What Kudzu is and *IS NOT* good for
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Kudzu is known as the "vine that ate the south" yet we seem to fear it more than is warranted. If you've never heard of Kudzu, you need to see how expansive it really grows (we took that footage). At the same time, there are tons of bloggers who would rather us see it as a ready food source - much as it is used in Japan. At first I thought this would make a great video showing the uses. I found the story wasn't that simple though, as you'll see.
I set out here to find the truth about Kudzu. If you have more recipes or things I should know, leave it below. I'm sure we'd all benefit from reading it.
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We used the vines straight from the plant to make chair bottoms, hammocks, swing chairs, re bottom the couch. You just have to use your vines when they are green and when you are finished let ot dry in the sun. We also weaved baskets with it.
cooooool
Do you use the thicker older vines?
@@TofuDinoNugs We used the green younger vines at Grandmama's house to be able to get them tight as we could around the frame of the chairs.
We also used old panty hose to make chair bottoms!😂
Hi Cheryl! I am going to use this comment in our article for Stone Age Man about this video, so cool! Let me know if you have a handle you want me to tag!
When she jumped into that I was thinking about all the snakes that could be hiding in it.
Copperheads love it. I would never walk into a field of it
I would think it is too chilly for reptiles under all that old growth.
spiders, blech
My mind went to hidden pokey things like old rusted off fence post, or dead tree stumps.
@@f.demascio1857 cool in the shade is about 95 degrees in July where most of this stuff grows
There's a lady in Western NC who went by the moniker "Kudzu Queen" and was known for deep frying the leaves in a tempura batter making chips. She was known to attend fairs and carnivals giving demonstrations. She was quoted to say most recipes were terrible because people did not soak the leaves in ice water before use. I'm guessing it leaches out some of the bitterness but still tastes similar to kale chips.
Once you fry something in tempura batter you aren't really eating it any more, it's just an excuse to eat fried tempura batter.
I found soaking it in cold saltwater can make the young leaves pretty good to eat if you boil it like greens.
@@andrewd.harris656 I was wanting to make some greens as I have so much Kudzu, thanks for the advice!
It is herb in Asia, in China Called Gergen, make powder and make tea, great for skin, estrogen use for youthfulness
@@gadaadhoon my guilty pleasure
First fence in the kudzu. Put in some Cows, sheep, and goats. When they have eaten the kudzu you eat them.
Now THAT's a recipe! Who would hate on Americans!? Literally over powered! GJ guy!
I agree, Roy. That's exactly how to eat kudzu.
I like your thought process!
Yes! Or pigs...they dig out the tap root of the kudzu and eat it.
Goats are the best lawnmowers!
As someone who has lived her entire life in the south, near a huge patch, I can honestly say that you've not smelled anything as perfect as blooming Kudzu. The scent is heavenly.
I’ve smelt that nice scent, cause it consumed the alley behind my grannies old house in west pal Beach. It has a calming effect in the early morning when it’s wet out like lavender. Or maybe I just like smelling the earthy ;foliage smell, in the air, early mornings as I fire up a joint of skittles.
@Sebastian Wolff THIS is the WRONG thing to be thinking of.
@@nymphkutta2627 Enjoy your own personal Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
@Sebastian Wolff your address?
This is killing me, in from new york, no kudzu here. SOMEONE MAKE KUDZU GIN, just vodka, flowers, and time..
i grew up in, and still live in Georgia, and we've cooked it up like any other greens. pretty simple, throw in a ham hock in a pot of water, or pressure cooker, and throw in your salt, kudzu leaves, and boil until tender or the point you wanna eat it. if you do it right, it takes on the type of greens and ham you get from other southern cooking. my grandmother ate this during the great depression when they had nothing else.
I rinse with salt water, cut the leaves, add to water in a blender, blend the kudzu, strain it, and drink. Sometimes I put ice and some stevia sweat leaf in it. I really like it. It makes my cheeks pinker.
No, she didn't. Kudzu was not introduced into the USA until 1870's and barely survived as it was brought into the North. Only after the depression was Kudzu planted in the South as a means to stop erosion. This happened in the 1940's well after people were starving during the "Depression". Family stories are wonderful but many times they become two or three stories meshed together and the truth gets distorted.
@@damesaphira9790that’s not True, Kudzu seeds were being planted all along railways and distributed along roadways in the south. It was also used to create shade for houses and to stop erosion and as a forage plant. People definitely knew it was edible during the 1930s.
@@damesaphira9790 my cousin David G. Fairchild moved from his DC house because he could not get rid of it. 1870’s.
Appalachia and the foothill country took much longer than the rest of the nation to recover from the Depression. Poverty was severe well into the late Forties. e@damesaphira9790
and when they introduced kudzu bugs they said oopsie because kudzu is related to soy and the bugs like soy too. guess kudzu has weaving potential. famine food is not about it tasting good. it will taste better once you have not ate in 4 days :)
Could always drench it in foraged honey...
@@LaineyBug2020 or you could make a fish trap out of the vines or a basket to gather better tasting food or sandals... or use it to purify the land of pollution. use it as a from of compost. honey is a good survival food though, it is a large portion of the hadza tribes diet. they are a hunter-gather tribe in southern africa.
As far as we know, nobody "released" the kudzu bugs. They were found first just outside of the Atlanta airport so we thinking they were an accidental introduction from some shipment.
You're not wrong! I think it'll have a better use in my house for weaving and the corn starch replacement since it's so much more available to me than corn.
I dehydrate the leaves while they are in season and store them for winter to mix in my chicken feed to give my flocks greens during winter and to stretch my feed further which gives my birds another source of protein. Hope that helps giving other ideas for using it. I have also seen videos of people using the vines for basket weaving as well.
I have no experience with kudzu but I want to say two things in my experience with other plants: 1. The furry tips might be tastier fire roasted( burns the fine hairs) 2. As with some alternative preparation techniques you might’ve overlooked adding a vinegar to the leaves might completely change its taste profile( arugula for example is pretty bitter without vinegar) I personally have a purslane(a common weed)which isn’t very tasty but you chop it up with some vinegar/spices it’s delicious
Kudzu is a close relative of snow peas! Kudzu is sewed after it gets nasty coffee, cigarettes and tar from smoking out of the lungs!
I think the young leaves pair really well with chicken ! Get you a whole chicken and chop up some young leaves with an onion and some pepper and stuff it in that bird ! Roast and enjoy ! I also use the older vine as a fuel in my gasifier camp stove . You have to use a pruning tool to cut it into one inch rounds and dry them in the sun . Once completely dry they burn pretty good ! Great video and hello from the kudzu fields of north Georgia !!
Oh, i love the old vine as fuel, thank you, ill remember this!
@@Scp716creativecommons
Just dry it out good 👍
Btw your cleaning playlist .. amazing 🤩
everywhere i have seen kudzu grow it has killed off the trees - it covers them to the point that they can't get enough light to survive :-(
My friends mom, used to make an amazing jelly from kudzu… and I believe it’s juice is used for treating alcoholism, in Japan. Wish I had her recipe
I used to make jelly from the kudzu flowers. You make a tea from the flowers and add a little lemon juice, sugar and either Certo or Sure Jell. When you add the lemon juice the tea instantly changes color from an appetizing gray to a beautiful garnet color like magic. The finished jelly tastes like grape Koolaid.
Ohh I'm gonna have to try this.
Oh damn that’s very interesting
I think that is "Kuzumochi", Japanese traditional mochi dessert.
It is made by "kuzuko" extracting starch powder from kudzu root.
However, it is difficult only if managed as agriculture.
@@billthames2893 oh wow that sounds amazing. So it could totally be used to replace koolaid? I was just talking to my husband yesterday about wanting to find a few artificial juice replacers
I've eaten Kudzu jelly made from the flowers. The flowers were steeped like a tea and that tea water (which is dishwater gray) was made into the jelly. Tasted like grape jelly. It was a pleasant surprise.
I grew up beside a large Kudzu patch like this , and loved it! My siblings and I enjoyed playing in it, but also at night you could see thousands of lightning bugs hovering over it. Real pretty! The fragrance it gives off is nice too.
I can picture this, how wonderful for kids.
When I was a kid in Western Oregon, we played in huge patches of Himalayan Blackberries -- built elaborate tunnel systems and such.
But Himalayan Blackberry sucks. It's can take over disturbed areas much like Kudzu, swallow small trees and structures -- and it has horrific thorns. If you fall into a patch of that stuff, someone has to cut you out of it, because a thousand barbs will dig into you if you try to move.
I think I might trade y'all Himalayan Blackberry for Kudzu ... oh, yeah, they produce edible berries, but you'll get sick of those in a hurry, as will your bowels.
@@cacogenicist Your story reminds me of a book I read years ago about a bush in South Africa called the "wait a bit bush" th-cam.com/video/RuzLXxbGc4c/w-d-xo.html I'm not sure if this video is from South Africa, but it is similar.
Yall are nuts in GA we avoided it like the plague due to the hairs.
@@bowez9 Coyotes and Foxes take care of the Hairs
Ok well...here goes. The shoot tips are best if you cook them in oil like maybe the first foot or less basically it should snap off of the vines those are tender enough to use. Grill it like you would asparagus or in a pan with cooking oil. Not too bad that way. I also use a Champion Juicer with young kudzu leaves and shoots. You can use the older ones to juice as well but it is best to cut out the fiber strands basically the main stems in the leaves use a pair of scissors or a knife. There is very little water in the leaves so I use peeled oranges to add moisture, flavor and to help push it through the juicer. On the roots I have only used the powdered root I order from Eden foods. If you mix the powder in cold ice water and then whisk it as you heat it the kudzu makes a very nice thick translucent thickener. I am not 100% sure but it reminds me of egg drop soup. Whisk in a beaten egg and some soy sauce to flavor very good. I also make a porridge out of it or mix the powder in cold ice water and drink it for stomach issues, intestinal issues etc. My rabbits loved to eat it. The plant has loads of natural bioflavenoids and everything is edible. Feed your animals then eat the animals so they can deal with the hairyness and you can feed them for free. Kudzu bugs can be trapped (youtube video) and fed to chickens. Pretty amazing plant and you can use it in mulch as a green manure due to the huge amounts of nitrogen in the plant. The world record holder for tomatoes uses it as the secret ingredient. I can say from using it with chicken and rabbit manure it makes a very nice fertilizer. Look at the soil under an established patch will be blacker than your mother in laws heart.
"than your mother-in-law's heart..." love it! Did your's say she'd "beat you like a redheaded stepchild," if you made her little princess cry?
Careful jumping into kudzu, I've seen whole junk yards absorbed by it in Mississippi. You have no idea what's under there!
Yeah, that or even just a big pile of sharp rocks
And SNAKES!
@@lilolmecj Snakes was the only thing on my mind. The last thing you want to encounter is a diamondback rattler under all that.
Chiggers and seed ticks.
@@flashcloud666 actually, kudzo grows best where water mocassins, who are aggressively territorial, live
"You can easily control it if you want to: bring in some goats, spray some herbicide" sounds like a person who's never had to try to protect their own property and house from the killer vine. I spent 17 years in a house where I had kudzu in the back and English ivy and privet hedge on the sides, and they were all a huge pain in the rear, but the kudzu was the worst of the three because there was no way to get every last little bit and in the summer it grows a foot a day.
Sure, enough goats and enough time and it'll be gone, but not everyone has access to goats or is allowed to have them on their property or can keep them contained to the kudzu and with access to all of it. Keeping up with kudzu could be a full-time job.
THANKYOU!!!! I cannot believe some of these comments. There is absolutely no benefit to kudzu. If I could create a way to eradicate it fairly quick & inexpensive, I would be a millionaire!
Its hell on a brush hog too wraps around the blades and you spend hours cutting that crap off with knife
@@angelalewis9693 I wondered about that. Do you know if the vines be put thru a wood chipper/shredder? Or would a similar issue occur? And I wondered if it would just create little snips to take root a thousand fold faster?
The vines can be woven into fairly durable baskets. They are very pliable when green and moist and become firm when dry.
I once met a man who claimed to have been involved in kudzu planting projects with the CCC, done for erosion control. He said they very methodically dug a deep hole, laying in layers of organic material and compost to provide nutrition for the young plant. When the hole was ready "we would carefully carry a prepared bundle of shoots and gently place it in the prepared hole with the love and care you would use to place a sleeping baby in a crib. “”Hell," he said, "we didn't know that all you had to do was throw it on asphalt, spit on it and then start trying to kill it and it will thrive."
For years we heard rumors that commercial kudzu farms had been developed in east central Alabama. I've never seen one and assume it was mostly a little leg-pulling going on.
Hahaha.
We moved here to East Central Alabama a year and a half ago and the kudzu is freaking out-of-control on our property and pretty much everywhere around here! In my other comment I mentioned I’m going to definitely get some goats and rotate them around the property to keep it under control a lot better.
@@kimberlyvespa great! Apparently pigs do a good job too. Just have to keep them fenced in well. If you can, you might want to try a Great Pyrenees or Kuvasz Shepard dog to protect the goats from other dogs and coyotes. Burros can help with that too (but pretty soon you get a menagerie going!)
@@kimberlyvespa I have kudzu on my property, get you some goats, they love it and you get milk and meat and or pets and for half the year you don't have to buy feed.
@@kimberlyvespa they also knock it down fast, you will be surprised how quickly they , and I mean I use 2 adults and 2 kids, Nigerian and a nubian. I have to use movable fence panels in no time they eat it down so quick.
Compost it then ship it north. From a quick scan, it looks like kudzu is severely limited when temperatures go below -4F. Kudzu also fixes nitrogen. People pay $5 per cubic foot around here for a bag of garden soil.
Correct it doesn't grow much north of the GA-TN border.
We have TONS of it in NC!
@@cynthiajenson9974 I am using coconut fiber from 1/2 way around the world when Kudzu is just 1000 miles away! Something does not add up...
Then use the compost for something actually tasty. You can even use it to grow more Kudzu on your back porch as a southern treat.
My wife has gastritis. The doctors give you PPI's like omezaprazole but the side effects with my wife are herrendous and worse than gastritis itself. She gets bloating, indigestion, acid reflux, constipation, heart palpitations and more abdominal pain. Kudzu however has no side effects and helped her reduce the pain from gastritis. She drinks the kudzu root starch powder 10 minutes before meals and before bed and after waking. Mix a teaspoon with a drop of cold water and mix until liquid. Then pour boiling water in while mixing. Half to 3/4 cup of boiling water. It should change from milky white to clearish. If not put in the microwave while watching it (so it doesn't overflow) to heat it more. Let cool for a bit then drink. Note that you can't just pour boiling water in first to mix. It has to be cold water otherwise it won't dissolve. My wife started as I read that someone cured their gastritis with it. After 6 months they reported to being able to eat anything again and having no pain.
i live in NC and we've got kudzu in spades as you probably know...i dont have experience working with it as a foodstuff, but i've heard of folks making jelly outta tha flowers, i suppose by boiling, sweetening, adding pectin, etc...also, i thought i'd heard it was a legume but that wasn't touched on in the segment so i was wondering if my information was incorrect or if i missed something along the way in the video maybe? thanks for all the wonderful educational content and time dedicated to bettering society! from what this viewer can see, y'all are a shining example of what a family can be and it is a beautiful sight to behold. ;)
For the bast fiber I have taken large lengths and put them into 55 gallon drums, weight the vines with bricks or rocks and cover in water. They will ret and smells pretty bad like hydrogen sulfide probably what is released. After a few months in the sun they will be done retting and you can get a really nice bast fiber separated from the outer husk. The fiber is a yellow to white color, very strong and could be spun into rope, cloth etc.
I was thinking the same thing, that fibers need to be retted just as flax. The latter is a huge industry, but industry takes industriousness, which is sadly lacking in counties where everyone is on the dole.
Some of the aromatic compounds that smelled good in the flowers but didn't come out in the tea might not be water-soluble and might be better in alcohol or even an oil infusion.
Great point
Enfleurage or "pomade" . . . A very simple process that should be taught in middle school but they would rather teach CRT and other evil teachings . . . >.>' OH! Why Middle school? Puberty? New human fragrance for the adolescent . . . Why not?
@@Llama_Dhali_G 😂👍🏻
@@UntamedScience Sadly most people don't realize the reality of the situation of this world. I've seen the kudzu living in Ga. in the 70s and love nature dearly, that's how I see the truth. But also on the L. coast now and most of my life, sf bay area, where all the techie$, bio-techie$ and fake science profe$$ionals drove up the housing costs and drove the natural ones out. They can't speak a word of truth. They are working for the cause of all the problems: Big Ag, Big pHarma and Big Tech. are a Big part of The Chemical Tech War Industry, They own MSM and EDU Programming Systems. (Of lies.)
I've always wondered if kudzu would make a good source for making paper products! I've never heard anybody say one way or the other.
There is a lady in Upstate SC, Nancy Basket, who demonstrates paper-making with kudzu for school kids. She also makes kudzu baskets from the long fibers inside the vines. I’ve taken a couple of classes from her.
@@pamkelley1413 are you making kudzu things now?
I am. Just finished a basket and starting another.
Melissa at "Pic n Vine" in Copperhill, TN has EVERYTHING Kudzu. She is the expert on WHAT it can do! th-cam.com/video/Z2XRsSojBXE/w-d-xo.html
To plant Kudzu:
Pour 2 12’X12’ for concrete forms, one with 4 strong hooks in each corner and attach a crane to the one with the hooks and raise it up about 5 feet. Place a 2 inch vine in the middle then lower the other form on top of it and RUN!!!
When I was growing up, my grannie shared a book with me, It was a Nancy Drew kind of story, but part of the story looked back at the Kudzu having been brought from Japan, specifically to feed cattle. The reason it got out of hand stemmed from the livestock having the same response to it that you did!
These are wonderful! Thank you!
🤪❤
Has anyone tried making a form ofhempcrete (kudzucrete?) with kudzu? Growing hemp in the US is highly regulated so fewer growers want to fool with it thus making it more expensive. But kudzu should be. free for the harvesting. Cut it, dry it, chop it up and mix with lime and water for low cost, sustainable building material that has thermal mass and insulative properties.
One of my best friends is a botanist at Troy State University. Every year he uses the flowers to make kudzu jelly, and it is delicious.
I used to survey land and hated working in kudzu! I'll never forget a particular day it was over 100 degrees and the kudzu was producing an amplified amount of humidity or something. It felt like being inside an oven. I thought I was going to die.
I am a land surveyor in the Pacific Northwest and looking at these videos makes me cringe because we have similar vegetation growing like that everywhere and yes it's horrible it's hot it's full of bugs and rodents and snakes, I'm so happy we don't have Kudzu here
@@moocyfarus8549 I had a lot of good times surveying land but some things happened in life and I ended up changing fields... not necessarily because I wanted to and I've thought about getting back into it but better opportunities came along. Keep at it man, you can make a good living surveying.... I just dont recommend working in the southeast unless you're a glutton for punishment lol... lots of good times and stories though.
Like the fire ant, it's part of Southern culture & environment now. It smells wonderful when blooming in July & my bees love it. Some beekeepers are able to isolate Kudzu honey.
I once tried to pull down some kudzu, but- it wasn't kudzu! Everyone, including a visiting Japanese doctor, came to gawk at the fool with the worst case of poison ivy anyone at that hospital had ever seen.. Whenever I see something like kudzu, I still won't touch it, 20 years or so latter.
As an 11 year old with a good heart, I once decided to pull down a big "mean vine" that was trying to take over a pear tree in our yard. Turns out it really was the meanest.... poison ivy! So I feel for you! I was covered head to toe. Today, still very sensitive, but I use Zanfel with great success (find it at any drugstore/big box store). Washes off the reactive urishiol providing great itch relief & heals up in 3 easy days rather than 3+ agonzing crazy-itching weeks.
My friend and I made a lovely wreath out of the vines harvested in fall/winter. I have heard that some people make jelly with the blooms. This video was SO informative and interesting! Thanks!
Melissa at "Pic n Vine" in Copperhill, TN has EVERYTHING Kudzu. She is the expert on WHAT it can do! th-cam.com/video/Z2XRsSojBXE/w-d-xo.html
I love the honesty! Hailey’s comment that it tastes “dank” was pretty great. We have it here on Maui but it seems relatively under control and isolated to certain areas.
Hah. Thanks for chiming in Wade. Great to see you in the comments.
While I was there I seen the wild black goats consuming it
in the 50's, the Boy Scouts planted kudzu along ditch banks for service projects. To me, the stems were like eating fuzzy, raw beans. And the flowers smell like grape soda. Love the smell!
Us italian americans and Our brothers in italy use grape leaves to cover meat and fish on the grill or cooking meat to keep the juices in. Try soaking the leaves and marinating the meat and rubbing it with herbs then covering it with the leaf in indirect heat. I love using this method. it keeps meat really tender.
The best thing to do with kudzu is to graze it. If you really want to be rid of it then graze it with pigs. They will eat the tubers as well as the leaves.
I have been around Kudzu most of my life and I would not freely walk through it because rattlesnakes and copperheads love living under those vines in the heat of the summer sun. I think in due time, someone will get a nasty bite and a trip to the ER.
I can second that thought. I've never seen a patch of Kudzu larger than an acre that didn't have at least a copperhead, if not a rattler. That's why you always let your hogs go through a fenced in kudzu field first before you let the cows, goats and sheep in there.
Don’t forget the banana spiders lurking
@@HauntedCandlerAcres There are no banana spiders in the Carolinas, but there are black widows. Which are extremely poisonous. If they inject a large amount of venom, you will get very ill even with prompt medical treatment. I don't know if they inhabit Kudzu fields, but they do prefer dark secluded spaces. Such as; water meter boxes, under rocks, bricks or the underside of trash cans. Sometimes they will even enter homes, under cabinets and behind large appliances. I go out of my way to kill any I see and every spring I do "spring cleaning" of them on my property. Normally I leave spiders alone. If you think about it, everything that arachnid eat, you want it to eat them! Same policy with non-venomous snakes. Around here, especially the black snake. It eats rodents and other snakes. In short, country people know better than to go romping through vegetation so tall that you can't see your feet, you're likely to get bit by something a lot worse than a flea or chigger, even tick carry bad diseases and fleas are vectors for worms.
The fibers could be useful in papermaking; or if the plants are cut off at ground level, mechanically chopped and composed, they might make a good soil amendment.
I always thought that kudzu, by itself, was not nutritionally dense, but that perhaps it could be hybridized with some OTHER plant that is nutritious to create a fast-growing edible crop. Note: I am NOT a biologist or botanist, just a reader (and nowadays watcher of TH-cam!).
Goats, sheep and cows thrive on the stuff.
Making wreaths for Christmas has been my best conversion of this pest. Sheep and goat food otherwise.
Love it.
Do the live stock eat it or only when there is nothing else ...
I used to play in that stuff when I was a kid we made swings out of it and we would swing as far as we could out into the kudsu. It had a taller canopy and it was like a another world in there dear loved it inside there. It grows everywhere in South Carolina. I was born and raised there but I've lived in Arizona for the past 30 years.
Watch out for rattlers, they hang out under that stuff.
So do other creatures
I went to the workshop of one of the last remaining kudzu weavers in Japan. The stems are gathered in the blazing summer heat, then steamed. The fibers produced are very tough but have a beautiful, lustrous sheen that was astonishing, and they dye beautifully. The cloth is used for mats, cushion covers, wallets, anything that needs a durable cover or needs to stand up to wear and tear. It’s too bad that nobody in the US knows how to do it.
Fantastic. I'd love to learn more about that! I'd happily make another video if I could actually figure out how to do some of these things. Seems like it's more of an industrial process (so to speak) than a home crafting thing though.
So when I grow my bitter greens, I like to pressure cook them (instant pot, ftw) with aromatics and a bit of ham, bacon, or sausage. Would that work to get past the toughness of the kudzu? If they are as tough as they looked in your video, maybe a 30-minute pressure cycle?
Exactly, just what I was thinking. I have been learning to eat the weeds in my yard. Just like commercial greens, they require some skill in preparing. I mean, mustard greens and kale aren't the greatest either unless you cook them up with vinegar or garlic and lemon and maybe some soy sauce.
Even the bitter dandelion greens from Fall are great if you are willing to soak them in warm water (after chopping) for about 20 minutes before cooking.
The fuzz on the shoots would completely disappear after steaming for 5 minutes.
I don't think they were fair with their claim of it being "awful" to eat.
@@pheresy1367 you 2 are spot on. I was actually hoping it was going to be an actual simi hard core attempt to do something full fledged, it turned out to be more entertainment than anything. Many people think the world is going to shit, so when I watch videos about wild edibles im actually expecting to learn something useful. Unfortunately the comments are so much more helpful than the video itself. I live in the DC/MD area and I think I have seen this plant everywhere. I will definitely be foraging for it soon.
@@TriggaTreDay :)
I always wanted to try kudzu but around here in FL we only have air potatoes, they grow as bad as kudzu but all of that plant is toxic. At least people and animals can eat kudzu.
Jump around in kudzu....
When I was a kid in the early 80s and visiting family in N. Georgia there was some property down the road that was covered in kudzu and fallen timber. The owner had hired some men with heavy equipment to clear the timber so he could use the field for cattle grazing. These were local country-types and they all quit one day. They said they had been seeing rattlesnakes and gotten wary but then they saw one that was so big it scared them too much. I stayed away from kudzu covered fields after that.
He already PROOVED that Kudzu is quite in-edible...but of course, a LEFTIST, wouldn't have heard that part.
@@catzdollz9810 Kudzu is edible, he just does not think it is palatable. In resource poor Japan it was eaten more in the past. You seem a bit deranged.
time to burn the field
Chinese Cinnamon Vine is not toxic, and it has air potatoes too. Make sure of what you've got.
With some bitter foods it's good to boil for a while and dump the water a couple times before eating in order to make it more palatable
I really enjoy your productions. Including the family is a very nice touch. We learn as the family learns. As far as Kudzu is concerned, from the comments I’ve read, I see absolutely no redeeming qualities. I have no desire to romp around in a potential snake haven. Thanks, anyhow. I think I’ll pass even if it made the best salad known to humankind.
I just discovered your channel today and subscribed. I am enjoying your work including the stuff about pokeweed, milkweed, etc.
I'm surprised that you did not mention kudzu can be used to make an insect repellent.
You soak the leaves in a bucket until it turns brown, you strain it, you put it in a spray bottle, and spray it on plants that you want bugs to stay away from.
I was surprised to learn that there is such a thing as a kudzu bug, because it's my understanding that most bugs won't go near it. That's why the homeless people sometimes sleep in it at night, but because it grows four feet overnight, they often wake up tangled in it.
Be very careful when roadside harvesting. Can absorb lots of pollution. I would test for heavy metals first.
Stuff is almost invincible. Really.
Thank you for this info, I wouldn't have thought of that. Who knows, with all the pollution from the cars passing by, how much the kudzu is affected or how much it absorbs.
Perfect for camouflage
@@ducksndogshomesteaddoggroo2706 Are you talking about Co1 emissions? xD If anything automobiles aid in the growth of all plants . . . Now lead refinery's might make for a bad time . . . But not car's and all the car's siblings . . . >.>' ***What elements make up gasoline?
First, it is made up almost entirely of hydrocarbons, which are molecules made up of carbon and hydrogen. (Some of the compounds present in gasoline also contain small amounts of other elements, including sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, and some trace metals.)*** Sulfur sounds scary but it is part of the NPKS system of soil analysis in horticulture, "Trace metals" is very vague for that we must remember that potassium and sodium are both metals, and quite dire for the human body, both of these metals aid in muscle growth/development/ and function. . . You would have a hard time moving without salt and potassium . . . And yes, calcium + carbon '
@@Llama_Dhali_G High levels of lead from gasoline emitted through the exhaust of cars during the 20th century is still found all along roadsides to this day.
Great video!
My suggestions would be to cook the leaves like spinach in soups or whatever. Thoroughly cooked works for all fibrous greens.
Secondly one way of processing the roots would be to cut them up, soak them in water for 24-48h. and then filter the pieces out and let the liquid settle for 24h. Then decant the water, the starches and polysaccharides should have settled on the bottom. This is in part what the store bought powder is.
Would also try roasting the roots, grinding up and making a 'Tea'/'coffee' with them.
I think the flowers would make great beers in place of hops.
And I would come in fall and gather the seed pods. Dry the seeds and use them as 'beans' or 'peas'
There is some fermentations i would also try with the root, leaves and seed pods, but they are a bit more complicated.
Yes, I too eat kudzu greens in the spring, they are a little chewy but otherwise I like them more than spinach or kale.
use like hops ?? not surprising, they are in the hops family
Thank You for the fantastic amount of ways that we can use this, I'd like to try and brew with them, flowers and other parts of the plant?!
Andrea and Critter Family. 💜XxX
@@AndreaDingbatt I think bitter herbs always work well with beers and alcohols. One could also create a bitter 'snaps' from the flowers. :)
Is that schnapps?
Have tons of the stuff on the 35 acres that we bought in Alabama. My daughter made Kudzu tea out of some of the flowers and it was a really pretty blue and then she added honey and it turned purple. It was very earthy but okay. We tried to harvest some young leaves to make a salad but I think she chickened out. I wanna try to harvest some young leaves myself and maybe make some greens. I’m going to take your advice and get some of those shooters and take the hair cover off.
The flowers are lovely, but I’m always having to pull them off of some of my other flowering bushes. they get really weighty and climb up my driveway marker poles and pull them down! It’s like a kudzu carpet on the whole entire front of our property and down the road where the cliff comes down. I’m going to fence in and compartmentalize areas and rotate some goats to help keep it under control a little bit better.
Try to cook the leaves like collards Im going to try
Wow, , what an amazing channel. I don't know how i found you but i absolutely love your content and style. Definitely a new sub. 👍👍👍😊
I was surprised that no one mentioned how horrible kudzu bugs smell. The size of a lady bug but smell like stink bugs on steroids. They are plentiful, fly and get into everything. Way worse than the plant, in my opinion.
Because this is such a vigourous plant, I'd recommend any tobacco or cotton farmer looking to remediate their land naturally might consider looking into harvesting the young shoots and to make what's called FPJ in Korean Natural Farming. A thing to experiment with without relying on petrochemicals as fertilyzers
If you have a cow or a few the dry dung can be used as fuel for the fireplace to keep warm. In the USA we have been so spoiled that it is scary at the level we have been dumbed down to not use our heads.
this old lady down the road from my house used to make jelly from the blossoms, i was little and can’t remember if it was good, but i remember it smelled good
I never heard the name or noticed it on my own. There is interesting stories in every part of the ecosystem around us. Really enjoy seeing another of your videos.
Kudzu was taking over places in fields in Virginia where power lines are located. They began spraying it and it is now hard to even find in my area.
Makes sense. It's relatively easy to manage if you put a bit of effort into it.
I'd rather deal with the kudzu then the effects of poisonous chemicals.
My wife ,4 kids and myself live off grid in south eastern US, we have kudzu coming onto our property from a neighboring lot, we have goats so we are thankful for all the free sustainable feed, however, we eat it all the time, we cook it with Indian spices,salt and we make a Flatbread and make a taco/burrito, with homemade pico, kinda fusion dish and we all really like it. I actually have some pics from the other day because alot of folks , I believe, think we are just crazy people that live in the woods. Never the less , it's very edible, and it really cleans you out but in a good way, not a taco bell type clean out, but very solid and healthy ,without being too descriptive. Usually we just take alot of leaves and chop them down small, then fry in butter and olive oil with Indian spices. Add the spices first to activate. We chop up an onion and add then finely chop the Kudzu and cook till its like collards. It's the "meat" of the "taco" then we make the pico from jalapeños, tomatoes, cilantro, and onions from our garden. Sour cream and some split hard boiled eggs from our chickens. Sometimes we add lambs quarters to the kudzu onion mix, but I don't think it changes the taste so much as just add more vitamins. Hope this helps someone, remember look closely while you pick, make sure the stems are hairy, poison ivy grows right with it and looks the same, but does not ever have hairy stems. Poison Ivy also makes a really crappy taco.
Do you have a TH-cam video? I'd like to see how you make this.
And what spices you use.
I really enjoyed this video. You & your lovely fam take the viewer along to try alternative methods to use the plant. And you can tell yall enjoy making these videos! Such a wonderful way to bond with your family- in nature & in kitchen. I know my family does 🌱🍄🥰🍽. Thank you for the very informative videos!
Ah. Thanks for that kind comment.
Wonder if this would make a good textile, especially after being 'juiced'.
It is used for that! Great thought. It's used in Japan for special outfits...
Recipe: Kudzu Decoction: 60 grams dried kudzu Root, chopped, 3cups water. Combine the water and kudzu Root and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and cover tightly letting the kudzu steep for another 30 minutes. The decoction will be thick. Take 1/3 cup of the decoction, three times a day. Store the remaining decoction in the refrigerator for up to three days. Sorry for posting three times on your channel 🥴
This is a great video.
I have tried mulberry leaves and grape leaves, found both of them to be tough and nasty, no matter how I cooked them.
Drying them changed their properties considerably, making them sweeter and breaking down the fibers.
Still not sure it's worthwhile.
Young vine leaves, no? I've had them in Lebanese cooking, stuffed vine leaves, and they were delicious.
its root sould be dried & grinded for consumption in soup or tea as a starch. nice honest video.
All I can think seeing her dive in the kudzu is how many spiders you landed on. 😳
I wonder if you could ferment the starch from the roots and distill it into vodka, or E-85
My family stayed at Camp Wilderness about 22 years ago ( a Disney World campground in FL) and they had daily crews devoted to driving around and clearing mountains of the kudzu from the trees & grounds. Must've cost a fortune in people-power to keep it in check. It was so disheartening to watch the struggle as it was taking over large swaths of the park.
I heard that kudzu has berries and some folks sell jam made from the berries.
Went to a pow wow and there was a lady there selling kudzu honey it was a beautiful shade of lavender. She also made paper from the kudzu and sold artwork made from this paper.
I have seen it can be processed with heavier processing equipment to make both alcohol and paper. You should look into industrial processes that can be used or is being used to convert it into paper, cloth and alcohol (as alcohol the ethyl variety can be converted into bio sourced polyethylene and this plastic is the easiest to thermally decompose into pure crude oil with no contamination, which the contamination is what is apparently on scale the most damaging to our environment, so if we use pure clean crude with no sulfides, lead, mercury compounds or fluorine trapped in it, and use Thunderf00t's process of sodium based boosting, we could theoretically lower the earths temp instead of raising it. every year we switched even to 10% of the world energy coming from it, lol) I have been looking at combining it and bamboo another good fast growing plant to make woven skeletons for buildings that can then later be covered with say a skin of clear plastic for green houses and with thicker structural bundles make multi floor buildings to live and work inside, BUT I was under no delusion that it would be as simple as taking it and using it like twine I made of it in the field by hand, that it was going to take tooling and possibly some simple chemicals made through electrolysis (like hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide from salt in water in a two tank filter bridged chloro-alki cell, running on solar power or wind power, for just one pair of compounds, magnesium and sulfuric acid from magnesium sulfate or epsom salt both of which I have ran splitters and made for testing the viability (the magnesium was just plating a steel vessel to make it useful for the sodium hydroxide collection, :) )
You can make jelly with the tea from kudzu... it taste like grape jelly with a hint of floral flavor ... and it's medicinal in lots of ways ❤
I made jelly from blossoms. Also if picked young leaves and fried them added a little salt and they tasted like potatoe chips
For the crafty person among us, which may already know this. Get you young'uns to go out, swing on the vines till they pull them down, green of course. Pull the leaves, but leave the new growth that has the pig tail on the end. NOW! Roll them up in wheels, decorate them with flowers, ribbons, and the like. Looks just like the grapevine wreaths you buy for Hi-$$$$s. The lady that use to cut my hair when it was long back in the 70s. She was crafty! She had bought a small grapevine wreath, to decorate and sell in the beauty shop. When I saw it! I told her about the kudzu growing in the trees around my place looked just like the grapevine. So off we went to pull kudzu! Most of her wreaths sold $25 and up. the smaller ones were $12 to $15. Sorry, if I've blown some folks cover.
You can make jelly out of the flowers that's the best
I've had Amish kudzu jelly which is made from the flowers and its VERY good. My son and I enjoy kudzu tea from the leaves. Take those same leaves and dice them up and stir fry them until they get crispy and they are good in Ramen.
also my dad wove a dang treehouse out of it like a crazy tree basket with little windows and stuff. way cool
The old growth vines are good for basket weaving.
I've not read it but did you know William Shurtleff has a book about it - The Book of Kudzu. His books on Tempeh and tofu are incredible.
It says 70 to recipes on the cover!
I am just making this up. but maybe you could take the Kudzu root wash it and shred it and ferment it into a beer. Thought this would work as the roots have a bitter flavor. Sounds kind of like hops.
I've seen kudzu survive being bushhogged then having lime tilled into the soil.
Fear it! it has completely taken over my childhood village and is not slowing down!
My father who grew up in rural Alabama said during droughts kudzu one of the few green foliage left, during droughts you can't keep the cows out of it. My father said if a milk cow gets into it the milk will taste weird to the point most people want drink the milk or eat the cheese, so to keep a cow alive it's better than nothing but it will change the flavor of the meat and dairy products.
the flowers make great jam. the leaves and shoot cheap, easy feed for cattle and other livestock. the tubers you dig up if you feel like putting your back out.
I got these growing all over my back yard, I use it for composting
I lived all points around Fort Gordon in Georgia. Kudzu covered EVERYTHING!!! Rattlesnakes love it.
"The New Wild" by Fred Pierce is worth a read. It talks about. The history of kudzu amongst his many points about reframing the concept of invasive plants and animals, conservation, and climate/ecosystems.
Basically, we shouldn't just label a new species as invasive, as there may be benefits it gives, (though there are some really bad ones we need to get rid of), and some of the invasives are part of our own planning, for better or worse, some invasives seem to be helping restore other natural species, and quite frankly, conservationist efforts tend to be subjective in what is natural or invasive, and it's not related to what ecologists might find important.
Also, for those that might think this book as anti-environmental propaganda, his list of sources and citations is pages upon pages upon pages .....
My property is covered in Kudzu. Yes you can control it but it is hard to kill. You have to keep the foliage off from the plant for more than 5 years for the root to die and yes (Rickers Homestead ) is correct; it is a place snakes like to hide as well as many insects.
I read a book that talked about making kudzu chips. I have no idea if it is good, but I've always been curious if they are good. Loving your videos!!! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge
That would be interesting!
Yo, it's so weird being an over the road truck driver and recognizing exactly where you are! You filmed some of those time lapses by a Walmart in Charlotte, North Carolina or by tip of my tongue starts with a g in South carolina? Either way, I've been there before!
My domestic rabbits love the kudzu and its very healthy for them.
My wife was able to get off her blood pressure medication and the tea greatly helped my adult daughter ease her migraines. Etc
Dude thats not kudzo. Its poison ivy.
Not really.
I worked building power lines and we had a new guy that said he was highly sensitive to poison ivy.
I drove up to his crew one day to find them all sitting in the shade in a short mowed ditch. The whole project was near a lake and some thru a swamp.
They were all sitting in very short mowed grass and poison ivy.
I said, "Man you are sitting in poison ivy."
He said, "No im not. I know exactly what poison ivy looks like."
Then he said, "See?", as he picked a plant next to him and rubbed it all over his face.
Never saw him again after that day.
The kudzu roots/tubers are sometimes sold in Asian grocery stores. They chop it up fine and boil it in soup. It’s a good prebiotic, good for immune system.
Could it be fermented or turned into biofuel?
Kudzu, is retted propperly, can also make excellent fabric ranging from durable canvas to ramie-like linens
In the south... walking around in a giant salad where lots of critters are going to live...
This is how you find snakes
Hey, you two did the New York State Hunter Safe program, I took a couple years ago. Cool, subbed.
Makes beautiful baskets and wreaths
I have heard that the vines make great wreathes.
The end of the shoot is where you'll pick your salad leaves. Do not try and eat the bigger leaves in salads. Wash and soak your young leaves and end shoots in cold water with some salt added. Soak for half hour or more. Drain, spin in a salad spinner. Eat raw.
If you do not like the fuzz, dip in boiling water followed by cold water (blanch). Spin in salad spinner and eat as a salad.
Best way that I make kudzu is to cook the vine tips only and smaller leaves picked from the end of vines using an instapot or pressure cooker. Put some garlic, onions, ham hocks or jowls in for flavor. I let my instapot pressure cook on high for 25 minutes and slow release for 10. They shrink down so it takes a grocery bag full of young leaves and ends to make a meal.
Salad spinner?
@@rangedsparrow8010 Google it. It is a bowl that you spin so it dries out your leaves some.
Kudzu is here in Missouri and I would never go into a kudzu patch because the snakes are in there!