Not to be confused with Daylilies, Lily of the Valley, Amazon Lily, Calla lily, Rain Lilies or the plethora of other lily imposters, this is about cooking with true lilies that are members of the
Lilium genus.
I've mentioned before on this forum that I eat lily bulbs. Not exactly a popular past time with members here, as I recall. Has anyone been adventurous lately (or since then)? I think the subject deserves its own thread even though entries might be few, and Della, you have prompted me to begin one.
First, one can't just go out to any flower garden and dig lily bulbs to eat. Most importantly, how has that garden been cared for? Have any sorts of pesticides been used? Lilies are not tested as edible products. Just because you use Sevin (for instance) on some vegetables does not mean it would be safe to use that pesticide on lilies you plan to eat. With the exception of added fertilizer, lilies must be grown organically to be edible.
In our early years, we all probably began cooking in general with recipes that were adhered to fervently. Some I still do use, especially with baking. But with cooking, I pretty much have "graduated" into cooking without recipes: a pinch of this, a handful of that, let's try this in there, in my fridge I have this to use up, etc. When I first started looking into cooking with lily bulbs, I found some recipes on the web, but they seemed pretty generic, nothing special, and (I deemed) not worth copying. So I really have no recipes to share using lily bulbs.
But I can say that I have baked them with olive oil, used them in stir fries, fried them like french fries, and even made lily chips (like potato chips). Ironically, what I have not done yet is add them to soups, which is a traditional Asian use.
To me, the basic taste of a cooked lily bulb is similar to a starchy potato. It seems that where ever a potato is used, so can a lily bulb. (Someday, I want to try them mashed.)
