My first taste test of Apios americana -- "blehhhh"

My initial reaction- blehhhh

Washed and boiled, they looked so much like sunchoke tubers, and I think that's what I was expecting. We ate them with the skins on, and the skins were a little tough. The skins made them taste like dirt big time, even though they were scrubbed. I peeled all the skin back and ate the insides, which were dry, mealy, and sort of sweet, but definitely not like a sunchoke. These were much more like the inside of a bean, sort of like desserts made with red bean paste.

I'm definitely going to try some other methods. This was just a test to see what we though, and if we felt ok on them.

We have a dozen or so vines around the yard but haven't dug any out yet to eat. Probably not going to run out based on your report but would be all ears if you come up with a tasty (or tolerable) recipe.

I want to try frying them. I like fried burdock, so it's worth a try. I also read elsewhere on the web that they (apios) can be mashed and used like refried beans in tacos etc. I'll definitely try that and report back.

second attempt-

my wife peeled, boiled, and mashed them, added beans (50/50), pickled garlic and some nutritional yeast. we put this in tacos as refried beans with other taco stuff. the taste was much better this time, very beany and delicious. The downside is that the tubers exude a milky sap when cut, and I just tried washing the pot that they were boiled in. it's coated in a really sticky glue that's not easy to remove. I have to get another sponge because the first one is coated with goop.

I'm going to keep trying until I find something both palatable and not a total pain in the ass to prepare.

I dug up a bunch of these when we decided to convert a rhododendron and evergreen bed to blueberries, lingonberries, and cranberries. I have not yet been brave enough to give them a try so I am grateful to read about your attempts. I'll be continuing to dig these up as I would prefer to have them farther from the house. It might just be my nose, but I do not like the smell of the flowers! I will see if I can tempt them to grow where the scent will be less of an issue.