Sounds more like anthophillia to me....
I feel no regret about picking daylily for a summer salad....because tomorrow that bloom will be limp and a new one open.
Seems early for daylilies....I am at least 10 days away from the first blooms opening.
Linda C

First hastas, now daylilies. I always wanted a vegetable garden - who knew I already had one!

My daylilies are in bloom, too. My daughter had to point them out to me even though they're right along my front walk! I guess they bloomed today? LOL, and I never noticed they go to bed at night until just now when I went out to taste one. Hmmm, duhhh, hence the name?

I deadhead my daylilies everyday. The garden has been in bloom since the end of April and it's taking a break right now. No eating them here! Just taking pictures!

DC, do all varieties of day lillies taste the same? I don't like the orange ones, (I'm not a fan of that color) although those are the one's I've eaten. I like the pink and red ones though. Do you think they would taste the same as the wild orange ones?

I dont care for daylilys raw, but I have had them stuffed and they were tasty. Anyway, the snow pea garnish and the salad are quite pretty..... and if you are interested in expanding your recipe base, this came frm on of the daylily club newsletters I subscribe to.

Daylily Recipes
A few pointers on picking day lilies. Pick them from your own garden, not from along the
roadside, to assure that they're chemical-free. It's best to pick them in the morning, and keep
in the refrigerator to use in the evening. Pull the stamens, rinse them to make sure there
aren't any bugs hiding in them, and shake them dry. Then put them in a plastic bag or
container and keep them in the fridge until they're needed. From article "Gilding the Lily" in
South Coast Today newspaper, New Bedford, MA. http://www.s-t.com/daily/07-96/07-24-
96/c01li075.htm.
Daylilies are used for more than their beauty.
The foliage is very tasty when young and can
be simmered or stir-fried in oil or butter and is
said to taste like creamed onions.
Their blossoms are the most delicious of all
edible flowers. Scattering a few petals or buds
of yellow, white, red, purple or pink in a bowl
of green salad definitely adds a gourmet touch
and taste.
STUFFED DAYLILIES
Stuffed daylilies are beautiful as a centerpiece
or hors d'oeuvres. Select the colors you wish to
work with first thing in the morning. Trim and
wash the bloom and place in the refrigerator
until ready to use. Mix the following recipe.
Fill each blossom and set them upright in a
beautiful serving dish. Very delicious:
1 cup diced cooked chicken*
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 -3 oz pkg. cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup diced celery
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
Mix well. Fills approximately 8 large or 12
small daylily blossoms.
Or use your favorite chicken salad-chopping all
ingredients small.
*See www.foodfightgrocery.com for some
possible chicken substitutes.
ORIENTAL DAYLILY BUDS
2 cups daylily buds
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1/3 cup almond slivers
1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 Tbs. Rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs. Tamari or soy sauce
1 Tbs. Water
2 cups cooked brown rice
Steam daylily buds for 10-15 minutes, until
tender. In a wok or heavy skillet, heat the oil
over a high heat until very hot. Add the almond
slivers, sautuntil browned. Quickly remove
the almonds from the pan, set aside. Turn heat
down to medium. Add grated ginger and cook 1
to 2 minutes. Add vinegar, tamari, and water.
Stir to mix. Toss in daylily buds. Serve over hot
rice, topped with sautéed almonds. Serves 4.
From LOWDER FARM & NURSERY
http://www.lowderfarm.com/DayRecipes.html
*********
DAYLILIES STUFFED WITH ORIENTAL
CRAB SALAD
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and
sliced into matchstick-sized pieces
1/2 pound crab meat or crab substitute*
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
* Blanche the bean sprouts by dropping them in
boiling water for about a minute. Then cool
under cold running water. They should still
have a crunch.
* Combine all ingredients thoroughly and
refrigerate. You can even make the crab salad a
day in advance. *When you are ready to serve,
spoon several tablespoons of the salad into the
center of each daylily flower. You may also top
each filled daylily with a scattering of toasted
sesame seeds or finely chopped scallions for a
more colorful presentation.
* Smaller daylily flowers require less crab
salad, so this recipe makes enough to stuff two
dozen large daylily flowers or 30 smaller
flowers (such as Stella D'Oro.
Source: Kristen Kearney, Tranquil Lake
Nursery.
A SALAD OF FLOWERS AND HERBS
One head red leaf lettuce, cleaned and torn
1 cup mixed herbs, picked over and cleaned
1 cup petals, daylilies, roses and nasturtiums
Dressing:
1/2 cup verjus (tart juice from an early
pressing of grapes)
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 turns freshly ground black pepper
Grated zest of one orange
1/2 cup canola oil
* Toss together in a large bowl the lettuce,
herbs and flowers.
* Combine all the dressing ingredients but the
oil in a 12-ounce jar with a lid. Cover and
shake. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes then
pour in the oil. Shake well again. Store chilled.
* Stream 1/4 cup dressing around the edge of
the bowl and toss to coat.
* Source: Kerry Downey Romaniello,
executive chef, Westport Rivers Vineyard and
Winery.
DAYLILY FRITTERS WITH
STRAWBERRIES
* Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
White pepper to taste
18 ounces water
4 ounces oil
12 daylily flowers
* Sauce:
8 ounces demi-glace
4 ounces strawberry jam
8 strawberries, quartered
* Prepare the batter: Combine all dry
ingredients, then whisk in water.
* In a sauté pan, add oil and heat until it just
starts to simmer.
* Dip the flowers into the batter and quickly fry
on both sides, no more than 20 seconds. Place
flowers on a towel to drain.
* Prepare the sauce: Heat demi-glace, add jam
and simmer until jam is incorporated into the
sauce. Add strawberries, toss and remove from
heat.
* Place sauce on plate and decorate. Arrange
flowers on top. Garnish with strawberries.
* Serves four.
* Source: Anthony Marsella, executive chef,
Johnson & Wales Inn.
from article "Gilding the Lily" in South Coast
Today newspaper, New Bedford, MA
http://www.s-t.com/daily/07-96/07-24-
96/c01li075.htm
*************
DAYLILY CHEESECAKE
Ingredients:
1 lb. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup half and half
2 cups daylily petals, thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
*Coat a nine-inch cake pan with non- stick
spray. *Beat the cream cheese with an electric
mixer on high speed until fluffy.
*Stream in the sugar and beat until dissolved.
*Beat the eggs in one at a time on medium
speed.
Reduce the speed to low and stream in the half
and half until completely incorporated.
*Fold the daylily petals in by hand.
*Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
*Set into a shallow roasting pan and fill with
warm water at least halfway up the outside of
the cake pan.
*Bake for one hour or until the center is just
set.
Chill until completely cooled.
*Remove by setting the pan in a shallow bowl
of warm water for about ten seconds and
turning out
onto a plate.
*Serve with fresh berries in a daylily.
-Kerry Downey Romaniello--Westport Rivers
Vineyard-
DAYLILY DESSERT
For an elegant dessert, try filling a daylily
flower with fresh fruit, ice cream or sherbet.
Pick several medium-sized daylily flowers in
the morning, wash them, remove the stamen
and put them in a covered bowl in the
refrigerator.
When you are ready for dessert, place each
daylily flower in a goblet. Fill the flowers with
raspberries and cream, orange or lemon sherbet
or your favorite ice cream. Top with a sprig of
mint or a few Johnny-jump-up flowers.
FRIED RICE WITH GOLDEN NEEDLES
"Golden Needles," a traditional ingredient in
Chinese dishes, such as Hot and Sour Soup and
Moo Shu, are actually sun-dried daylilies! Vast
fields of daylilies, probably a species, are
grown for harvest in Asian countries including
China and Thailand. The buds are picked when
colored, but unopened, and dried in the sun for
about a week. You can harvest your own (use
the milder yellow varieties) and either sun-dry
them or use a dehydrator. They may also be
found in oriental markets. To use them, soak
the dried flowers in hot water about ten
minutes. Then pinch off the stem end, and cut
in half if large. They add a chewy texture and
are rich in carotene.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
4 scallions, sliced
20 golden needles
1 small can bamboo shoots
1/2 pound snow pea pods, cut in half the long
way
1 medium carrot, cut into match-stick (julienne)
pieces
Substitutes: water chestnuts, bell peppers or
broccoli, all cut in comparable sized pieces, can
be used in place of any of the vegetables.
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tablespoons grated or minced garlic
4 cups cooked rice
2-4 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
Heat the sesame oil in a 10-12 inch non-stick
skillet or wok. Add eggs, spread over pan as
thinly as possible. When done, but not brown,
remove and slice into thin strips. Set aside.
Heat canola oil until smoking. Add ginger and
stir. After one minute add garlic, the
vegetables, scallions and golden needles. Mix
and stir-fry rice about three minutes. Lower
heat and cook until vegetables are done but
crisp. Add rice, egg and soy sauce to taste, and
mix until heated through. Serves 4 as a side
dish or 2 as an entree.
-Kristin Kearney-
From Tranquil Lake Nursery
http://www.tranquil-lake.com/cooking/
6995 NW Cornelius Pass Rd
Hillsboro, Oregon
(503) 626-4070 ext 3#
www.POPPAinc.org

I've heard of eating daylily buds and cooking them like green beans, but I've never had the heart to cut the buds before they open and make beautiful flowers. I guess it stands to reason that the flowers would be edible too. Silly me.

Dcarch, that top dish with the tofu and shitake mushroom sauce looks very tasty, but obviously not vegetarian. Can you post a recipe for it, and maybe I can come up with a vegetarian version of it? Thanks.

Sally

For you avid gardeners out there, nasturtiums are edible as well--both blossoms and leaves. The ones I've grown have a slight peppery zing to them like watercress.

I don't have daylilies here, but I do have hibiscus, and I save the flowers to make tea. I did plant nasturtiums (a bit late), but they have not yet bloomed. I'm hoping they will reseed themselves, as they are my favorite edible flower. I had watercress in my pond in Venice - I grew it from a cutting I got from a park in Malibu where it grew wild.

Maybe I will try growing some snowpeas. I tried that it Texas, but it was too hot there.

Lars

Your pictures are gorgeous as usual Dcarch.

Oh how I wish I had known you could eat the daylillies before I moved away from mine. I can't have flowers where I am now.

I love pea shoots in a salad.

Tasted a daylily this morning. (Orange, like dcarch's) I'd say given the choice of "weeds" I'd take dandelions. They're fun for the kids, too.

Thank you everyone.

"Posted by lpinkmountain ------- DC, do all varieties of day lillies taste the same? -----"

I dont know. I have only one kind. I am going to look into it. I would love to have different colors to work with.

caliloo, thank you very much for posting the recipes. I am for sure going to try many of them, starting with "DAYLILIES STUFFED WITH ORIENTAL CRAB SALAD" :-)

"Posted by sally2 -------Dcarch, that top dish with the tofu and shitake mushroom sauce looks very tasty, but obviously not vegetarian. Can you post a recipe for it, and maybe I can come up with a vegetarian version of it? Thanks. Sally"

The sauce is a very simple shitake mushroom and concentrated chicken stock gravy. Depending on what kind of vegetarian you are, you can make a fantastic sauce using clam juice, and instead of sliced chicken, you can use sliced fish.

"Posted by arley ------ For you avid gardeners out there, nasturtiums are edible as well--both blossoms and leaves. The ones I've grown have a slight peppery zing to them like watercress"

Yes, you can make wonderful and beautiful dishes with nasturtiums.

"Posted by beverlyal ------ I love pea shoots in a salad. "

One of the most tasty greens for salads and stir fry.

"Posted by foodonastump ------- Tasted a daylily this morning. (Orange, like dcarch's) I'd say given the choice of "weeds" I'd take dandelions. They're fun for the kids, too."

There is another reason for the dishes for the dinner besides tasting good. Both daylily blossoms and shitake mushrooms are supposed to have anti-cancer properties.

dcarch

Lars, I grow snow peas, but I plant them in January or February. This year I got them started late - early March. I was able to just barely get a harvest from them before they succumbed to the heat, but thats mainly because we had a long, cool, wet winter.

Dcarch, I don't eat anything that had a mother, (except eggs - I'll heat free range eggs) but I bet I could make some kind of vegetable or mushroom stock for that dish. Thanks.

I just planted watercress in my water garden this year, but I've been timid about eating it. I guess I should get over it, wash it well, and try it out.

Sally

Lars, I might have passed by your house in Venice on Memorial Day when I was in LA. I got to talk to many residences there. They were having BBQs. When you walk on the path, you are inches away from their food. What an architectural circus there. Very interesting area.

Sally, I am not a vegetarian, but I cook vegetarian all the time. Watercress is wonderful and healthy. You should grow lotus and waterchestnut also.

dcarch

All daylilies don't taste the same...I have a red one that tastes very like artichoke.
also Monarda blossoms are edible as are viola and violets...in addition to the usual herbs like lavandar, borage, lovage etc etc etc...
But I don't eat my hosta.