen Yam A, the Alata, and Yam B, the Bulbifera

At first glance Yam A, the D. alta, and Yam B, the D. bulbefera, look quite alike but they have several differences. D. alata’s leaf is an arrow-shaped heart (think arrow-Alata)  D. bulfiera is a ball-shaped heart (think ball-bulifera). The D. alata leaves grow in pairs particularly near the growing end of the vine where as young D. alatas can have one leaf instead of leaves in pairs, the D. bulbifera singly. The D. alata has a large, very square stem with edges tinged in purple, the D. bulbifera has a slight round green stem. The D. alata has bulbils that are dark brown with a variety of shapes, the D. bulbifera has bulbils that are lumpy round and tan (from Asia I think) or round and brown with tan pimples (from Africa I think). Incidentally, D. alata bulbils soaked 4 hours in water germinate three weeks faster than non-soaked bulbils.

The so-called Z-twist goes from our lower left to our upper right at eye-level

The D. alata, when climbing at eye level, twists from your lower left across the surface nearest you to your upper right, the so-called Z-twist. The D. bulbifera twists from your lower right across the surface nearest you to your upper left, the S-twist. I am beginning to think the way of the twist is the first sign of a prime edible yam. Ignore books that say a vine twists clockwise or counter clockwise if they don’t provide you the perspective of the viewer. Depending whether you are looking down or up the same twist can be called clockwise or counter clockwise. If you are looking down at a D. alata it looks to go counter clockwise. If you’re looking up at the D. alata it appears to go clockwise. I have two books that describe its twist in different directions because of the perspective.

Once you learn to tell the differences the D. alata  (as well as Yam C, the Chinese Yam) are fairly easy to spot among their prolific relative, the D. bulbifera. Yam A and Yam C (the Chinese Yam) leaves give them away even at a distance since they grow in pairs. The D. bulbifera has alternating single leaves so from a distance if you see single leaves like a series of steps in a stairs you know it’s not the one you want.  As for availability… along one bike trail I traverse, for one mile all the trees are draped with Yam B. But, there are three patches of Yam A. Yam C is in very isolated pockets.

D. alata’s air bulbils are NOT round and are NOT tan

While the D. Alta has a reputation for being buried very deep that has not been my experience. I usually find the large root within a few inches of the surface. When grown in soft soil the D. alata is long and tubular, when growing in hard soil it will be lumpy and distorted. Old roots can also be lumpy and banched. The largest I have found to date is 8.2 pounds after washing, and that is the norm. Young roots are best used like potatoes, older roots while edible have a different texture, can be fried after boiling or make a good flour. The vine usually puts on one tuber per season but can produce as many as three. Thus the older root can be lumpy but have a younger, well-formed root attached, as the top picture shows.

Sassycrafter and a 30-pound D. alata root

When under cultivation the D. alata is usually left to cure for a week after it is dug up, but that’s not necessary, and it will store for several months. The vine also go into a dormant period. Here in Florida that is about Christmas to St. Patrick’s Day. During that time the vines die back. If you want to dig them up during that time you should mark them earlier in the season. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the bulbils of the D. alata are edible cooked but not as palatable as the roots, and my friend, Maribou, has tried them. I, personally, have not gotten around to eating them. It’s on my list of plant things to do.

Dioscorea was named after Pedianos Dioscorides, Greek physician of the first century AD whose book on medicinal herbs Materia Medica, was a standard work until recent times. Alata means winged. Bulbifera means bearing bulbs. Polystachya, many stakes, or blossom spikes.

D. villosa roots are famine food and birth contol, best avoided

For the record, among the semi-edibles yams one might see are: Dioscorea villosa, (vill-LOE-suh) whose roots might be a famine food but with a price. This was the yam from which the first birth control pills were made. There has been some speculation that the Mayans suffered a loss of their maize crop and had to eat D. villosa, causing a fertility drop in their population they could not recover from. (It twines lower right to upper left, the S-twist.)   There are also native Florida yams, but they are rare and have no “bulbils” Dioscorea floridana and Dioscorea quarternata. The native plants are only infrequently seen in north and west Florida hammocks and flood plains. Villosa means shaggy; floridana, Florida; quarternata, four leaves from one place; polystachya many spikes. The word “yam” comes from a west African language and means “something to eat.”

Approximate yam nutrition per 100g: 103 calories; sugars (g)  23; Proteíns (g) 1; Fiber (g) 4; Vitamin B1 (mg) 112; Vitamin B2 (mg) 32; Vitamin C (mg) 17; Salt (mg) 9; Potássium (mg) 816; Cálcium (mg) 17; Phosphorus (mg) 55. It does not have any iron, fat, vitamin A, and no vitamin B3.

Green Deane’s Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Dioscorea alata:  Winged Yam. Large arrow-shaped leaves, opposite, stem with four definite sides, edges of the sides often tinged in purple. Stem climbs from lower left to upper right. Bulbils dark brown, round or cylinder, lumpy, mishapen. Underground root similar to a sweet potato in shape when grown is soft soil, lumpy and distorted when grown in hard soil. Can be up to 136 pounds.

TIME OF YEAR:  Fall, September to December. For two months the vine dies back making locating difficult.

ENVIRONMENT: Yams do well in sun or partial shade and prosper with ample rainfall. They require good drainage, and therefore, are often planted on mounds or ridges.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:  Underground roots only: Usually fresh young yam is peeled, cut up and boiled like a potato. Older yams can be pounded into a sticky elastic dough called pounded yam or yam fufu. To make a flour from the D. Alata root slice the underground tubers to a thickness of about quarter inch. Parboil the peeled slices. Dried them in the sun to reduce the moisture content. The dried slices are then ground to flour and sieved to make a uniform texture. Otherwise, the boiled yam can also be used like potatoes.   IF ANY YAM TASTES BITTER, DON’T EAT IT.

Rhynchophorus cruentatus: Raw or Fried?

Here’s what you’re looking for: A palm or plametto that is dying. The growing tip is dead, bent or otherwise distorted. Maybe it was hit by lightning making it vulnerable. But you want to find a palm that is on its way out. It is in that dying top you will probably find the only species of Palmetto Weevil in the United States, Rhynchophorus cruentatus, of the greater Curculio clan just like the acorn and pecan grubs. Look at the base of the growing fronds, or wounds and cuts, late spring into the summer. The young heart leaf will pull out easily and show signs of tunneling.  Don’t forget to check deceased palms as well.

Also called Grugru (GREW-grew) in South America because it makes a clicking noise while feeding, the grub eats the pith of palms and sugar cane. It’s the largest weevil in North America — up to nearly two inches — and its grub is considered a prized food. In fact while most insects on a piece of property are not considered private property, Palmetto Weevil grub in some parts of the world are considered private property, just as we consider our trees private property.

While the primary food source for the weevil is transplanted, stressed or damaged Cabbage Palms — Sabal Palmettos — it will infest Saw Palmettos (Serrenoa repens) Canary Island Date Palms, Washington Palms, Royal Palms, Coconut Palms, Bismarck Palms, even some healthy ornamental palms. It ranges from the coastal plains of South Carolina through the Florida Keys, and west into coastal Texas. Reports of said in palmy areas of the US southwest and California are now in question.

Grubs and beetles from an infected palm in Merrit Island, Fl

Its pest status in Florida is in flux — getting worse — and some palm imports have been banned because they are known to carry the weevil. If you are inclined to raise them yourself, for food purposes of course, telling no one because the state might get upset, the larvae thrive best on a combination of canned pineapple, oats, sucrose, molasses, brewers yeast, Wesson’s salt, and vitamins. Larvae can be put into sugarcane for pupation to continue your brood. Also eaten are R. palmarum, R. phoenicis, and R. ferrugineus. (the latter variation “schack” is the famous Sago Palm grub of New Guinea and environs.) They are consumed raw or fried. If you are going to fry it, the usual procedure — inhumane as it sounds — is to slice or crack the grub partway open midway around part of the middle. This is to keep it from exploding while cooking.  You can also just roast them next to an open fire. They can weigh up to six grams each. Nutritionally the grubs are three to seven per cent protein and ten to thirty per cent fat. At least one scientific study also says the adult Palmetto Weevil was eaten by Amazonian Indians, but no particulars were given (Edible Invertebrates among Amazonian Indians: A Critical Review of Disappearing Knowledge. Paoletto and Dufour)

Palm weevil, red version

Fossil records suggest that the Palmetto Weevil was present in Florida during the Pleistocene about 1 million years ago. At any rate it is considered a native and there are two versions, a mostly red and a mostly black. The Palmetto Weevil ranges from one to nearly two inches long. It is found not only in the coastal southern United States but also Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Palm weevil pupa in broken cocoon

Worldwide there are ten species of Rhynchophorus that feed on palms.  The R. ferrugineus and R. palmarum are essentially found in most warm areas around the world where there are palms, particularly the Mediterranean. You might call them… Med-weevil… Rhynchophorus (rhin-KOH-for-us) is Greek meaning “snout bearing” and cruentatus (krew-en-TAT-us) is Latin for blood-colored.

Blossom and leaf shape help to identify the Duck Potato with potatos

Sagittaria Lancifolia: Duck Potatoes, Wapato

Artificial grass is not grass. Non-dairy creamer contains a dairy product. And ducks don’t eat duck potatoes. Humans do.

Duck potatoes are acually corms

Oh, ducks may eat one by mistake from time to time, just like they might eat a piece of grass artificial. And if you’d like know, non-dairy creamer has sodium caseinate, a product made from milk. Don’t believe me? Read the label. But ducks still don’t eat duck potatoes for the most part. However, people do and have presumably done so for thousands of years

Cut off the sprout before cooking

Duck potatoes are chestnut-size tubers — corms really — found around the shallow-water plant like numbers on a clock. Their family name, Sagittaria, (saj-ee-TAR-ee-uh ) means “arrow” and describes the leaves of a lot of members in this family. Look up your local version because they vary. They are found in non-desert North America.

Peel after cooking

Locally three are found: Sagittaria latifolia  (lat-ih-FOH-lee-uh) — wide leaf, shaped similar to a delta; Sagitaria lancifolia (lan-sih-FOH-lee-uh) — lance leaf, think spear point, the one pictured on top; and Sagittaria  graminea (gram-IN-ee-uh) — grass-shaped leaves, more along the lines of cattails. Generally the bigger the leaf in structure, usually the larger the potatoes. The S. latifolia tends to have the best “duckies.” The S. lancifolia and S. graminea really don’t have potatoes per se but the ends of the stalk are edible like lower cattail stalks and has starch.  There is also a grassy one that grows underwater that we aren’t too interested in: Sagittaria kurziana.

Once cooked, use like potatoes

Sagittarias are aquatic but they don’t go for deep water. They’re waders not swimmers and so are we. Shuffle around a plant with your feet to loosen the tubers which then float to the top, a technique that still works, as does a small rake. Just keep raking in the same spot because the tubers are at varying depths in the mud. Pulling the plant up usually doesn’t work. Native Americans would also raid muskrat middens where the water rat had packed them. One often reads about native raiding muskrat rents but not beaver dens. That’s because the muskrat, like the otter, builds its den in the bank and the beaver creates his own little island paradise.

Sagittaria latifolia, the one with the potatoes

Duck potatoes, also called Arrowhead, Watato or Wapati, or Katniss, can be eaten raw, should you be in a survival situation. But, they’re bitter and don’t taste good. A little cooking, like a little wine at closing time, can make all the difference in the world. Boiled or roasted for about a half hour, they become worth getting wet for again (just remember to cut off the sprout before cooking and peel after cooking.) Once cooked, they can be used like potatoes. They can also be dried and ground into powder for soups and bread.

Sagittaria lancifolia, usually without potatoes

Besides being part of the staple of Indian life, duck potatoes were also the entre and dessert for Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition. According to their diaries, Duck Potatoes and elk were their main fare while they were on the Columbia River, now in present day Oregon.  Sometimes Lewis and Clark, who lived off the land, would be without food and were forced to eat their work animals. Other times they literally had to club game animals out of the way. I’ve seen that in some parts of the world with rabbits, particularly northern Scotland and railroad tracks. Incidentally, if all you had to eat were rabbits you would die from lack of saturated fats. 

And by now I know you are just anxious to know why don’t ducks eat duck potatoes? They do eat the seeds but not the potatoes. Why? Size mostly. By the time the potatoes are available they are too big for most ducks to be interested in. They should have been more correctly named Swan or Goose Potatoes. Geese can swallow golf balls, but then of course, they would lay eggs with dimples…. Actually, in some places duck potatoes are known as Swan Potatoes. Incidentally Sagittaria are not environmentally totally “green.” They release methane into the atmosphere, their own little global warming contribution, another reason to reduce their population propagation by proper gastronomic preparation.

If by chance you want to try duck potatoes and you don’t want to get wet or risk misidentifying the plant you might try your nearest Asia market. They sometimes carry them in the New Year. Elsewhere internationally, Sagittaria were introduced to Australia a while ago — first noticed in 1959 — and are now considered a noxious weed. Where are the aborigine foragers when you need them? Again, if one has enough of them to make them a noxious weed then one also has enough for several banquets. Eat The Weeds.

Other edible parts of the Sagittaria include young unfurling leaves and stalk. Boil them like any green. The flower stalks before the blossom are also a tender tidbit, again, boil them. Lastly, the lateral tips of the growing rhizomes are also edible, raw or cooked. The petals of the white blossoms are edible raw. They are delicat. Light. A little minty. Sweet.

Arrow Arum

WARNING: The Sagittaria latifolia has some resemblance to the Arum, which is toxic. However, the Arum leaf is veinless nor does it blossom the same way. More so, if you bite into an unprepared Arum root you will know you have erred significantly. It burns.

Jerky and Duck Potatoes

A recipe with flavors from the past:

1 pound  beef jerky or dried buffalo

1 cup hominy grits soaked overnight in a lot of water

1 large onion chopped

1 pound cooked duck potatoes

salt and pepper to taste

Break the jerky up into one-inch pieces and put in a heavy, lidded pot.  Drain the hominy, add to the jerky, along with the onion. Cover with water, bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, until the hominy is tender, about 2 hours, add water if necessary. Last 20 minutes add cooked duck potatoes, adjust liquid to how you like your stew. Salt and pepper to taste.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Height to three feet above water, can grow to six feet under favorable conditions. Arrow or lance-shaped leaves, two to four inches wide, long separate stalk with large three petal blossom, one to two inches wide.

TIME OF YEAR: Blooms throughout the year in warm areas, sets potatoes year round, best in fall, grow like a fan out and around the base of the plant. Pulling up the plant will not looses the potatoes, work the muck to get them.

ENVIRONMENT: Shallow water of swamps, ditches, lakes and streams. Make sure the water is not polluted.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:  “Potatoes” edible raw but bitter, boil or roast for 30 minutes, then eat or use like potatoes.  Young leaf and stalk boiled, flower stalk boiled, rhizome tips raw or cooked. Blossom’s white petals edible raw.