Be certain that you are eating true edible daylily plants

It’s summer and time to hit the road. You see them blooming effortlessly along country roads, in ditches and on old farms. The ubiquitous orange daylily or “roadside rambler” is tolerant of drought and poor soil, smothers weeds, and seems to need no care at all. Sometimes mistakenly called tiger lily, there is an unrelated true lily by that name.

Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva), native to Asia, came to North America as an ornamental but escaped to naturalize along roadsides, fields and ditches. The familiar tawny orange daylily pops up from long, sword-like leaves. The daylily is not related to true lilies (lilium species) even though they look similar. True lilies have short, spiky leaves along their flower stalks while daylilies bloom on bare flower stalks.

The best part of daylilies is that they give us four distinct edible harvests: new shoots in early spring, the unopened flower buds in summer, the flowers themselves, and finally the small tubers on the roots that look for all the world like fingerling potatoes.

Cut the new shoots in early spring when they are less than eight inches tall. Chopped up, they are delicious steamed or in stir fries. You can even put hem into pasta sauces. Just be sure you are harvesting true daylilies, and not the similar-looking iris.

Cut as many new shoots as you want; daylilies are notoriously resilient and will easily grow back. Once summer arrives, the plants shoot up flower stalks with thick green buds. These can be picked and used much like green beans. Steam them or boil them, and serve with butter or cheese sauce. Some gardeners even pickle them. The buds taste almost like radishes but with their own distinctive flavor. Traditional Chinese medicine says the daylily buds help alleviate insomnia.

Once the buds open you can harvest the flowers and use them much the way you use squash blossoms. Fry them in olive oil with onions, steam them or stir fry them. Batter them and fry them up as sweet fritters. Stuff them with cream cheese for a colorful appetizer or just use them for edible decorations on any serving dish. You can dry the blossoms to use in soups throughout year. Remember that daylilies are named because they only last one day so pick the flowers early in the morning before they fade. Many find the flowers themselves rather bland, but they do add color to dishes. The daylily flowers are sold in Asian markets as golden needles and are featured in dishes such as sweet and sour soup and moo shu pork.

Finally, in late fall you can dig up the roots. These are a bundle of vine-like underground stems with small tubers attached. If you dig up the tubers in summer they may be thin and mushy as all their stored energy is used as food for the blossoming plants. The tubers are at their best from late autumn until early spring. You don’t have to peel the tubers; simply wash them and use any way you cook fingerling potatoes. They cook up rather quickly, so keep an eye on them. Some say the taste is similar to jicama; others find them decidedly potato flavored. Try them boiled and served with butter.

You can replant any unused tubers and regenerate your daylily patch.

Like any food, some people have a bad reaction to daylilies, so try a few at first to see how your own system handles them. And always be 100 percent certain that you are eating true edible daylily plants rather than inedible look-alikes. Check with an expert if you are unsure.

Find some wild daylilies and pick the buds and flowers, tubers and shoots. What you leave behind will form carefree colonies of orange flowers. No wonder the buds are used to make Jai or Buddha’s Delight, the vegetable stew served on Chinese New Year. With four free foods from a beautiful flowering plant, your luck has just begun.