Thanks for the concern Rick and those are all good, valid points, that anyone would do wise to listen to. I should have mentioned that those bulbs I cocked yesterday have been grown here for three full seasons and they would (with the exception of the motherbulb) have been from my own bulblets that have been growing here without pesticides or fungicides. Hopefully this will make them safe enough, at least it satisfies my own personal safety demands. I wouldn't want anyone trying eating just any lily bulb. I'll certainly not try 'Netty's Pride' until next year at the earliest and then it will only be from my own bulblets
Our climate here is not the same as most USDA zone 7 areas as in comparison we would have longer winters and (usually) much colder summers, being no far north and with a coastal exposure. Additionally as the zones are based on an area's
average annual minimum temperatures, I believe it errors even more as the temperatures are very varying here during the winter and a few warm winters will push the average up a lot. A few years ago we were frozen solid from mid November until the middle of April. Occasionally the first frost comes in the beginning of September, but last year we had no frost until December. Frost free depth is suggested to be over three feet, yet some winters the ground barely freezes. So we have a very variable climate, and the USDA zones do not work very well here. So not completely sure how digging time actually compares to your zone, it could probably depend a lot on the individual year. I do know a lot of roots become sweeter after some exposure to cold temperatures, but as you say, that may not be so with lilies, further experimenting is required!
Funny thing is that this spring I saw it mentioned in a Dutch webshop that
Lilium Leichtlinii was used for food and they even gave a recipe of sort, so perhaps eating lilies will become more popular in time.
