Thursday, April 2, 2020

Hedychium gardnerianum flower very tasty


Apparently only the huge B and T World Seeds list of edible flowers reports the glorious flowers of Hedychium gardnerianum as edible. They are one of the tastiest flowers I have ever eaten (though most edible flowers are quite bland). They taste rather like the related ginger as one might expect. They are a bit intense on their own but good added in moderation to stir-fry, soup or salad.

I also tried the peeled pith of young shoots and the pith of the base of mature stems, both are easily eaten and similar in flavor. I could not find any record of the stems or shoots being eaten by humans but the shoots of at least two other Hedychium are used as food, Hedychium coronarium(1) and Hedychium densiflorum (2). I have only tried the shoots of Hedychium coronarium which taste much the same, gingery. Since references to these two species being eaten in their native habitats are quite recent and rare it is possible Hedychium gardnerianum shoots are also eaten locally but this has just not entered the literature yet. 

I found Hedychium gardnerianum growing vigorously in quite a difficult spot at my place, on a steep bank under considerable (but not complete) shade of conifers and other trees. This plant is officially considered a weed here in New Zealand. Perhaps it deserves to be considered a national treasure not a pest. 


Refs

1. Edible Roots and Underground Stems of Ethnic India. S K Sood, Ved Prakash 2007.

2. ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDIES ON KHAMBA AND ADI TRIBES OF TUTING AREA, UPPER SIANG DISTRICT, ARUNACHAL PRADESH. L.R. Bhuyan*, Yapi Pangu, Ngilyang Tam. Bulletin of Arunachal Forest Research, Vol. 32 (1&2), 27-40: 2017



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