Customer Reviews

The Delightful, Delicious Daylily

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If your yard or property is overwhelmed by hemerocallis daylilies (fondly known as orange ditch lilies to some), this cute little cookbook is for you. Most of the daylily plant can be eaten, and the flower is a delicious substitute for squash flower blossums in many southwestern dishes, such as the daylily flower soup recipe listed in this book. The book is helpfully separated into sections describing how to gather and cook the blossums, buds, etc., dried or fresh. There are great recipes using daylily flowers and buds in Asian cuisine (the Mu Shu Pork recipe is particularly delicious), in addition other wonderful recipes. The Confetti Biscuit and Daylily Sausage Tart recipes alone are worth the price of the book. NOTE: The book does discuss parts of the daylily plant that should not be eaten, and points out that some people may be sensitive to eating daylilies, as the plants may have a slight laxative effect. But there is plenty of information on how to properly identify, gather, and prepare the parts of the daylily plant, so the book is definitely worth it for curious folks who want to find a good use for all the daylilies in their yards.

If you are, than this book is what you're looking for - it is a collection of daylilly recipes from various cookbooks. The range is from such cookbooks as "The Joy of Cooking" as well as "Madame Wu's Art of Chinese Cooking" with stops along the way at "Gourmet Magazine" and "Sundays at Moosewood Restautant".

There is a diagram of a daylilly with the parts shown. There is also a warning that some people _may_ be allergic to daylillies and should be careful*. There are recipes for using the tubers and shoots, the blossoms and the buds. there is even deep fried daylily buds with a special blue strawberry dipping sauce. The recipes are clear and concise, though they do call for some more exotic ingredients that you may normally keep in your kitchen. (Saffron or chive flowers, for example.)

But if you're looking for something a bit more exotice to cook and you got a yard full of daylillies, this is a great book for you. Just be careful that what you are harvesting is daylillies and not something that might make you very ill.

Happy harvesting!

*A further warning of great importance is that the daylilly leaves are non-poisonous, they also resemble the leaves of plants that are poisonous such as iris, narcissus and daffodils. And finally, the writer even states that he has to adjust his system to eating daylillies because they cause diarrhea and stomach cramps if he eats them in large quantities. Just a little word to the wise.

I loved reading and sharing the book. Since I adore each of my daylily blossoms for their temporary beauty, I will continue to enjoy them in that way.