Considering that it takes so much less time to cook lily scales compared to potatoes of the same size, I wonder if you baked them less, they wouldn't get mealy? On second thought, that probably wouldn't work. There are mealy varieties of potatoes and creamy types, and the texture doesn't change with cooking. So I would think it wouldn't work with lilies either.

So this brings another tentative observation about lily bulbs: there are smooth textured ones and (apparently) mealy textured ones. I've only tried straight species, and not encountered any mealiness, so far. William, you will need to keep this in mind as you test other varieties. I noted from a previous post that you had tried a dwarf asiatic. There was no remark regarding mealiness. Do you still remember anything to comment further?

I eat the unopened flower pods of the orange daylillys in my yard, they taste like asparagus. They are sometimes called the poor man's asparagus.

Thanks for commenting on their taste, GoatDriver! Of course, those are DAYlilies (Hemerocallis species), not true lilies (Lilium species). And just to keep the confusion to a minimum, those are daylily buds (unopened flowers), not pods (spent flowers that are producing seed). Some Lilium buds are eaten, too, but not nearly as often. Daylilies produce several times more (and bigger) buds than true lilies. It would be far more economical to eat them.

Excellent pics as your usual, Goat! Looks tasty I've always wanted to try daylily buds, but then I get confused if all of them are eatable or just some and then I chicken out

Rick, no I didn't notice any mealiness as such with with the dwarf hybrid, bud I didn't cook it that long. I kept the scales a bit crunchy, so any mealiness would have gone mostly unnoticed. There was however a bit of a raw bean taste to them and that is something I associate with high starch content so its possible that they would have been a bit mealy if cooked longer.

I speculate that the mealiness disappear more and more as the season progresses and the starch content in the lily bulb becomes sugar as I never noticed any sweet taste on my crop and I have harvested early both times, before any real cold. Also the soil the dwarf hybrid was growing in was a bit richer, Netty's Pride in contrast was grown in more native sandy soil. Last year was super wet and rainy, this year was very dry. It seems likely different growing condition could affect taste and mealiness, similar as it does with potatoes. Dry sandy soils gives mealier potatoes than wet clay soils. This year I also fertilized my lilies with lower N number and higher K and this could perhaps also make a difference. On top of that we also as you suggest have possible differences between various hybrids and species. Lots of things to factor in!

I would love to try daylily buds. Alas, all mine are expensive garden plants and we don't have a problem of feral ones here. I have seen some island yards here with cheap daylilies though. I wonder how they would take being asked to eat their plants.

I knew I read a recipe for aluminum foil baked lily scales somewhere, but was unable to find it... but of course the link was posted in this very thread
Thank you Della for posting it and here it is again: http://myyearinjapan.wordpress...
According to that I really overcooked mine as 10-15 minutes should be enough But hey, I liked them like that, almost falling apart so an happy accident, however I promise to try them the correct way as well.


From one thing to another - has anyone tried eating any of the LA-hybrids? At least L. longiflorum is listed as edible in PFAF: http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant... and the bulbs do look tasty.

Looking at that "Japanese" link, it occurred to me that somethings didn't look right on the pic of the unprepared lily bulb to be eaten. The cut off stem seems quite solid and tight against the scales, it had very marked delineations in the cross section and there was no visible new growing point on the bulb itself. This bulb was harvested while the stem was still very green in the first half of the summer.

Since this bulb was sold in Japan where one would expect traditional versus non-traditional sales, perhaps timing of harvest isn't so important?

Well, I tried baking more scales of 'Netty's Pride' and even with less cooking time they definitely are mealy, but for me they tasted better with longer cooking. I did notice a very slight bitterness from the very center of the bulbs today, where the new shoots are forming. Not unpleasant at all and I still couldn't detect any bitterness in the outer scales.

That's interesting about the slight bitterness, because I think it is contrary to every other vegetable where you are not eating athe fruit or other kind of seed or seed receptacle. Usually it is the younger material that is sweeter and less bitter.

Rick, I have never tasted fresh lily shoots/stems, perhaps they will also have a slight bitterness to them...

The following recipe for Composed Lily Bulb Salad however calls for "Lily stems, sliced into a fine chiffonade", so perhaps something to try for next spring, just in case one doesn't have time to eat every surplus bulb this autumn/winter : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victor...

It seems chef Ken Oringer does a lot of Asian inspired food, so I thought his use of lily stems along with the bulb perhaps could interest, as although I don't know for sure, a lot suggests these bulbs were harvested early in the season. The recipe apparently appeared in an episode from Saturday, June 10, 2006. One line in the description reads: "Edible Gardens: Flowers you can eat?"

I found this regarding sugar levels in lily bulbs:

"Once the temperature during bulb cultivation drops below 10°C, the production of sugars commences and continues after the bulbs are lifted. Once the peak sugar level is reached, the bulbs are ready to be frozen in. Lily bulbs produced in the Netherlands usually reach their peak sugar level during the second half of January. The higher the sugar level, the longer the bulbs can be stored and the lower the temperature at which they can be frozen in. Since the Asiatic hybrids produce bulbs with the highest peak sugar level, they can be stored the longest and frozen in at the lowest temperature." http://www.vanderzonexportbv.n...

So I think this pretty much confirms that time of harvest impacts the taste of lily bulbs quite a lot. Later harvested bulbs will taste sweeter.

It's been a fantastic run of lily-eating posts lately.

Later harvested bulbs will taste sweeter.

Yes, but then the question becomes : Later than when? Assuming the Dutch data is correct, the clock begins at about 10°C(50°F) sustained temperature. When does that happen?

It would be the bulb in the ground temperature that counts, not the air temperature above. Soil temperature at depth where a bulb resides doesn't vary so quickly. I'm sure the relationship between factors like soil type, moisture, climate, geographic latitude, etc., is important. I checked this morning and here in zone 4 Minnesota:

At 6 inches down it was 59-60°F (different places in the yard)
At 3 inches down it was 52-57 °F
Air temp: 48°F

Soil temperature is a relatively new area of study for me. Do these temps seem right to you, Lorn?

So if all this data is accurate enough, harvesting a bulb Sept 1 or today, Oct 6, would make no difference. The trick is exposing the bulb to that "magic" temperature range.

10°C(50°F) soil temperature is the same temperature that is used as a starting point for when planting tulips as they can develop diseases if planted in too warm soil. The simplest would be to just check local recommendations for tulip plantings. In the Netherlands I believe they start the commercial tulip planting season at around the beginning of December. In my area it would normally be the end of October/ beginning of November.

I ate the last of my 'Netty's Pride' bulbs today. They were sweeter tasting and I also believe a little less mealy after being stored in the refrigerator even for this relatively short time. It appears to me that even though these were prematurely harvested, the process of sugar production still got triggered, even in the refrigerator. Of course this is all very subjectively so take it for what it is .

They were still very good, but sweeter isn't necessarily better for me in this instance as I basically have been eating them instead of potatoes. If they became much sweeter, I'd probably want a little less of them on the plate.

In my garden, a young little lily came up "by itself" where I don't remember planting one. Who knows what it was, so left it. (Well, I had my suspicions, since it had bulbils.) Now, a couple years later, it put out its first bloom, and I know: Lilium lancifolium 'Flore Pleno'. I certainly wouldn't want this typhoid mary circulating in my main lily garden, so I carefully dug it out, making sure I got every piece removed.
Incidentally, this is back on Aug 7, and I'm just now telling the story.


The bulb was small and white, as one would expect from this species, and nice and tight.... perfect for easy cleaning and eating.


Thinking about how to eat it, it seemed silly to just cook one little bulb in a conventional manner, and it's too hot out to make soup. So I decided to expand my testing in the microwave.

Not that anyone would remember, but earlier in this thread, I mentioned that microwaved "popped" lily bulbs looked great, but always tasted burnt. So I did something... for two days before cooking, in hopes of a remedy. Nope, not saying what I did. Rather than influencing your own thoughts on the subject, I want anyone who might be willing to do their own testing to think with a fresh and free mind. Rather than trying to think "outside the box", I want there to be no box at all!

The unfortunate thing about this endeavor is that I only have one bulb to work with at the moment, and I can't duplicate and verify results. As I watched it cook and tried to determine when it was "done", well, it already looked overdone. My anticipation drained, as the appearance was not so appetizing. But still, I lifted a few middle scales (they separated easily) and put them to the taste test.

Surprise !! They tasted good! So now the bulb is worthy of a photo shoot - despite it missing a few scales.


This one tasted as close to potato as any lily I have had. It was not any more sweet than a regular white potato. Yay! (I really don't care that much for sweet potatoes.) Is this normal? I have yet to actually eat a regular lancifolium bulb to compare. I don't grow L. lancifolium (hort.) because they are virus carriers, so I don't have a ready source of lancifolium bulbs to test. Maybe the "something" I did to it prior to cooking has something to do with the taste. Dunno.

I do have some supposed diploid plants of L. lancifolium from back when there was a Species Lily Preservation Group (SLPG), but they must be all the same clone as crossing them produces no seed. I had hoped when I ordered them, that they would be direct seedlings, but they must be from bulbils. But I have other lily friends here in Minnesota that had ordered the same, and perhaps an exchange of pollen is in the future, now that I have a reason.

Further technical observations of the one cooked bulb:
-- the flesh was very light and fluffy, as usual when cooked in this manner.
-- the bottom three small scales did taste burnt
-- though there was no crust as crisp as with a French fry, I was reminded of them. Because the inside was so incredibly light, the outer light crust was easily detected, and was very pleasant.

Rick, I wonder if this the first time you tasted a lily bulb in summer? I suspect it is too early in the season for your Lilium lancifolium 'Flore Pleno' to have a pronounced sweet taste. The sugar content should rise as temperatures drop later on.

I do like the look of your microwaved "popped" lily bulb very much. Due to poor Botrytis resistance I removed 'Netty's Pride' which was the one I used to cook with and I haven't felt brave enough to try any new cultivars in the kitchen. Sure miss cooking with lilies as I like the idea of eating surplus bulbs.

It is the first taste this season, and I wonder about that, too. I think you are right though, that probably any lily would be less sweet in the summer versus late fall or winter. Earlier in this thread, we discussed this a little, and it seems that when most of us dig our lilies, that supposed temperature (about 50°F(10°C)) when sugars are produced wouldn't be happening in the soil yet. https://garden.org/thread/view...
I have a feeling though, that that temperature is a mere guesstimate.

Also wondering if my pretreatment had any effect.

Curious to what the pretreatment was.

Is there a difference in taste or texture with diploid and tetraploids?