Showy milkweed

Showy milkweed was common in Montana, all over the place, in fact, and I knew it was supposed to be a decent edible plant. However, I'd never actually tried it.


Showy milkweed, Asclepias syriaca

Showy milkweed is around here in New Hampshire, too, though not as common in this area as it was out west. I was out today getting a picture of wintergreen, and on the way back to the car I saw milkweed. The pods looked pretty young, so I picked one. I wasn't sure if I was just going to cut it open and photograph it or what, but by the time I got home, I had decided to try cooking it.

What I've read about milkweed insists that you boil it through multiple waters for like 15 minutes to get all the bitter out. So I set two pots of water to boil on the stove, one for cooking the pod, the other for changing the water bath with more boiling water.



I wound up doing 4 water changes, the last 2 were salted water, and the total cooking time was about 15 minutes. I figured the thing would be mush by the end of that.

Now, to taste it. Euell Gibbons is a fan of liberal butter and salt (also bacon drippings whenever possible). So I put some butter and salt on the thing, and cut it open.



The silk and developing seeds inside were resistant to being cut, very resistant, so I scooped them out and put them to the side, focusing for the moment on the pod.

Fully expecting it to taste foul (surely I couldn't have cooked all the bitter out), I took the first bite. It was neither bitter nor overcooked. In fact, it was delicious. It tasted like corn, but with a completely different texture. I immediately regretted only picking one. :)

So I ate the whole pod, then figured I'd try the silk and seeds, though I doubted that would go well. Surprise again. They tasted every bit as good, with yet another completely different texture. Very chewy. For a long, long time, but not the scratchy sticking in your throat kind of thing I expected from the silks.

It was good, it was ALL good. Highly recommend it, preparation was simple. Also, there are no poisonous species closely resembling this plant, which is always a plus. I suppose the biggest concern is getting the pods before the silk innerds mature too much, but if they do, you can just eat the outter pod.



For a great writeup on milkweed from an edible wild plant expert, check out "Milkweed: A Truly Remarkable Wild Vegetable" on Samuel Thayer's website.