I recently saw a post suggesting that coffee grounds could be used to repell mosquitoes. The grounds could be lit with a flame so that it would smolder in the area where you might sit outdoors.

One person suggested that used coffee grounds could be used for this purpose and so I decided to give that a try. I laid the used coffee grounds out in their paper filters on a cooling rack on top of a tray and put it in the oven and set the temperature on “warm” for about an hour, then I turned it off and let the oven cool down overnight.

The next day I poured some of the processed grounds into a jar lid and tried to lite it… unsuccessfully. It probably was not dry enough so I decided to use some new unused grounds and was successful. That spawned a thought that coffee pods could be used because they are a self contained package enclosed in a paper filter wrapper. The paper would serve as tinder to ignite grounds that would make lighting it quick and easy. It worked great as shown in the photo.

Each pod cost about twenty-two cents. Of course there may be other natural materials available if you are out on the trail such as a Cattail flower head or Bracket Fungus that can be lit to smolder as well.

In a previous article “Bloomin’ Cattails” I described how the male portion containing pollen grows on the top of the stalk and the seed bearing portion that we often associate with “hotdogs” grows below it. Pollen is one of the numerous cattail parts that are edible so I decided to take a sample home to photograph after I shook out some pollen in order to show it’s bright yellow color and volume.

Since that previous article I’ve met folks who have told me that during this time of year you can also eat the seed portion as well, just like you would eat corn-on-the-cob so I had to try it. Sure enough, it was similar to biting off bits of baby-ear corn. It’s a bit chewy and rather bland but that makes it quite palatable to the novice wildcrafter.

I’ve also been told that the seed portion can also be prepared by frying in butter or bacon fat so I guess that will be NEXT on my edibles to-do list. Please leave a comment if you have experience in eating cattail blossoms and share any cooking techniques that you may have used.

When this season is over, the cattail still provides edible parts. New shoots can be pulled up to reveal a tender stalk similar to celery in taste. The roots are quite starchy and can be boiled or roasted. They are quite fibrous so some folks pound out the starch first before preparing.

Although we’re at the end of the cattail pollen season, you might still spot some stalks to harvest, so take a field trip and give it a try while they may still be found.

One of the most convenient ways to make a “slow Match” in my area is with cattail heads. By igniting the tip of the cattail head, it will slowly burn downwards for an hour or more. By carrying a few more heads, you can ignite each one successively as the previous one expires, thus sustaining a live coal. In transit, remember to monitor your bundle for slight smoke that is produced by the coal to assure that it has enough oxygen to stay alive.