Favorite Hosta varieties?

I have quite a few Hostas that I really enjoy eating that were acquired through sharing, so not sure the varieties.  Since I really like them I'd like to identify varietal names to share info on the best ones with the broader community.  This past year I planted out 18 cultivars to see how they do and to see which seem to make the best crops when grown under trees.  While waiting I though I'd ask you guys....which Hostas are your favorites as cooking greens?  (flavor, yield, etc.)

Thanks in advance!

I would love to know this, too! I got a few transplants from my mother that I liked the appearance of, but I'd love to get some that are sure to taste good. I've yet to eat hostas (I didn't know they were edible until recently, and my plants are still small). It'd be wonderful to know what types are the tastiest!

Fingers crossed for a post from folks with lots of experience....seems like a terrific plant for the edible landscape.

In the meantime, here's a link to Stephen Barstow's article on edible hostas:
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2722

It's about time to bring this thread back to the top!

I have an old hosta variety, inherited from my grandparents, that I absolutely LOVE - I mean for food*. I hated them until I realized that they were edible. It seemed to me that their main purpose in life was to shade the lower siding of our summer cottage so the carpenter ants and termites could crawl right up and invade. Five years ago I found out that you could eat them (the hostas, I mean). After that they grew on me (haha!) Turns out they are not just edible. The spring shoots (like little rocket ships) are as tasty as asparagus - though with a delightfully bitter flavor, and the flower stems with unopened buds make a great, mid-summer vegetable if you have enough of them. Fortunately, we have more than we need.

To make sure your spring shoots are as large as possible, cover them with a pile of leaves or an upturned pot. This blanches them and encourages them to stay tightly rolled, which I find to be preferable to an opened leaf. Try to snap them off as low as possible. I like to take the entire shoot, with bottom intact, whenever possible. Although I do end up composting the bottom of the shoot after cutting it off, I feel that this probably leaves the plant less susceptible to infection.  

Here is what the spring sprouts look like once they have been uncovered:


And here's me picking the buds in late June.

If you can tell me the variety in the video above, please do. No guessing, though. I really want to get this right so I can share and recommend them by name.

So cover up those hostas! You may need them this spring!
And follow me on Instagram (@foodforestcardgame) for lots more garden videos!

*As always, go slowly when trying new foods. If you have never eaten hostas before, don't just take my word for it, do your own due diligence.

Thought maybe I'd add an update now that the shoots are ready to eat! I hope this is not too late for some of you. It's prime hosta shoot season in the North Eastern United States!




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I want to plant hostas as a perennial food source but I am not sure which if any of the named ornamental varieties are also good edibles. Or maybe they all are good, and it doesn't matter which I plant? If I could find a plain generic green hosta maybe that would be better but all I see is striped or blue or other fancy whizbang ornamental that I suspect was bred for appearance at the cost of taste.

Any recommendations?

Hi Andrea.  This is something I've wondered as well.  I have several ornamental types but also an old variety with plain leaves and purple flowers that readily self-seeds.  In fact there's many overgrown areas near the road where you can see this hosta thriving.  I did pick off a few of its leaves and munch on them this spring and was pleasantly surprised.  I also picked a few leaves off a variegated one and there was really no noticeable difference in flavor.  

I'll see if I can identify the name of the older variety I have as if I were growing hosta as a food source, it would be the one I'd choose because of how prolific it is.

Thanks Michelle. That is useful to know you didn't find a difference in taste. That older more prolific variety sounds like what is wanted in a food crop.  I like the idea of taste-testing but it is difficult to go around other people's gardens at the moment due to covid. I used to have multiple varieties of hosta in a former garden but that was years ago and I had no idea people ate them so I never sampled them.

Also wondering about this.  I've been given some hostas by a neighbour (2 unknown varieties: one variegated one blue), and have grown some H. Seiboldiana from seed because I've read they're supposed to be pretty good eating.  I've also planted 'empress wu' which is supposed to be one if the largest leaved ones and therefore likely to be more productive.  I've yet to actually try any though!  They are all still establishing.  
The ones I grew from seed are tiny still, and the ones from my neighbours didn't seem to produce very big shoots.  Can you eat them at any stage?  I've read that they should be harvested before the leaves unfurl, which seems quite early in the year.

I eat mine when the leaves first unfurl and are still easy to snap off by bending the petiole....before they become fibrous.  I boil them.  I've liked every variety I've tried and have planted many, many new varieties looking for some that spread quickly and are large.  Will be a few years before I'm willing to harvest any of my new ones (letting them get established), but I'll try to do a side by side tasting of my older ones if they aren't too far along already.

I have an unknown varigated variety. It tases real good, raw. I walked away from them for a couple minutes, (okay, I forgot to gather them for a meal) and they were past the correct size. Bummer.

If I were to purchase a variety I would choose a large leafed type. That way after establishmet more than one meal could be had.

Thanks, all. Sounds like I don't need to worry about variety if all are good.

Has anyone tried eating the really huge ones like Sum and Substance which has leaves the size of rhubarb?

i just wanna remind everyone that if you miss the early shoots, the flower stalks are also edible while they’re still non-fibrous enough to snap off.

i also haven’t noticed significant difference between varieties, but haven’t tried too many. i have heard rumors of less pleasant varieties, but not by name. i’ve been buying cheap bulk you-don’t-even-get-told-the-name mixes every spring to bulk up the supply.

I have a whole row of hostas on he North side of my house I never thought of eating them. My understanding is that they are poisonous to dogs. I don't have a dog, but I figured why risk it?
[But then, I have 50 asparagus plants, so in the early spring, I won't be short of green stuff to eat].
They seem to be a great companion plant for the wine cap mushroom however:
As long as I had to mulch my hostas and wine caps grow well in straw, I figured: why not combine the two? So I mulched my hostas generously with inoculated straw and watered. There is no sun there since it is on the North side, and under the hostas, it is even darker. Maybe that is what they like; The darkness. although I also grew quite a few in bed in the sunny garden, so...?
Later, I found lots of clusters of wine cap mushrooms under the leaves of the hostas, but not so much in between the plants.[There were still plenty in between the plants, but under the hostas, they were really clustered heavy!
Maybe there was additional moisture under the hostas? [I'm in sand country!]
Companion planting seems to be interested in vegetables that grow together more than ornamentals. Maybe that is why I didn't find anything matching my story in companion planting.

Of the common kinds available in the UK, Empress Wu and Sum and Substance are supposed to be two of the biggest. Vigorous varieties make sense for most forest gardens!

I've noted others saying they're waiting for their hostas to get established, does this suggest that after this are slow to get going? I've had this issue, and reckon they need good deep soil, a little shade and LOTS of water to beat the pests and rocket away.

It makes sense to give them a few years.  They are using their stored nutrients in their roots to make their first spring shoots, and that's the part we break off and eat, so they need to do it all over again.  So a very good root system that has had at least one summer to store a lot of nutrients seems important.  

The slugs devour so many of mine down to the ground, I figure I shouldn't make it worse.  Yet.

I managed to catch my variegated Hosta at the tightly coiled stage this year, so got to try eating Hosta for the first time. I cut off about 4 biggish shoots.

tightly furled hosta (and wid cabbage shoots)

I like to cook new things as plainly as possible the first time to try and get a good feel for the flavour. So I boiled the cleaned shoots in a little water (along with the sea cabbage sprouts)

hosta greens for dinner

I have to say I didn't find them pleasant at all. The texture was fine, slightly slimy, but tender. There was a sourness to the taste that I didn't like though. I don't have anything to compare it with, so don't know as yet if this is a characteristic of all Hostas that we won't like, or whether this particular Hosta is not a nice tasting one.
So far my other Hosta are still not big enough to harvest. I may be able to try the blue Hosta, but the other plants are still too small. I've transplanted some, and the deer ate them! I may see if I can get hold of the 'sum and substance' variety mentioned above as a large variety.

i’ve got to say, slimy and sour are not words that i would use to describe any of the times i’ve prepared hostas. the pic and the word slimy makes me think they might unfortunately have been a bit over-cooked. like most shoots including asparagus, i find hosta shoots to be at their best barely cooked - maybe seared briefly but still with a bit of crunch.

of course it’s also possible you’ve got a variety that’s not so good for eating.