working from home distractions #384

Are tulip tree flower buds edible?

(Went out to check the mail; picked up some branches that had fallen in today's strong wind; found one with a pretty unopened flower bud...)

With a few of the petals pulled open:


I didn't find any indication that they are edible, but supposedly they have a sweet nectar that is edible. So I nibbled on one petal, and one of the stamens inside. It has a slightly bitter spicy peppery taste, sort of like allspice.

This video talks about the nectar, but I've never noticed nectar dripping from my tree. Nor did I find any nectar in the couple of blossoms I checked today, although it was raining earlier. Most of the open blossoms look sort of decayed/unpleasant inside, or with bugs on them, so I wouldn't want to taste them. Even a recently opened clean-looking one had tiny bugs inside when I looked closer.

Watch on YouTube

Video title: Edible Plants:Tulip Tree
Posted by: Blanche Cybele Derby
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FyCUNBzxLI
Date posted: Dec 15, 2011


The person speaking in that video has a voice and accent very like my step-mom's (who is also from Massachusetts).

My grandmother who was also from Massachusetts had a different accent, maybe because she lived in California for a long time.

sea buckthorn, Sanddorn

(distraction #...)

I've been curious what sea buckthorn tastes like, ever since I learned of it and saw the photos of its orange berries.

Sometime back, I bought a bar of Nordi Sea Buckthorn & Salty Caramel Dark Chocolate. Tasting it today, it reminds me of a flavor that is common in Germany. So I looked up the translation of "sea buckthorn" into German... Oh, so sea buckthorn is Sanddorn! So I knew what it tasted like all along, I just didn't know that I knew!

It's not one of my favorite flavors, admittedly, but in.. whatchmacallums, it was always pretty good. Gosh darn it, now I'm trying to remember what those whatchamacullums are called...

Fruchtschnitte! (ie,. "fruit slices"; I thought they had a more memorable name than that. They are a snack made of sweetened dried fruit and nut filling (various different flavors) pressed between a top & bottom layer of wafers.