Kudzu
Kudzu. The word evokes frustration from those plagued by it, jokes from those who aren’t and respect from those who understand its power. For, make no mistake about it, kudzu is powerful. Its leafy vines, called runners, can grow more than 12 inches in a single day, or between 50 and 100 feet in a typical growing season. When the vines touch the ground, they form nodes, which become crowns once they send out roots. Roots radiate from the kudzu crown in all directions and drill as deep as 20 feet into the ground for water and nutrients. On these roots, potato-like tubers store carbohydrates. A single tuber may weigh as much as 300 pounds. Try to imagine a 300-pound potato, growing beneath the ground and sending up new growth, to get some idea of kudzu’s power. Scientists estimate there may be as many as 10,000 roots per acre of kudzu. As a member of the hard-working bean family, kudzu extracts nitrogen from the air and increases soil fertility by imparting the nitrogen to the soil. Few other plants have this ability; most plants feed on nitrogen in the soil.
First introduced in the United States at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, kudzu was initially cultivated as a shade plant on porches and arbors. Later, in the 1930s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture imported kudzu to control soil erosion. Problems with out-of-control kudzu growth began in the late 1940s. In its native land of Asia, kudzu had biological controls that kept it in check. In the southeastern United States, however, there were no controls on its growth, and it apparently grew much faster. So fast that it inspired Georgian bard James Dickey to write:
“In Georgia, the legend says
That you must close your windows
At night to keep it out of the house.
The glass is tinged with green, even so….”
Today, Americans are learning more about the edible and medicinal uses of kudzu. For 2,000 years, Asians have used kudzu roots for cooking and for making medicinal teas to treat dysentery and fever. Starch made from the roots, called kuzu, can be used in place of other starches to create sauces, soups, puddings and pie fillings. Says Annemarie Colbin in her book Food and Healing:
“Kuzu is similar to arrowroot or cornstarch in that it must be dissolved in cold liquid and the mixture stirred while it heats, thickening as it reaches the boiling point. It has an alkalizing effect. One tablespoon kuzu starch will thicken 1 cup liquid to the consistency of Chinese vegetable sauce; 2 1/2 tablespoons kuzu to 1 cup liquid makes pudding, which when cool is the consistency of soft tofu. As a remedy, kuzu can be used in two ways: shoyu-kuzu (salty, runny, like a thick broth) and apple juice-kuzu (thick and sweet like a pudding).” Colbin recommends kuzu mixes to relieve stress and for sore throats, ear aches and other ailments.
In The Kudzu Cookbook, Carole Marsh has such recipes as Homemade Kudzu Noodles, Kudzu Gumbo and Kudzu Quiche. When deep frying kudzu leaves, Marsh says to “pick the tender, young leaves and avoid the older leaves and shoots which are very fibrous.”