Nutritious and Tasty

Leaves
Young leaves and tips can be cooked like spinach and mix well with spinach and early poke greens. (link) They have a flavor reminiscent of green beans. When canning kudzu leaves, process as you would spinach.

To remove the unappetizing fuzz, briefly blanch fresh leaves alternately in boiling and then immediately in cold water. This will change the appearance, but not the taste of the fresh leaves.

You can use the young leaves in a dolmades recipe, much as you would grape leaves.

Kudzu, cousin to the soy bean, is also a member of the legume family and has similar nutrional value.

Flowers
The purple and magenta flowers of the kudzu vine resemble those of the wisteria. And like the wisteria the flowers can be white although in each case this is much less common. The kudzu flowers have a distinctive grape candy perfume which, unfortunately, does not carry through to the taste. There is a bit of a sweet taste in the flower itself.

Each flower can be picked from the raceme of blossoms, but it is much easier to pick the entire cluster and remove them individually back in the kitchen.

Pick the flowers when they are dry; late morning after the dew is gone. And not immediately after a rain.

Wash the flowers in cool water, then drain. They don't last for more than a day, so use them quickly or freeze for later use.

Fresh, they can be used as a lovely addition to a simple green salad or as a garnish over light summer fare.

Like many flowers, the kudzu blossom can be used for teas, in wine or in jellies.
A recipe that has gotten high marks from a few of my test monkeys is a Japanese recipe: Pickled Kudzu Flowers. I am not fond of the appearance of the flowers after processing, but the taste is interesting, if you are a fan of pickled Asian fare. I will post the recipe and my (inevitable) alterations.

GreenGoddessLove

Nutritious and Tasty

Footnotes