Bulrush is a tall plant (over 2 m) that grows along nutritious riversides. It has large leaves and a distinctive long brown “cigar” at the end of its stems. You can recognize Bulrush by cuttting the leaves: they should be ‘c’ shaped. Many parts of bulrush are edible.

The white of the young shoots is edible, even raw. The rhizomes are a good source of food. After digging a root out, with a stick, it can be peeled. Subsequently, the fibers can be cooked, baked, dried, ground into flour or made into a syrup by slowly cooking them. After peeling, you can crack and break them under water to take the starch out. The roots can easily be baked in an open fire, where the bark serves as protection against fire. After ten to twenty minutes, you can tear the roots and take out the starchy fibers; these fibers are directly edible. Per person, you need fifteen to twenty roots.