I tried eating the tubers of a Dahlia I found growing wild in a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. I am not sure what species or variety it is, Dahlia coccinea x pinnata is reported to grow wild in New Zealand (1), it seems most likely to be this, photos below, let me know if you know. Both Dahlia coccinea and pinnata are edible cooked (2) so it is safe to assume any cross between them is too.
I tried them raw, they are crunchy like an apple with a slight taste of uncooked potato, but basically bland in flavor. I also boiled them. They remain crunchy after boiling with very little flavor, much like potato in taste but very different in texture. After prolonged boiling they get a bit softer but are still crunchy. I would say they have a slightly coarse texture, they also leave the mouth slightly dry I find, but they are basically okay.
I found them better roasted for 20-30 minutes, luscious in texture and more tasty, though still hard to describe.
Based on eating them once I would say they are not quite as good as more well known root crops, though a taste could possibly be acquired for them, they have been a traditional part of the diet in parts of South America (2). The fact that they are perennial, compete with weeds and require little or no care may still make them a worthwhile crop overall.
The skin is sometimes reported to taste bad, I did not find this but it is a bit tough and can be slightly fibrous.
The flowers of some Dahlias are also reported edible (3) these ones had little flavor but are colorful and good to eat.
References.
1) New Zealand Plant Conservation Network.
https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/dahlia-coccinea-d-pinnata/
2) Food Plants in the Americas: A Survey of the Domesicated, Cultivated and Wild Plants Used for Human Food In the Americas. Brian Kermath. 2018.
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
3)The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America. Francis Couplan. 1998.
Hemerocallis middendorffii Seeds Tasty
Ainu Ethnobiology by Dai Williams 2017
https://ethnobiology.org/sites/default/files/publications/contributions/ainu-ethnobiology-final-web-01-09-2018.pdf
reports the relatively large seeds (about .5 cm) of Hemerocallis middendorfii were once eaten by the Ainu people in Japan. No details on preparation are given. I tried a few, raw they are ok, but roasted for 15 minutes they taste surprisingly good, like nuts, the texture is not as good or smooth as popular nuts, a bit crumbly, but okay. Perhaps I cooked them for a bit too long.
I am only aware of one other report of Hemerocallis seeds (in general) being edible, Eat the Weeds by Green Deane:
https://www.eattheweeds.com/daylily-just-cloning-around-2/
he also says the pods are good to eat. I have not tried the seeds or pods of any other species or variety of daylily yet. It seems quite likely they are all edible. It would be worth testing other daylily seeds roasted to see if they taste the same as H middendorfii seeds, if they do I would infer they are also probably safe to eat.
It is worth noting the roots of at least one Hemerocallis species are considered toxic and the flowers of some of the thousands of hybrid varieties are thought to be slightly toxic, I have had a semi-allergic reaction to some.
Getting a reasonably large nut-like food from such a small perennial is rather rare and desirable, most nut trees are too big for the average garden.
Lespedeza bicolor seed taste
Another seed reportedly once eaten in Japan is that of Lespedeza bicolor (bush clover). There seems to be only one reference, the seeds were boiled with rice (Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. 1976), although I found one paper that mentioned it in a discussion of prehistoric grains (Tools to Live By. Emma Keiko Yasui 2021).
I assume from Tanaka it was used the same way as rice and could potentially be used as a substitute.
There seem to be no reports on taste so I tried a few from a seed for sowing packet (don't have access to a plant). They are a bit smaller than rice, 2-3 mm. I boiled some for 10 minutes, they were then soft, a bit softer than cooked rice, and stayed the same size as before cooking, they tasted like mild bread or wheat, not bad. Presumably they'd be firmer with briefer cooking.
I think it would be worth trying larger quantities to see if they make a good rice substitute for places where rice won't grow, although you can't help wondering if there is a good reason why it is no longer used. It appears going by photos one bush produces a lot of seeds, I don't know how quick or easy harvesting would be, that may be the problem.
Anemone rivularis seed taste test
The book 'Plants and People of Nepal' by Narayan P Manandhar (2002) reports the reasonably large (5 mm by 1 mm) seeds of the very shade tolerant plant Anemone rivularis are roasted, then pickled then eaten in Nepal.
I tried some raw (which appeared to be alive but might not have been) they were tasteless and really too chewy but did not seem to be acrid as has been reported. I tried roasting some seeds. After less than a minute at 250 C they were no longer chewy, they were crisp, but basically tasteless if not slightly woody in flavor. Boiled for 10 minutes they were still pretty chewy and tasteless. Fried for a few minutes they were only a bit better.
Perhaps pickling in some special way as well makes them palatable, I did not try that. It seems like an unpalatable food to me though might be nutritious being a seed.
