Cattail Hearts

Cattail – Typha Sp. - is an underused source of food that grows abundantly all across North America. The shoots, the hearts of the stalks, young flower and roots can all be used and harvested at different times of the year. The are easy to identify with their singular thick and brown flower that sticks striaght up.  Our Cattail hearts are preserved in a light lemon marinade that preserves their mild and fresh flavour. They are supple and delicate and best used where other ingredients highlight them. They are similar to hearts of palm, but are smaller, more tender, and a lot tastier. The Cattail hearts can be eaten straight out of the jar, as an appetizer, or in a salad. Dab them with birch syrup, put them on a skewer to barbecue with leeks and tomatoes, or try them them in a curry soup, or bundled in a roll of toasted ham and cheese. Our Cattail hearts are foraged from marshes, wetlands, and shallow lakes primarily in the Laurentians. Care is taken to ensure that the water where they're harvested is clean and that they're grown in pristine conditions. They are hand-picked in the late spring by snapping the stalks off the root, then cutting and trimming them like a leek. This allows the plant to grow new shoots. Milkweed has been used as food and to build tools and shelters for thousands of years. Often confused with the cattail, the common bulrush can be used much like cattails.