Cooking Milkweed Seedpods w/ The Urban-Aboriginal

Milkweed seedpods are edible - delicious! In early Summer Milkweed blossoms start to wane from blooming and their seedpods begin to appear. The seedpod carries the seeds for the next season's generation of milkweed plants.

It is best to harvest them when they are young and small. Both the husk and the soft milky white insides are edible. And can be cooked in a variety of ways. The white insides can be eaten raw and is slightly sweet in taste. Although the flavor is distinctly milkweedy - but not disagreeable.

You can blanch them and freeze them for later. Below is a quick recipe for fried (tempura) Milkweed seedpods.

---------------------------------------------------

10 - 12+ Young Milkweed Seedpods
1 egg
1/4 - 1/2 C water
1 -2 C Potato starch
Cooking oil
Salt to taste

1). Preheat oil in medium pot or deep-fryer

2). Whisk together the egg and water in a bowl

3). Put potato startch in a separate bowl or bag (paper or plastic)

4). Place seedpods in egg water mix, make sure they are thoroughly drenched

5). Then cover with startch either in a bowl or shaken in a bag

6). Place in oil and deep fry until coating is just turning a light golden brown.

7). Remove from oil, strain, add salt or other spices to taste

-------------------------------------------------------------

FORAGING RULES:
1). Only harvest plants that you have 110% positively identified.

2). Only harvest from areas where you have permission to do so.

3). Only harvest from areas you know are not sprayed, contaminated, or polluted.

4).Only use your harvest after they have been well washed in water.

5). Only ingest small amounts at first; If you choose to do so it is AT YOUR OWN RISK! DO NOT use this short video as the source of truth...DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH and/or find someone in your area who is knowledgeable and competent

#5 is especially important if you are new to wild foraging. Aside from the obvious dangers of thistles, poison ivy, poison oak, and deadly water hemlock...Many wild plants contain off the charts vitamins and minerals which might create a shock to your system...considering the nutrient count of your average domesticated vegetable foodstuffs.

Also and adendem to rule #1 is follow Green Deane's of EatTheWeeds I.T.E.M-ize Rules:
(I)dentify the plant beyond doubt....be sure it is the right
(T)ime of year. Check its
(E)nvironment. This involves two things. One is making sure it is growing in the right place. The other is making sure the plant is getting clean water and is not in polluted soil. And then...
(M)ethod of preparation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Acollyt]

Thanks for these videos. It is helpful to see someone actually doing what we all read about.

[mgry]

Been eating these for years. With the recent happenings this year, it has been extra motivating and I am actually planning to harvest a large amount (don't worry, I know I need to leave plenty for the Monarchs) and experiment with trying to freeze some. This is about the right time for northern WI if anyone is in the area. Steamed with a little butter they taste great, almost like asparagus. I will be trying this recipe too definitely looks great.

[ScriptdRality]

Is the seed pod the only edible part of the plant?

[OKBushcraft]

Good to see. Thank you.

Ive used the mature duff, down, fluff whatever, for flash tinder in fire starting.

[IsaacNewton]

OK. Once blanched do you just freeze them in a bag or lay them on cookie sheets to freeze? Then for use do you thaw and then batter and fry? Or batter them straight out of the freezer and fry? Great video!

[MU-phum]

I had no idea we could eat these because my sister has a yard full of milkweeds.

[CrayfishYAY]

So what does it taste like when fried? Like, would it be better with something like ranch or honey?

[ps]

Hey Urb, I had my first raw inner pods yesterday thanks to your vid, they wuz gooood!

[omnicopynotfooled]

You just pick them and fry them? That is it? No inbetween steps? I just picked some.