# Eating Reed Grass?



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I was just reading that these reeds are edible. I am shocked. I grew up playing in marsh reeds and never would have imagined that they were edible. I do vaugely recall as a child talking to a woman and her son who where gathering the seed heads of the reeds and who said they were going to make bread with the seeds, but I thought they were crazy. Turns out these reeds are a good food source from the root all the way up.

Anyone have any experience with them? Ever eat them?


----------



## EasyDay (Aug 28, 2004)

Sounds pretty similar to eating cattails.
You can eat the stems and roots, and the seeds can be used as flour in baking bread.

Since there are so many kinds of reeds, can you tell us which one you're referring to ?


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Phragmites communis. it is related ot the cattail.


----------



## EasyDay (Aug 28, 2004)

City Bound said:


> Phragmites communis. it is related ot the cattail.


Cool! 'Cause cattails offer sustenance year around!
I hope someone that eats reeds will post and let us know what/how they do it! 
Inquiring minds want to know.


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

City Bound said:


> Eating reed grass?


Reed grass (Phalaris arundinacea) is different than the common reed (Phragmites australis). I believe you are referring to the common reed being edible.


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I have not tried them yet, though i plan to go and gather some shoots when this heavy rain finally lets up. The basic info I read was that in spring the young shoots that are coming up are edible both raw and cooked. The outer skin of the reed needs to be peeled off and if cooked it is easier to peel after being cooked. The green shoots can be dried in the sun and then ground into a flour. When mixed with water the dough of this flour can be roasted on a fire like marshmallows. The info said there was a sap in the shoots that can be eaten when it is hard, but I have never seen sap in the reeds. The seed heads can be collected in fall and made into bread, gruel, or a granola-like dish. The roots are edible and contain good amounts of sugar.

Other then that, this plant is the ideal choice material of thatchers who thatch houses. If you have ever seen a fallen stand of reed you will notice how perfectly they bunch and mat together, and you can notice little beads of water on them after it rains from the plant fibers repelling rain water. Other then thatch, floot mats can be made from the reed and I read that arrows can be made from them but I do not see how that could happen because the reads here are not strong enough. The colonist use to make ink pens from reeds (get some reeds, some black walnut hulls, and a pen knife and you will never have to buy a ball point pen again.). You can make paper with this plant and the ancient chinese used it to make paper (sort of makes you wonder why industry would clear cut a forest of trees that took a hundred years to grow to make paper when they can make paper from reeds that took six months to grow, or why wait every 100 years for a forest to grow to turn it into paper when the same reed bed can be harvested year after year.).


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Cabin Fever said:


> Reed grass (Phalaris arundinacea) is different than the common reed (Phragmites australis). I believe you are referring to the common reed being edible.


There is a bit of confusion from some of the sources I found. The book I have is called Field Guide To North American Edible Wild Plants By Elias and Dykeman. That book titles it "Reed Grass, Phragmites" then gives it's proper name Phragmites Communis. Other sources freely interchange phragmites commonis and Phagmites Australis. I was really confused about that, but another source said that Phragmite communis is the older name but it is more commonly refered to as Phragmites Australis in more recent times.

I just looked up Phalaris arundinacea, it is a different plant. Is it wrong to call Phragmites Australis reed grass, or are all the different variations of the reed casually refered to as reed grass?


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

City Bound said:


> There is a bit of confusion from some of the sources I found. The book I have is called Field Guide To North American Edible Wild Plants By Elias and Dykeman. That book titles it "Reed Grass, Phragmites" then gives it's proper name Phragmites Communis. Other sources freely interchange phragmites commonis and Phagmites Australis. I was really confused about that, but another source said that Phragmite communis is the older name but it is more commonly refered to as Phragmites Australis in more recent times.
> 
> I just looked up Phalaris arundinacea, it is a different plant. Is it wrong to call Phragmites Australis reed grass, or are all the different variations of the reed casually refered to as reed grass?


Yes, I believe that the names Phragmite communis and Phragmites Australis are interchangeable for the same plant, the Common Reed which one normally sees growing in shallow lake shore areas....at least, around here.

The title of this thread referred to "Reed Grass" which is Phalaris arundinacea. This plant is sometimes used as a low quality livestock forage grass. It contains alkaloids, which cattle do not like, and will only eat if there is nothing else available.


----------



## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

My cows have to be awful hungry to eat Reed Canary grass as we call it here


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

ok, so it is not reed canary that I was refering to. Thank you for clearing that up. Reed canary is said to have a mild toxic effect on the kidney.


----------



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Vickie44 said:


> My cows have to be awful hungry to eat Reed Canary grass as we call it here


 Believe it or not, my cows devour the stuff. I've been working to eliminate it form the wet areas bordering the stream because they go after it first for some reason.


----------



## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

InvalidID said:


> Believe it or not, my cows devour the stuff. I've been working to eliminate it form the wet areas bordering the stream because they go after it first for some reason.


Would they eat it if you baled it ?


----------



## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

this discussion leads me to remember the reasons for using Latin names, as common names are used for several different plants, and often used differently in different regions of the country/world. With their Latin names, there is no problem confusing things, as the Latin names are the same worldwide. Sometimes, they change a Latin name, but infrequently and only when the reproductive structures are further studied and make a different name more appropriate within the plant family.


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

This is really not much to report, but it might help in some way. I went and found some sprouting Phragmites communis. I peeled the skin back and bit the pith of the stalk. It tasted like a raw pole bean. Not bad. I did not swallow it though because I chickened out. Once I know for sure that the plant is 100% edible I will swallow it.

These reeds could be a good food source in Spring.


----------



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Vickie44 said:


> Would they eat it if you baled it ?


 Yeah, I think they would. Might be worth trying but like I said, I'm trying to get rid of the stuff.


----------



## doodlemom (Apr 4, 2006)

Phragmites australis Common Reed PFAF Plant Database


----------



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Thanks doodle, that was a great collection of info.


----------

