Do you eat edible plants grown in your pond? Which ones?

[casey]

This Christmas my daughter planned a special meal for some friends.  When she returned from the store she was dismayed that she couldn't find one ingredient...Watercress!  Well, she forgot to ask her mom, from whom all the necessities flow to her daughter!  Of course, I had tons of the freshest free watercress cascading over the waterfall in the pond.  We had a fabulous Pan-Roasted Pear Salad with Watercress, Parmesan and Pecans.  We also had a good laugh about how moms always come through even when their daughters are 33 years old (well I laughed anyway, she just rolled her eyes). 

We have enjoyed that salad a couple times since Christmas and had lots of watercress to toss in other salads too.

I am wondering if others eat the bounty from their ponds, and if so what everyone eats.

Casey

[landey1230]

My wife enjoys eating a snack made of lotus tubers.  They dry the tubers and make them into chips.  I don't know where they come from, but they are sure not from my pond.  I don't think I have the stomach to do something like that.  I'm sure if the koi were not in there, maybe it would be different. 

[Jerry]

I would be very reluctant.

[Julles]

I have both mint and watercress growing in the bog and, yes, I do eat them.  In fact, you HAVE to eat them, to keep the plants from overtaking the bog.

For some reason, once I switched to the pressurized bio filter, my bog plants are not doing as well as previously.  I do still have mint, but these days, not so much watercress.  Wish it would grow more though, as it really does perk up a salad or sandwich.

[Kittyzee]

I love watercress too and it grows wild in our cow pasture in cold running water.  But after researching it, I became leary of it because of parasites.  I found this off the internet and copied it below:

"Always wash your watercress well. If you cultivate it in pots in your garden you probably are safe but watercress grown in running water can attract the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica). This is rare. I saw it first on a returned plate in a London restaurant. We saw the fluke recently in a supermarket pack. The fluke is flat, with loads of legs and you can’t miss it as it is about an inch long."

I guess I didn't realize the fluke was so big--I was more concerned with parasites that I couldn't see.   

[turtlemike]

When I'm floating around doing crosses I some times find a recently released water lily seed ball that managed to evade my dead heading.   I always eat these when I find them floating, not just because there delicious but also to cut down on volunteers.    They taste a lot like watermelon though not as sweet but nuttier.   The seeds are crunchy and nutty.    One word of warning, if you pop the whole thing in your mouth it will fill your mouth so full of seeds and arils that you can barely chew up the seeds and could almost choke on them. it's like they expand when the seed ball breaks up in your mouth. so bite it in half the first time unless you have a really big mouth and don't mind chewing for a while.  Of course this depends on the size of the seed ball.        Usually for me it's a mayla or Peter Slocum or some other odorata type and there seed balls are huge and full of seeds.                                     Another thing that I eat is Chinese water chestnut tubers.    They are different from the ones you eat in Chinese food, like a crunchy vegetable, but sweet and rich tasting like an almond milk smoothie.    what I do is dig up a tuber, probably in fall would be best because of stored sugars for winter, scrape off the black outer coating with my pocket knife and chew the tuber.    Their very fibrous  and tough and you cant chew them up and swallow them but the milk that comes out of them is delicious.   You have to spit out the fiber wad.   Of course you could put them through a juicer and there you go.

[CoolShades]

Hey if you haven't tried varigated water celery you are in for a treat.  Take a few sprigs and top off your salads.  Note it has a peppery taste so you may not want to add too much pepper.  It's actually best in cool weather since the varigation comes to life and adds a lot of color to the salad.  

I have eaten Lotus tubers in China, but I was under the impression that species does not flower much.  Also isn't pui pui (not sure if I spelled right) comes from Taro root.  I had some when I was in Hawaii, but I have to adnmit I was not fond of it.

I think there is water celery in with the forget me nots

[miguynmkoi]

I got some water celery from Lawanna (thank you) which she told me was edible.  Now I can pick fresh celery almost year round.  I use to have watercress in my waterfall but it only flourished for a couple of years. 

Watercress is also growing in our creek nearby but I would never eat those ones.  Who knows what is flowing into that water?!  Yeeech!

[marla]

I'll have to try the water celery, I didn't know for sure it was edible.  I do eat the Chocolate Mint that grows in my pond.

[PondmaninAL]

At one time, half of my aquatic plants in the pond were edible. The main things now, that are edible, though not in my pond right now but some will be in Spring, are cattails, lotus, water celery, water spinach(invasive species in Florida), water cress, and taro. I'm sure that there are others that I haven't listed that can be added. Remember, whether you get it in the wild or in your pond, clean it thoroughly.

[karen J]

I used to eat my water plants as well, but there was a time many years ago that I used an organophosphate pesticide to deal with a gill fluke problem, and I've been turned off ever since. I'm sure the water has been changed out hundreds of times since, but I'm still a little apprehensive.

I love watercress too and it grows wild in our cow pasture in cold running water.  But after researching it, I became leary of it because of parasites.  I found this off the internet and copied it below:

"Always wash your watercress well. If you cultivate it in pots in your garden you probably are safe but watercress grown in running water can attract the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica). This is rare. I saw it first on a returned plate in a London restaurant. We saw the fluke recently in a supermarket pack. The fluke is flat, with loads of legs and you can’t miss it as it is about an inch long."

I guess I didn't realize the fluke was so big--I was more concerned with parasites that I couldn't see.   

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/fluke_infections.jsp

I thought it was amusing that one of the treatments is praziquantel, which is also used to treat Koi.

Three things that site recommends for prevention:

    * boiling or purifying drinking water

    * avoiding raw or undercooked fish or salads made from fresh aquatic plants; all food eaten in areas with fluke infestations should be cooked thoroughly; pickling or smoking will not kill fluke cysts in fish or shellfish

    * control or eradication of the snails that serve as the flukes' intermediate hosts

[cindy]

now I'm curious.  If the koi aren't edible after Proform C and some other treatments, I'm wondering if the watercress is.  I'll have to get some water celery.

[pondlady]

OK all I just traded from some seed for a plant called KangKong. Any one ever herd of it? or grown it? Sounds like a fun plant to try and it is used for food in some asian countries. It is known as chinese water spinich.  would help if I could remember how to spell.

[cindy]

I forgot to look for water celery, will look.

Water spinach?  Sounds good.