Has kudzu made its way to your state yet?

[raccoon]

With global warming, kudzu, like a lot of other flora and fauna is migrating north to areas it formerly couldn't survive in, but can now, thanks to global warming.

I'm looking to hear from some posters in states that we don't usually think of as kudzu-infested, that is, states that weren't part of the Confederate States of America.

[jokerman93]

1. Question

Is Kudzu edible?

[CountAllVotes]

2. kudzu - aka kuzu

It a root that grows deep into the ground. It has powerful medicinal qualities and you can grind up the kuzu into a fine powder and use it to thicken up recipes with or add it to tea. It is very good for healing a very sick stomach.

check macrobiotics kuzu on google ... I have some of this - Imported from Japan. I use it to cook with so yes, it is edible.

:kick:

[jokerman93]

5. Thanks

I thought it was used as a thickener, didn't know about the stomach tonic though. Interesting.

[tatertop]

7. What does it taste like?

Could edible kudzu help feed the hungry?

[FloridaPat]

17. I read once that the new leaves are good for salads. I tried one.

Very bitter.

[tatertop]

30. I don't care for bitter greens.

[CountAllVotes]

21. yes it could feed people

it tends to have a very bland taste when dried and ground up and added to teas, etc. It is a thickener primarily. It apparently heals the intestinal tract - in fact an anti-cancer root. It is white and grows to be several feet long and can be huge.

:kick:

[tatertop]

29. Never thought about the root.

[CountAllVotes]

31. actually ......

In its macrobiotic form which is dried and must have been grown organically without chemicals, most likely imported to this country from Japan it lasts for an extremely long time. I have some of the dried root that is probably 10 years old. I keep it stored in a jar in plastic and I use it for baking (great for thickening things like fruit pies). Also makes the tea thicker as well - clear and very tasteless like this.

Also a highly medicinal root.

Cost is very expensive in this form - like well over $25 a lb. or more even. I don't know - haven't bought in a long time - no reason to. It is a very interesting root to say the least being it seems to last forever, is edible, medicinal and can be used in cooking and is used in Japan for cooking.

:kick:

[tatertop]

40. I have never made 'thick' tea

Tell me, is thick tea better than
thin tea? Why do you thicken tea?

[CountAllVotes]

41. actually it is a stomach recipe - detoxification

You take bancha tea and add to it one umeboshi plum and also some of the ground up kuzu, about 1 tsp. I believe it is.

You drink this cup of tea a few times a day. It is very good for detoxifying yourself and also for your stomach and health in general during times of illness.

Many people get into macrobiotics for heath reasons. I was really into it about 15 years ago and have implemented portions of it permanently into my current lifestyle, i.e. I still use kuzu and I have the bancha tea and sauces, etc. Also the water thing - the most important aspect along with salt.

[tatertop]

42. green tea, dried plum and kuzu

What might you add to thicken besides the kuzu?
I could use a good system cleansing.

I used to drink a lot of rooibos tea. Very nice.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

4. The brief research I just conducted

suggests that it is. It appears to be used as forage, but people can eat it too.

[bleedingheart]

6. yes it is...this link has recipes for it...

granted I have never had it...so I can't vouch for the taste.

http://www.shelsgarden.com/lakudzu.html

[tridim]

3. I've reported on DU that it's in Denver CO

Denver is a desert. I've noticed it for a few years, and it's grows about 2 times more dense each year. Nobody I've told seems to care. There's a big patch on my neighbor's back porch and it's already working itself through the structure of the gutters and roof.

[NickB79]

38. Denver?!? It can survive your winters?

Hell, I'm in Minnesota, the last thing I need is another invasive non-native, after battling Japanese honeysuckle and European buckthorn the past 5 yrs.

[tridim]

39. Denver's winters are very mild now

Nothing like they used to be. Sure we usually get one or two big snow dumps, but it hardly ever gets very cold. Global warming in action.

Kudzu is just like strawberries. These plants survive anything and propagate like weeds.

[tedoll78]

8. Another question..

Has any way to restrain/contain it been found?

I remember when I was at college at Ole Miss, and some of the old shacks out in the more rural areas were literally covered in kudzu, along with entire valleys and hills, power lines spanning the roads, etc etc.

If I could get away with it, I'd let it grow on and around my property fence; I like its fast growth for this purpose. BUt it'd probably get out of control.

[bleedingheart]

11. no based on my limited research

it will die back in frost, so hard winters might slow it's growth but based on the other information I am reading it is really invasive and herbicides must be applied for as long as 10 years to really kill it.

It's spread was probably due in part to the fact that there were experts that advocated its use for livestock feed and erosion control....so it was purposely planted all over the south.

Not until 1972 was it declared a weed.

[raccoon]

15. Not only that, your neighbors would kill you if they knew! nt

[trof]

9. Imported from in early 1900s from Japan as cattle fodder.

But U.S. cows don't like it.
In the south we call it "telephone vine" because it will grow up a pole, down the line, down the next pole, and so on.

I've never heard of anybody eating the leaves.

[AlabamaYankee]

34. Kudzu Jelly is Delicious

There a several people who make it to sell at fairs and craft shows. It's made from the blossoms and is a very pretty lavender to dark red color.

[junkiebrewster]

10. Kudzu takes over everything...

Where did that stuff come from, anyway?

[junkiebrewster]

12. hmmm

Post above mine answered my question

[htuttle]

16. Outer space

Came off a meteorite, I think.

[junkiebrewster]

27. Funny picture n/t

[Igel]

43. Yes, but it neglected the main reason it's so widespread.

FDR's CCC planted it all over the place to control erosion, a large-scale project covering much of the south.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, although (of course) a few people were against it. But in the US the plant grew larger, for reasons I haven't seen. And no natural pests.

If the kudzu/kuzu spelling is confusing: it's kuzu in Japanese, kudzu in English. The word was nativized with the plant.

[ima_sinnic]

13. The latest issue of WIldland Weeds (which I receive as a member

of the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council) has an article titled "Cool stuff on kudzu," summarizing a few research findings:

"When 'heavy' alcohol drinkers were treated with a placebo or kudzu extract for 7 days, then given an opportunity to drink their preferred brand of beer in 'a naturalistic laboratory setting,' it was found that the kudzu treatment resulted in a significant reduction in the number of beers consumed . . ." with no side effects, summarizing an article in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Also, a guy invented a device to prevent kudzu from climbing guy-wires and so on, in utility right-of-ways, exploiting the fact that the vine will stand unsupported only to about 3-1/2 feet and will not climb a structure with diameter greater than 8 inches or total perimeter of 24 inches. Reported in proceedings of the Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council's Seventh Annual Conference: Invasive Plants: Arming to Defend and Win (May 2005)

Kudzu is, I believe, in number 1 position of "worst" (ie, most invasive) plants in the U.S. on "official" lists. It was distributed for erosion control in the first half of the 20th century but removed from the list of approved plants for that purpose in 1953, officially labeled a "weed" in 1970, and placed on the Federal "Obnoxious Weeds" List in 1997.

[trof]

14. The best mulch for kudzu is said to be concrete blocks.

;-)

[noonwitch]

18. I wonder if emerald ash borers like it?

If we could find something they like better than ash trees, I'm all for kudzo coming to Michigan.

[raccoon]

19. One poster reported kudzu in Denver, CO.

Anybody seen it in Indiana? Kansas? Pennsylvania?

I think that's kudzu in this picture from Philadelphia. It's the second picture from the top.

http://www.angelfire.com/nv2/philadelphia/p11.html

[MuseRider]

22. Kansas

in small isolated patches for now in both Kansas City and Lawrence. I looked around and that was all I found so far. I have not seen any and I frequently check my pastures for stuff like this. I guess it won't be long now.

[spinbaby]

24. I've never seen it in PA

But wild grape will sometimes look a bit like kudzu when it gets rambunctious.

[Quakerfriend]

44. Yes, it is widespread in southeastern PA

Taking over sections our beloved Fairmount Park in Phila.

[maxsolomon]

20. if kudzu is native to japan, why isn't japan entirely covered in it?

maybe someone should ask the japanese.

out in the northwest, the kudzu is going to have a tough time competing with himalayan blackberries & scotch broom.

[ima_sinnic]

25. plants that are transported from other places come without their

natural enemies. In Japan there are insects and diseases that have evolved with it and that keep it in balance. That is the whole principle behind classical biological control: to survey the area of origin of the pest and find specialist natural enemies to export to regions that have been invaded. A spectacular early success was the importation of vidalia beetles (a kind of ladybeetle or "ladybug") from Australia in the late 1880s for control of cottony cushion scale (another kind of insect) in citrus orchards in California. The beetle literally saved the citrus industry in California. There is a vast literature on insect biological control of weeds, some successful and some not so successful. Before any insect can be released for control it has to go through years of testing to make sure it itself won't become a pest on other species. Many factors are at play--in some areas an insect might work out very well at control, then in other areas it might not. I am not up on the lit regarding insect/disease control agents of kudzu but suspect there has been limited success, that the "superagent" just hasn't been found yet.

[maxsolomon]

32. those must be some insects & diseases!

the kudzu beetle must be the size of a small dog.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

23. Recently found in Oregon...

Here's a link w/pictures and more info...

http://www.oregonflora.org/ofn/v6n3/kudzu.html

[alfredo]

26. Kentucky is infested with the plant

It covers all the trash thrown on the side of the road and in ravines.

[raccoon]

45. Well, it guess it does have its uses! nt

[KittyWampus]

28. Only in powdered form. Kuzu is used in cooking (Macrobiotic/Japanese)

to thicken things.

It's' also been found to help those coping with addition.

[Occulus]

47. Does it help with long division?

Because addition is bad, but that ol' LD is a real biznatch.

Seriously. :silly:

[RebelOne]

33. kudzu has been in my state of Georgia for a long, long time.

[Xithras]

35. The only Kudzu in California is deliberate.

Apparently it doesn't like the Medditeranean climate (warm and dry) that makes this such a nice place to live. The only kudzu I've seen was deliberately planted by people who wanted to cover walls with it. By regulating its water, you can really slow down its growth rate, and when you shut the water off it just dies.

[Barack_America]

36. Appears to be Philadelphia's fault.

http://www.naturalsciences.org/conservation/invasives/kudzu.htm


Don't recall seeing it around here though...

[raccoon]

46. thanks for posting that link. nt

[RepublicanElephant]

37. looks like a great business opportunity for a natural food business...

plenty of free supply growing everywhere.

unless dubya decides eating it is a homeland security threat.