My latest discovery (thanks to Edible Manhattan) is that day lilies are edible. Not only are they edible, but they’re delicious!
Juicy with a slight onion and garlic flavour, I can understand why the petals are dried and used in Asian cuisine as “golden threads”. They would be amazing in a stir fry. Even the tubers are edible and, according to David Smith at Creative Sustenance and Hank Shaw at Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, absolutely scrummy. The Creative Sustenance site has great pictures of the adorable little tubers prepped for cooking.
Day lilies (Hemerocallis species) are different from true lilies (Lillium species), so please don’t get them mixed up. Some members of the Lillium species are edible for humans, yet toxic to cats, but many are also toxic to humans. Green Deane of Eat the Weeds provides a great example of the confusion around lilies in his Tiger Lily article.
Here’s a nice handy list of edible flowers, but you can find much more thorough information on Green Deane’s site.
As with many things, day lilies don’t agree with everyone. So, just try one or even just a bite of one and see how you get on.
Happy foraging!
Urban Huntress 