Daylily Greens Garlic Butter Saute

Daylily greens

Lime-green succulent spears of winter’s released slumber, daylily greens are a relished early spring wild green. Daylily’s pleasant mild flavor is excellent paired with the more pungent creasy greens or wild turnip. To prolong the season, cut the greens right at the ground, and daylily will send up tender new growth. You can cut your patch two or three times without slowing it down. The daylily greens have been up for about three weeks here in the southern Appalachians and they are beginning to develop more fibrous or chewy leaves. Once the older tips become fibrous you can cut them of, retaining the succulent  lower new growth. Pictured below, you can see how we cut the greens at ground level.

Cutting daylily at the ground level

Cutting off the fibrous tips of daylily

Daylily greens (tender bases only)

For more on eating daylily,  please visit my article https://chestnutherbs.com/2011/delectable-daylily/

Note that some people have daylily allergies, so try a small portion the first time, prepared from cooked flower buds or greens (raw daylily is more likely to cause a reaction). Also please read the article for ID tips, as it’s easy to confuse many poisonous plants for daylily.

Daylily garlic sauté

• Mince four cloves of garlic
• Warm 2 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet
• Add the garlic for a few minutes
• Add the washed greens and sauté until tender
• Add salt to taste                                                                                                                    Be creative with this basic recipe, substituting sesame oil, tamari and ginger for a more Asian flair, or fresh limejuice and chipotle pepper for a Mexican twist.