I’ll just say it; kudzu sucks. If you have ever had to pull it out of a field or garden then you know what I mean. Kudzu (Pueraria montana) is the vine that ate the South, and it is really hard to eliminate without the use of heavy duty herbicides.

The original intention of its introduction to North America was to feed foraging ruminants like goats. It turns out that goats aren’t fond enough of kudzu to keep it in check, and the vine literally grows while you watch (I didn’t believe it either). This adds up to a serious problem for native plants and any tree that happens to get in the way.

There are, however, a few uses for the invasive vine. Baskets, cordage, root starch and additional honey bee forage all come to mind. You can even make a jelly from the purple blossoms that are at their peak at this time of year.

And, of course, I decided to give the jelly a try.

At its heart, jelly is basically slightly boiled sugar. Kudzu blossoms don’t have much in the way of sugar content, so every recipe I found for making the jelly called for several more cups of sugar than cups of blossoms. I decided to modify this in a few ways. One was to use honey and to use way less than is called for in a typical jelly recipe.

1 – Collect the blossoms. To make six half-pints of jelly, you’ll need to start with at least four cups of kudzu blossoms. There is a huge patch of vines adjacent to the part of the bicycle path nearest my house. I pass by it everyday on my way to and from work. Gathering blossoms wouldn’t be a problem for me, but you may have to ask around to find a spot of vines. If you don’t know what to look for, here is your target:

A bag and a pair of scissors will make quick work of the collection. In about ten minutes I had all the blossoms I would need.

2 – Remove the blossoms from the stems and place is a colander. Rinse with cold water. Actually, I let the colander sit outside for a half hour in order to give the ants and other creatures a sporting chance. Otherwise they would end up in the rinse water, never to climb another plant or gather another speck of pollen. Then I rinsed the blossoms.

3 – Boil four cups of water. Place the blossoms in a glass dish, then pour the boiling water over them.

4 – Cover and refrigerate the blossoms and water over night. By the time you are ready to make the jelly, all the color will have washed out of the blossoms. The water will be very fragrant and will hopefully transfer that fragrance to the jelly.

5 – Strain the blossoms and dump them into the compost. Their job is done.

6 – To the blossom water, add one tablespoon of lemon juice. This is for aesthetics (color) so it can be skipped if you don’t have a lemon tree or a bottle of concentrate in The Stash. You’ll also need a package of pectin. You can make your own if you have access to local apples. I used a box of commercially made pectin that I had in the cupboard.

7 – Bring this mixture to a rapid boil, stirring constantly as the boiling point gets closer.

8 – Most recipes call for the addition of five to six cups of sugar at this point. I used three cups of local honey. Bring this mixture back to a boil, stirring all the while.

9 – Remove from heat. By this point in the process, you should have your canning jars prepared.

10 – Fill the jars to 1/4″ of the top, seal and process in boiling water for ten minutes.

The jar in the picture is what I had leftover after filling six jelly jars. The end result still tastes an awful lot like the honey I used, but it also has enough of a flowery taste to consider it a success. Next time I will probably use more blossoms and even less honey.

This recipe is adapted from various online resources and further modified to fit my restrictions.

I have been dipping into the free bin at work quite a bit lately, mostly out of habit. I have also been going through the trash can and the compost buckets as well. In the past, I relied on the free bin and dumpster diving for my weekly meal planning. I am in a different position now, no longer doing much diving, but I still seek out free food just because I think it is necessary to maintain those survival skills.

The truth is, I don’t really need anything, but I still pick through the free box looking for something useful, basically something to rely on during the lean times. Most times the items are “slightly expired”, damaged in some way or labeled in a way such that we can’t sell it. In my own eating habits, I take into consideration that expiration dates are pretty arbitrary, and I have never had a problem with slightly dented cans.

The food – be it gluten-free pretzel samples, a dented coconut milk can or a jar of mayonnaise without its label – goes in my bike basket for the trip home, saved from filling a cranny in the landfill. At the store, staff are encouraged not to waste all this food that took so much energy to bring in, in a damaged state, yet takes virtually no energy to throw away, basically erasing all those calories. Just tossing the stuff in the dumpsters takes seconds and requires no thought on its final destination.

My friend and former collective-mate Will used to work for one of those big southern grocery stores, the kind of place where employees are forbidden by corporate rules from taking home any expired or damaged goods. Everything had to be thrown in the dumpster. Having no problem foraging in and eating out of that dumpster, we frequently brought home cases of various goods, many with no damage except for a splatter from a broken jar or burst can. So it was that we came into a lifetime supply of Texas Pete hot sauce, gallons of vegetable oil and more Hamburger Helper than has ever helped anyone. We were only after the noodles, but still…

Many other large grocery stores no longer have dumpsters. All their trash goes into a compactor and is one hundred percent wasted. Perfectly good food smashed to bits, never to fill bellies or even go into a compost pile. Hundreds of these stores compacting tons of edibles every year. With what we throw away every year, we could create some of the richest soil amendments we have ever seen and still fill plate after plate with decent calories. Yes, these stores donate to food pantries and other charities, but the waste they generate is still at a sickening level.

Maybe I have seen too much of the waste first hand, pulled too many bags full of still warm bagels out of the trash and into the night air, discovered too many pints of still frozen ice cream or cases of potato chips “expiring” the next business day. How can this practice be sustainable for the store or for the people working in it? Surely most of the items going into the trash could be simply diverted to staff on a daily basis. Hundreds of employees, many making minimum wage, would deeply appreciate a dip in the free bin. I know that I do.