Test #2 - Mashed Lilium davidii
These were predominantly white, too, when first dug. With complete exposure, the outside turned all purple. Asian tradition relays that strongly colored lily bulbs will be more bitter. This must apply to only freshly dug bulbs. These Lilium davidii were even sweeter than the asiatic hybrids! When I tugged the old stems from the bulbs in the garden, the stems always broke cleanly at the basal plate with the hybrids. Not so with Lilium davidii. While most of the stem was gone, on almost every bulb there were at least a few dried fibers from the stem left attached to the basal plate. These, of course, get cut out. But unlike the hybrids in the previous post, there was no mold.
The intact bulbs were pulled apart slightly to allow for faster, more uniform cooking, and went into the boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Then everything else got dumped in and cooked for three minutes.
Ready for mashing, the water was drained and saved. The unappealing muddy purple color disregarded, the water was sweet and seemed to have a bit of a starchy flavor. It was smooth and silky, but not like slippery water.
Overall taste of the mash was the same as my first trial, except considerably sweeter. I can almost swear that difference in sweetness is greater mashed than it is raw between the two tests, but I cooked the hybrids yesterday and Lilium davidii today, so I can’t say for sure. Perhaps part of it could be because cooking time was less? At any rate, I’ve never been a fan of sweet potatoes, and this second batch borders on too sweet for me.
And one more test that should be a no-brainer, but might as well be sure, so in the freezer they went.
