I think that I remember hearing or reading that you can eat kudzu leaves - fried or frittered or somesuch. Now, I know about making flour from the root and making jelly from the grape-scented flowers, but I need info on the edibility and preparation of the leaves, ie step by step, don't assume that I know anything that I don't, as that last covers a lot! If it's true (and I'm sure that it is) it seems that down here in the South where kudzu is a plague upon the land, that we are overlooking a massive food source, gratis. Scads of homeless ans hungry could be fed just to keep up with the leaf that ate the south. Sorta like NY poor feasting on pidgies.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 21, 2000

Answers

Goats love it. I also asked about the food value of it. Thepeople I spoke to said it is not very paletable and requires extreme measures to make it so. Their advice: leave it for the stock. I'll try to do more research into the food value and get the data to you if I find anything.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), September 22, 2000.

Hey, neato - I just found out that kudzu root medicine has been used on the orient to treat alchoholism. Appearently you can buy the medicine in the health food stores, and (I suppose) use the ingredients listing to help formulate your own free rehab. I know that kudzu root powder is non-toxic (it's used as a thickener) so I doubt it would do any harm, unless you have problems digesting thickeners or something.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 22, 2000.

When I lived in Al. I saw a book on different ways to cook it. Grows like a weed down there. The Japanese( that's where it came from) use it for food.

-- lynne (leaves8@hotmail.com), September 22, 2000.

I heard a lady on a talk show talk about it. She has promoted it for years, but since I'm in Illinois, didn't bother to get or remember the details.

-- Darrell Schlueter (schlut@adams.net), September 22, 2000.