Fine Dining

Last year when I discovered that the day lilies running rampant in the creek are actually a delicacy and sell for four bucks a pint in New York City, it was already too late to try them here. They were done for the year. But I was determined to harvest some this year for experimentation. And to see if I would pay four dollars a pint for them. (I was pretty sure that was not going to be the case, but you never do know.)

Yesterday Cubby and I went out to the garden and pulled off some buds from the day lilies that grow along the fence line by the gully. It took me all of three minutes to gather enough for A. and I to have as a side dish at dinner. Not a pint, though. Maybe half a pint. It took another thirty seconds to rinse them off. I love that they grow high up and so don't get so filthy they require three changes of water to get clean. Like certain other foraged plants I can think of.

I sauteed them in butter for about five minutes. Although I think I maybe cooked them too long, because when I tasted one early on, when it was still crunchy, it had a certain not-unpleasant bitterness to it and a kind of green bean flavor. Once they were soft, they mostly just tasted like butter. Not that that's a bad thing, just not particularly exciting.

Verdict: I would certainly not pay the going price in New York City for them, but for something that I can pick right outside my house and have on the table in five minutes? Two thumbs up.