Cattail Pollen

The distinctive velvet brown hotdog shapes of the cattail are hard to miss in the ponds and wetland meadows of Northern California. Considered a survival plant, in that most of the plant is edible including the green tender shoots, green flowers, and roots, the cattail offers an unexpected bounty. And for a very short window in early spring, the male flowers release a pollen that can be used as a flour substitute.

To harvest, grab a pollen coated flower and give it a sturdy shake over a container or clean brown paper bag. A handful of flowers will give you a healthy amount of pollen. Transferred to a clean jar, it will keep well for weeks. Use the pollen to replace half the amount of flour in your favorite baked good recipe. Nutritious and delicious, these biscuits are best eaten warm from the oven and drizzled in butter and honey.

Cattail Pollen Drop Biscuits

Preheat oven to 475°. Whisk together in a bowl:

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 2/3 cup cattail pollen

• 1 Tbsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

Combine in another bowl

• 2/3 cup milk

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until fully combined, but don’t over mix. It will be very thick and sticky. Use a spoon to scoop golf ball-sized dollops of batter onto a cookie sheet. Bake until bottoms are a deep golden brown, about 9 minutes. Eat hot.

---

Photo by Jim Morefield from Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons