by Ron Foster
“Hey put those snare directions up for now. Here come both of them heathens.” David said unlocking his door to admit his friends.
“What’s up David? We saw the light on and came to investigate.” LowBuck said before he spied the two boxes of wine and booze bottles.
“Hey Hey now! Somebody has done some real good scavenging it appears. You bring this load in Fresno?” Boudreaux asked reaching for a brandy bottle.
“Well David and I did..” Fresno started to explain before a sharp piercing whistle by Boudreaux cut him off. Mon ah me! You find buried treasure! This is fine Napoleon Brandy? Sacre Bleu how much you want for it?” Boudreaux said tightly clutching the bottle to his chest as Lowbuck reached around him and made a grab to lay claim to some fine sipping whiskey.
“Crack them bottles open boys and pour yourself a drink. Actually these samples and a whole lot more belongs entirely to us.” David said and then he began to explain about his meeting and trade deal with the Preacher man.
After much bickering and fussing while finishing off the contents of two bottles of whiskey Boudreaux and LowBuck begrudgingly agreed to go along with David’s plan.
“Cheer up guys! I haven’t told you all the rest of the ins and outs of this deal yet. You know boys one man's junk is another man's treasure. On the "treasure" side of this trade something to think about besides all that wine and booze is that every part of the kudzu can be utilized in some way by its edible, medicinal, or practical uses. The blossoms can be made into jelly. I have made some of this up before and it tastes exactly like grape jelly-yum! The leaves can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled, fried, or pickled. The root can be cooked like potatoes by boiling, roasting, or steaming. The root can also be used as a starch for thickening soups, stews, jelled foods, and can also be used for frying foods. As a medicinal plant, kudzu root powder or tea can be used for hangovers, indigestion, headaches, and sinus trouble, just to name a few. Paper and cloth can be made from the fibers of the vine and the vines can be woven into baskets and furniture.” David explained.
“I know what to do with that stuff Boudreaux said and warned everyone that kudzu looks very similar to poison ivy - be sure you know how to distinguish between the two plants! He also counseled he didn’t like kudzu patches because you had to beware of insects, snakes, spiders, and wild animals that frequently live in kudzu patches. He reckoned that it was always best to talk loudly when approaching a kudzu patch to give the critters a chance to depart before you arrive.
“It's everywhere! So we might as well do something with it.” LowBuck said thinking about what they had been discussing.
“That’s the spirit you can eat chopped kudzu leaves raw in salad or cook them like spinach leaves. Saute kudzu leaves, bake them into quiches or deep-fry them. Cook kudzu roots like potatoes, or dry them and grind them into powder. Use kudzu root powder as a breading for fried foods or a thickener for sauces. Fry or steam kudzu shoots like snow peas. Incorporate kudzu blossoms into jelly, candy and wine. Make kudzu tea with kudzu leaves, mint and honey. There are toms of uses.” David said affably.
“Did you say wine?” Lowbuck said perking up that he might just be back in the wine making business again.
“Yea you use the blossoms for that. I got a recipe or two for it you can try and as far as Preacher John goes he is going to get the surprise of his life when we start producing it on a grand scale.” David said conspiratorially and then went on to describe the various parts and uses for the plant.
The three parts of the kudzu plant that are edible are the:
Young leaves and vine tips,
Flower blossoms, and
Roots.
Kudzu Flower Blossoms
Kudzu blooms from late July through September, depending on the climate and location. The most common species in the United States has magenta and reddish purple flowers that resemble a wisteria. A less common variety has white blossoms.
Kudzu flowers smell like ripe grapes. However, the blossoms do NOT taste like grapes. They have a unique flavor that is just a little bit sweet.
The flowers are sometimes hidden behind the green leaves. You should pick the flowers when they are dry (not covered with the morning dew or rain). You can just pick the flowers, but it is usually easier to cut the entire flower raceme of blossoms and then remove the individual flowers later. Wash the flowers gently but thoroughly in cool water and then drain. They will remain fresh for one day. Or freeze them for future consumption.
Kudzu Flower Salad
Kudzu flowers may be eaten plain or as part of a salad or other dish.
Kudzu Flower Tea
Pour a cup of boiling water over 1/4 cup fresh flowers and let it steep for 4 or 5 minutes. Strain and drink.
“David that’s all well and good but I ain`t into rabbit food as you well know. Get to he wine making part Lowbuck grumbled.
Kudzu Flower Wine
4 quarts well water
6 quarts fresh kudzu blossoms
yeast
4 cups sugar
1 gallon jug
1 balloon
Pick kudzu blossoms when they are dry (mid-day). Rinse in running water to remove any foreign particles, dirt, or dust. Pour three quarts of boiling water over the blossoms and stir. Put a lid on the container and stir twice a day for four days.
Strain the liquid through a clean cloth. Press the blossoms to get all the liquid from them. Add four cups sugar. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Pour the dissolved yeast into the liquid. Stir well. Cover and let it stand for five days. Then transfer to a one-gallon jug. Add enough well water to bring the liquid within two inches below the neck of the jug. Attach the balloon to the top of the jug. Place jug in a cool dark place that is between 65� F to 75� F.
Periodically gently loosen the balloon and allow the gas to escape and then replace the balloon firmly on the neck of the jug. In approximately six weeks the balloon will stop expanding and the wine is done. Strain the wine through a clean cloth and transfer it to airtight bottles. (Optional: Drop five raisins into each one-gallon bottle.) Cork each bottle tightly. Allow it to sit for an additional six to twelve months before drinking.
Kudzu Wine (1)
3 qts Kudzu flowers
1 lb golden raisins
1 gallon water
3 lbs granulated sugar
2 lemons
1 orange
yeast and nutrient
Pick the flowers just before starting, so they're fresh. You do not need to pick the petals off the flower heads, but the heads should be trimmed of any stalk.
Put the flowers in a large bowl.
Set aside 1 pint of water and bring the remainder to a boil.
Pour the boiling water over the Kudzu flowers and cover tightly with cloth or plastic wrap.
Leave for two days, stirring twice daily.
Do not exceed this time.
Pour flowers and water in large pot and bring to a low boil.
Add the sugar and the peels (peel thinly and avoid any of the white pith) of the lemons and orange.
Boil for one hour, then pour into a crock or plastic pail.
Add the juice and pulp of the lemons and orange.
Allow to stand until cool (70-75 degrees F.).
Add yeast and yeast nutrient, cover, and put in a warm place for three days.
Strain and pour into a secondary fermentation vessel (bottle or jug).
Add the raisins and fit a fermentation trap to the vessel.
Strain and rack after wine clears, adding reserved pint of water and any additional required to top up. Leave until fermentation ceases completely, then rack again.
Set aside 2 months and rack and bottle. This wine must age six months in the bottle before tasting, but will improve remarkably if allowed a year.
Kudzu Wine (2)
2 qts Kudzu flowers
3 lbs granulated sugar
4 oranges
1 gallon water
yeast and nutrient
Th
is is the traditional "Midday Kudzu Wine" of old, named because the flowers must be picked at midday when they are fully open.
Pick the flowers and bring into the kitchen.
Set one gallon of water to boil. While it heats up to a boil, remove as much of the green material from the flower heads as possible (the original recipe calls for two quarts of petals only, but this will work as long as you end up with two quarts of prepared flowers).
Pour the boiling water over the flowers, cover with cloth, and leave to steep for two days.
Do not exceed two days. Pour the mixture back into a pot and bring to a boil.
Add the peelings from the four oranges (again, no white pith) and boil for ten minutes.
Strain through a muslin cloth or bag onto a crock or plastic pail containing the sugar, stirring to dissolve. When cool, add the juice of the oranges, the yeast and yeast nutrient.
Pour into secondary fermentation vessel, fit fermentation trap, and allow to ferment completely.
Rack and bottle when wine clears and again when no more lees form for 60 days.
Allow it to age six months in the bottle before tasting, but a year will improve it vastly.
This wine has less body than the first recipe produces, but every bit as much flavor (some say more!).
Kudzu Roots
Kudzu roots are normally harvested in the winter months. Only a kudzu root that was started from a seedling will produce a root that contains a good quantity and quality of starch. Good kudzu starch roots may weigh up to 200 pounds and be as long as 8 feet. The vast majority of kudzu roots are formed when an established vine touches the ground. Most of the roots growing near the surface are NOT high quality. Most kudzu roots look like tree roots and are NOT edible.
Kudzu Root Sucker
In a survival situation, any kudzu root between 1/2 to 3/4 inches in diameter can be washed, cut at both ends to a length of about 6 inches, and then all the exterior bark should be scrapped off. The raw root can then be sucked on to gradually remove all its internal nutrients. Only suck the nutrients out of the root. The root is wood. Wood is NOT digestible. Do NOT eat the wood.
Kudzu Root Tea
The thin, tender young roots can be dug up, washed, diced, boiled, and strained to make a tea.
Nutritional Information
Fresh Kudzu Leaves
8 Ounces (net weight)
Category
Amount
% RDV
Calories
258
12 %
Total Fat
0.1 g
0.2 %
Dietary Fiber
10.3 g
45.7 %
Protein
2.1 g
4.8 %
Calcium
34.3 mg
3.4 %
Phosphorous
41.1 mg
4.3 %
Iron
1.4 mg
7 %
.
16
Finalization
David sat on the courthouse steps and watched the civilian labor gang unload from a couple trucks.
“LowBuck and Boudreaux should be along shortly to sign papers with Preacher John.” David mused
“I wonder what them suckers actually do?” David wondered to himself as he observed the workers.
He was aware that the government had a manpower office of sorts that offered some work to the townsfolk but it was mostly for fit younger men to do agricultural or loading dock work. There were a few more menial jobs available but it seemed to him that no real jobs existed, just some make work by the city and state to be able to offer something in a pretty much zero economy.
I need to try and talk further to those workers. There must be some sort of pecking order in getting the better jobs and them constantly being around all the regular government workers he was sure they might have overheard some gossip he wanted them to relate.
David was tired. Keeping up with his government job, looking after his little enterprises, handling bits of community business and other sundry responsibilities was taking its toll on him. He thought about how nice it would have been to just retire at the lake and let the days pass with the cycles of the seasons but those days were most likely forever gone. The survivors remaining on the lake would soon be moved into town and the decade they spent together on that little inlet would soon be lost to the mists of time and natures reclamation of the very cottages they had lived in.
He didn’t need to remind himself that lake living was not any idealistic utopia. It was a hard scrabble day to day survival existence that he also neither had the youth or energy for anymore. What David missed most was all the extra time he used to have to just sit and ponder the lakes waters and life while sharing the company of a good friend.
Civilization was resuming, albeit very slowly at less than a snails pace to America and he like everyone else wanted the luxuries like air conditioning and real medical care they hoped to see again someday. The concept of returning to a fiat economy on the other hand scared the bejesus out of everyone because being dependent poor was viewed as possibly being worse off than they were. Hell, we had gotten by reasonably for ten long years on wits and wisdom and now old and young alike had a whole new set of survival skills and stressors to deal with.
There used to be a saying that nothing was certain in life but death and taxes. Damn! Now taxes, time cards, licenses, the census and a host of other governmental concerns were all the sudden back and controlling their lives and deaths and living a bohemian lifestyle seemed a pipe dream.
“That was it! This was going to be one of David’s greatest plans ever. People still needed their releases and vacations from the daily grind and drudgery that a real paid vacation would afford them. Everyone from his “Our end of the Lake” community was a natural borne outdoor guide or recreation director for that area. What if David made it his sole function in life to keeping and profiting from resuming his old lifestyle and selling the concept that the lake was the recreational or retirement destination of choice?
“Ah there is LowBuck and Boudreaux, about freaking time.” David thought.
“You guys are looking the worse for wear today. I take you stayed up after you left my shop and did some more sampling?” David said already knowing the answer.
“Don’t ever mix Champagne with whiskey” LowBuck groaned as he shook David’s hand.
“You got that right! I couldn’t even fit my hat on my head this morning. Let’s hurry up and get this shit done so I can either die or have a drink to get rid of this hangover” Boudreaux commiserated.
“I warned you! I bet there were several shots of that ancient brandy mixed into the evening sometime also. Look I haven’t seen the Preacher. He might already be inside waiting on us but we still have 15 minutes.” David told his bleary eyed friends.
“You all got any questions or any reservations before we go in and sign documents?” David asked still grinning he was about to pull off a master coup on the Preacher Man.
“ I seem to remember you saying having the rights and access to those old journals made us Land barons of some kind but I sort of forget how that works.” LowBuck said sweating out last night’s party in the hot Alabama sun and looking miserable.
“It is not all that complicated actually, basically what those journals gives us is a historic as well as an assignment of rights to any claim we might want to pursue to acquire any property that has kudzu growing on it. Look at it this way.It is estimated that kudzu has invaded over 7 million acres of land in the Southeast. It has spread as far north as Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and up to Connecticut and as far west as eastern Texas and central Oklahoma. (Although there have been increasing reports of its growth in Oregon.) This infestation is most unrelenting in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. The reason for its concentration is ideal weather condition; hot, rainy summers with few freezes in the winter. We basically can own a huge chunk of America if we play our cards right.” David sa
id full of himself.
The End of Book Two of the Prepper Reconstruction
In these trying economic times, is it possible that the kudzu vine could be a treasure for the southern states? Sometimes all we need to do is open our eyes and our minds to the riches that lie in front of us.