For part of my story, the main character will be living in an area that's infested with Kudzu. To manage the overgrowth, the town around her has resorted to eating it. Now, I know it's possible to eat "The vine that ate the South" but I'm having trouble finding just what sorts of foods you can turn Kudzu into. My research so far has yielded "Japanese sweets" and "fried kudzu leaves" but I want to know if it can be made into things like bread and pasta, seeing how it's a starch. Basically, I want to try and turn it into these people's main food source. Maybe someone who lives in a Kudzu-infested area can help me?
I know it can be dehydrated and finely crushed to make bread, and that the flowers can be used to make jelly. I found this Kudzu cookbook searching on-line, I didn't look though it, but maybe you can have a look for yourself. The Book of Kudzu: A Culinary & Healing Guide
the book was okay, but most of the recipes were japanese. I'm looking for foods that could be found in the american south.
Can it be used as a collard greens analogue? That's the only 'southern' thing I can think of that it would seem to lend itself too. It can be turned into starch, but it's not a bulky starch like from wheat or from tubers, but more like corn starch.
Come on dudette: LMGTFU http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/food/articles/2007/03/20/20070320cookingkudzu0320.html Cool stuff, looks like great fodder for a novelist.
Apropo to nothing, they also make the shittiest looking baskets. http://www.nancybasket.com/kbaskets.htm
Like the old fashioned arrowroot, It can be used to thicken anything when added to cooking, sweet or savoury dishes. I have never heard of it being used to make bread with though
