Hedychium coccinium shoots tasty

The book Cross-cultural Ethnobotany of North East India (1) says the tender shoot of Hedychium coccineum (orange gingerlily) is eaten raw or cooked by the Anals of Chandel District and is cultivated in kitchen gardens for this purpose. There are also a few brief mentions of this use online (2,3). There seem to be no record of this use in the West even though the plant is grown in gardens as an ornamental.

 

I've tried the shoots, they have a mild ginger flavor, not at all overpowering, good chopped up added to a stir fry. They have no fibers and a pleasant crisp texture. You have to peel away the inedible outer layer, this is pretty easy and quick. 

 

I tried what I think is the large variety Hedychium coccinium var angustifolium (narrow leaf ginger), purchased from Coast Palms and Cycads (New Zealand), sold as Hedychium coccinium "Lizzie". They have used the same photo on their website for this plant as used by the Pacific Bulb Society for var angustifolium. It also matches the description of angustifolium given by Branney (4). Mine have not flowered yet so I can't compare them to the photos directly.

It is not clear it is this large variety that is eaten in Asia but it tastes fine. I read somewhere there is no known toxicity in Zingiberaceae but can't find that reference now. Angustifolium is now considered a synonym of coccinium.

 

The plant grows well in Wellington, NZ, (zone 9). It got very tatty in winter, basically deciduous, but grew back fine in spring. It does not mind heavy clay soil and is fine in part shade. Angustifolium is probably too big for small gardens, about 2 m tall.

I'm not yet sure how productive it is, presumably it is reasonably productive if cultivated in kitchen gardens in India for food.

 References.

1)  Cross-cultural Ethnobotany of North East India. A Saklani. S K Jain 1994. 

2) An ethnobotanical note on wild edible plants of Upper Eastern Himalaya, India.

G. Murtem¹ and Pradeep Chaudhry

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305112551_An_ethnobotanical_note_on_wild_edible_plants_of_Upper_Eastern_Himalaya_India

3) Monpa, memory, and change: an ethnobotanical study of plant use in Mêdog County, South-east Tibet, China

Shan Li et al Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine volume 16, Article number: 5 (2020)

   

https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13002-020-0355-7

 

4) Hardy Gingers. T.M.E Branney. Royal Horticultural Society. 2005.

Erythronium revolutum pods taste good

 

The boiled green seed pods of Erythronium revolutum taste a lot like beans or peas, very good. They are also of good consistency, like beans or cucumber, and are a respectable size. It seems a little strange to me they are not more popular as a vegetable. 

I could only find one reference to these pods being edible (1) which says the pods of Erythronium species in general were "said" to taste of string beans once cooked. They do list this species specifically amongst others but other than this recent book there only seem to be two older written references to Erythronium pods being eaten, specifically those of  Erythronium grandiflorum (2). I only have access to one of these (3) it simply mentions the flavor of string beans after boiling. It is also a little strange there seem to be no reports of Native Americans eating the pods of any Erythronium, they apparently only ate the underground corms or bulbs, (including those of revolutum)(4). 

American edible plant guru Euell Gibbons says all parts of all Erythronium species are edible, but goes on to mention all parts except the pods(5). There are no confirmed reports of toxicity in any Erythronium (6) but there there is a report Erythronium americanum and Erythronium grandiflorum may be emetic (makes you vomit) despite being used as food (7), very widely in the case of grandiflorum (4). Apparently the supposed emetic effect is at high doses and only in some species (8). It is probably unknown if this effect applies to the pods, I will find out eventually probably.  

 This may be the only perennial shade loving/understory bean substitute, quite valuable in my view. I have not tried the pods of any other Erythronium.

References.

1) Edible & Medicinal Plants of Canada. MacKinnon. Kershaw. Arnason. Owen. Karst. Hamersley. Chambers. 2009.

(Couplan also mentions the seed pods of Erythronium species "reportedly" being eaten without mentioning revolutum (The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America. 1998.) )

2)   https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Erythronium+grandiflorum

3)  A field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. Craighead, Craighead, Davis. 1963. 

4) Native American Food Plants. Moerman. 2010. 

5) Euell Gibbons' Handbook of Edible Wild Plants. Gibbons. Tucker. 1979.

6) International Poisonous Plants Checklist. An Evidence-based Reference. Dr J Wagstaff. 2008.

7) https://www.academia.edu/1139225/Food_Plants_in_the_Americas_A_Survey_of_the_Domesticated_Cultivated_and_Wild_Plants_Used_for_Human_Food_in_North_Central_and_South_America_and_the_Caribbean

8) https://www.cultivariable.com/instructions/root-crops/trout-lily-erythronium-spp/