Cattails - A free alternative to down?

**tight-wad** · 10-03-2009, 18:32

Found a good patch and harvested several stalks.

The first one, after plucking, I nuked 4 times for 15 seconds each. It still feels a little damp, so I'm just going to let it sit.

Right now I have another, unplucked, stalk in my food dehydrator

I'll pluck it tomorrow.

Just thinking.... if this stuff gets wet, will the seeds germinate and start growing inside your quilt

First impressions...
- Down like as far as stuff floating away.
- However, it doesn't fluff to the volume of down for the given weight. Just my guestimates without measuring anything (other than the weight of a baggie with one pod, ~ 1 ounce) ... probably 100 fill power. I'll do some measurements when I get a good dry sample.
- There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch... Yeah, the material is free, but man! it takes time and forearm power to extract the fluff from the stalk!
- I wonder if the bugs taste good??? Probably not, because I haven't heard of anybody in Louisiana, or China, cooking them.

**Wendigo** · 10-03-2009, 19:34

Originally Posted by tight-wad

- I wonder if the bugs taste good??? Probably not, because I haven't heard of anybody in Louisiana, or China, cooking them.

I read that during early summer you can pull them off and eat them like corn on the cob. the bugs probably are full of proteins but too small to harvest and make a meal on their own.

certain times of the year are best for different parts of the plant. at one point the leaves can be eaten raw or boiled. the stem can be eaten and the roots/offshoots are very edible and nutricious.

personally I haven't tried any of this for dinner (yet) but I do know that I have eaten worse.

**dgmyrs** · 10-03-2009, 20:34

Found this link describing the authors experience with cattail down. Sounds like it might need to be replace frequently.

http://books.google.com

**Running Feather** · 10-04-2009, 04:37

She writes that he used it for 'many moons' which can mean a lot of things. I'll just be sure to give myself a refill option in my quilt's design. Nature is good!

**Ramblinrev** · 10-04-2009, 06:08

Originally Posted by Wendigo

I read that during early summer you can pull them off and eat them like corn on the cob. the bugs probably are full of proteins but too small to harvest and make a meal on their own.

certain times of the year are best for different parts of the plant. at one point the leaves can be eaten raw or boiled. the stem can be eaten and the roots/offshoots are very edible and nutricious.

personally I haven't tried any of this for dinner (yet) but I do know that I have eaten worse.

I would be very cautious about eating cattails in any part at any time of the year. I am aware that it used to be done and I even played with the idea when I was a kid. However with the increased knowledge we have about the efficiency and effectiveness of cat tails and other swamp plants cleaning toxins and heavy metals out of ground water I have to wonder if it would be safe to eat them no matter how clean the water appeared to be.

Just a thought.

"Many parts of a pine tree are edible." - Euell Gibbons

**Running Feather** · 10-04-2009, 07:38

Good point....................Raaaaalph

**Pitch** · 10-04-2009, 10:07

Originally Posted by tight-wad

- There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch... Yeah, the material is free, but man! it takes time and forearm power to extract the fluff from the stalk!
- I wonder if the bugs taste good??? Probably not, because I haven't heard of anybody in Louisiana, or China, cooking them.

That's really strange - I think the one you're trying to harvest from isn't ready yet - when they are ready to "pop" the fuzz pretty much jumps off the cattail.

Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTVsm...eature=related

**jbo_c** · 10-04-2009, 12:26

My parents had on in a flower arrangement explode once in a hot car. - and I mean EXPLODE, not in force, but in distribution. It was hysterical unless you were responsible for cleaning it up.

Jbo

**slowhike** · 10-04-2009, 14:29

Originally Posted by jbo_c

My parents had on in a flower arrangement explode once in a hot car. - and I mean EXPLODE, not in force, but in distribution. It was hysterical unless you were responsible for cleaning it up.

Jbo

Now that would have been a great video for AFV!

**tight-wad** · 10-04-2009, 17:39

ha ha...

The food dehydrator really did the trick. It did not pop off quite like it did in the video, but removal was much easier, and the stalk was about 1/2 the weight before and after.

Hopefully you can read my scribbling in the pix. If you can't, the volume in a gallon zip lock is about 200 cubic inches. The weight is about .9 ounces. Fill power = about 222.

The max compression would be an unpopped stalk, call it 4+ cubic inches. Expansion ratio = 200:~5 ~40:1 (In case your eyes are as bad as mine, that's a hammockforums mini binner

.)

You can make it fluff to fill the volume, but gravity is more powerful than the desire to fluff. Left open the mass will settle. If using this for a quilt, then I would suggest many more, much smaller baffles.

Now that I have some, and a stashed bolt of $1 per yard Wally's World ripstop, I'll give it a go. But, this sounds like a project for a dreary winter day, i.e., I'll get around to it next year.