I'm going to go back down South and get people to pay me to remove all their kudzu.
Then I'm going to use my super secret powers to turn that nasty weed into a fine silky powder. I'll package it like this and sell it for a small price.
I'll teach people that if they empty it into a cup,
add some boiling water and mix...
they'll get a yummy, gelatinous, sweet drink. Tadah!
It's called kudzu yu and is used to warm up the body, a kind dessert drink. J and I have been going around trying all the different kinds and rating them. I found green tea flavored today. Kudzu yu is also supposed to be easy to digest and people drink it when they think they may be catching a cold.
Yummy, indeed.
13 comments:
That almost sounds like Jell-o!
I love your new surroundings .. looks great! :)
Mmm...it is! but hot, very, very hot. And if it is even one degree below boiling water it doesn't set up and turn jelly-like, we learned.
I've always liked the look of barns, telephone poles, trees, houses, etc. covered over by kudzu. Of course, let it get close to my house and I'd get the blowtorch out! Guess we Americans aren't forward-thinking enough to try cooking it yet. Looks...interesting.
Being Southern, I've heard of many strange recipes, from squirrel casserole to poke salad. Never seen a recipe with kudzu, though. Makes you wonder how it was discovered to be edible. The one Japanese food that fascinates me is Green Tea ice cream, though. Is it sweet, with the flavor of green tea added in?
Pat: I think I agree completely with your fondness for kudzu on old barns and telephones poles -- but not near my house! -- opinion.
I'm thinking maybe since Japan is so much smaller the necessity to dispose of the stuff became greater...faster. And I've heard that the processes involved in making it edible are quite a pain in butt. Hence the good stuff can be quite pricey.
Plaidearthworm: Squirrel casserole! I used to work at a sushi restaraunt in the States and we served green tea ice cream. I adore the stuff and at breaks would shoo the dish washing staff off the big freezer in the back and partake in a small bowl. But then one day I recomended it to a customer. Boy, were they pissed off. They said it tasted like grass ice cream. Broke my heart. However, I still recomend it...IF you like green tea, that is.
You've got to admire kudzu for its enthusiasm. Did you know that the Soil Conservation Service used to encourage farmers to grow it? There are so many good and useful things about it -- pretty, full of vitamins, rich in starch, useful as animal feed, medicinal purposes, etc - that it seems a shame to get rid of it. It just doesn't know when to quit...
Ha ha, enthusiastic exactly describes it. As soon as we learn to pour it into a car and make it run...
I dunno...it looks suspiciously like a cough remedy sold here in the Great While North called Buckley's Mixture - which tastes like paint remover gone horribly bad.
You're so grateful to be alive after tasting it that you don't care about any stupid cough.
Aha, so that Buckley's Mixture works then!
Honest, it tastes like sugar. Gooey, hot sugar.
Does it have a weird consistency? ONe thing I really like is the Japanese red bean candy gelatin that they sell in rectangles. It is way too sweet to eat all at once, but in little bites it is so awesome!
I don't even want to say what it looks like!!!
I know I'm late commenting on this, but you had to know I would.
I have a few stories inspired by kudzu. I think you've read Rory and the Kudzu Monsters already.
One marketing aspect of kudzu is that it's supposed to suppress one's desire for alcohol somehow and has been used to that end for many generations.
Me? I'm not too into gelatinous things. It's a texture issue . . .
I didn't know that about suppressing one's desire for alcohol. They should (but I see why they don't) market it as such here.
I'm the same way with gummy type things.
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