[pbs] Edible Tulips
Judy Glattstein
jglatt at hughes.net
Tue Oct 30 14:27:10 EST 2007
When I was doing research for The American Gardener's World of Bulbs
(Little, Brown and Co, 1994) a Dutch friend translated the following for
me,
pg 43 "A pamphlet published January 23, 1945, concerning the food supply
during the war was written by Rubber Society at Delft, which was trying
to supply staff members with extra food supplies "in the form of
Tulipbulbs, food that - if well prepared - is eaten nowadays in great
quantities in the big cities." Noting that the nutritional value of the
tulip is 'almost 1.8 times that of potatoes" the pamphlet goes on to
suggest methods of preparation. The thin brown tunic was removed and the
bulb sliced in half to permit removal of the inedible immature yellow
shoots in the center. Eaten raw the bulbs are hard to digest, and
recipes suggest boiling and mashing, separating the scales and roasting
into tulip chips, or grinding and drying into a coarse flower to be used
for making bread and pancakes. Eight bulbs at one meal was considered a
rather good portion. Gladiolus were also eaten, but never narcissus,
which are poisonous."
There is also the anecdote from the seventeenth century, "possibly
apocryphal about an Antwerp merchant who, mistaking for onions some
tulip bulbs sent from Constantinople with a consignment of cloth,
roasted and ate a number of them to great financial loss." ibid.
Concerning introduction of tulips: The information I received from Dutch
sources at the Leiden Botanic Garden (Carolus Clusius was a professor at
the University of Leyden commencing in autumn 1593) was that Olgier
Ghiselin de Busbecq, ambassador from the Emperor Ferdinand I to the
court of Suleiman the Magnificent brought seeds and probably also bulbs
back to Vienna in the mid-sixteenth century. De Busbecq sent "a large
quantity" of tulip seed to Clusius in 1573, de Busbecq being due to
leave for France the following year. The seed was apparently somewhat
shriveled, and Cluisus didn't get around to sowing it until 1575.
Germination was, however, excellent and beginning in 1580 the tulips
began to flower with red, white. yellow, and purple flowers, even some
with mixed colors. This is apparently also the first mention of tulips
"breaking." Interestingly, I have been unable to find any mention of
susceptibility of wild tulips to lily mottle virus. Apparently only
cultivated tulips are affected by the virus resulting in parti-colored
flowers.
And now I shall go outdoors and plant some tulips.
Judy in autumnally chilly New Jersey
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