Redesigning Our Future

Getting Ready to Open Cafe Kudzu Members of "Invasive Alien Plants and Animals: Friend or Foe to the Environment" led by Dr. Jay Bolin always harvest young kudzu leaves and then deep fry the kudzu leaves during a fun learning activity at Redesigning the Future. At the end of the week, the environmental campers from the "Invasive" group make fried kudzu and other invasive species specials to share with fellow campers during the end of camp "What We Learned" showcase. This year, Bolin's group of campers went all out by setting up a full blown cafe and serving a variety of dishes ranging from kudzu quiche to a savory soup. They of course shared their fried kudzu too. Ready or Not - It's Time for the Doors to Open on the Cafe The "Invasive" group campers work hard getting all the food ready in a small campus kitchen and then set up for serving. When the camp crowd arrives, it's pedal to the metal getting samples of salad, s...

By Kayla Blackburn Gavin McQueen from Asheboro, NC wears a vine of kudzu as he researches about invasive species. Here at the 2015 Redesigning Our Future: National Environmental Summit for High School Students, the Invasive Aliens Plants and Animals: Friend or Foe to the Environment? focus group collected and then cooked the well-known invasive plant called kudzu. After prepping the kudzu in a batter, students deep-fried the plant to create an interesting treat, called a "kudzu funnel cake" by Grace Vaughan from Fries, Virginia. They also made tea and a kudzu quiche!  Samantha Long from Rocky Point, NC dips kudzu leaves in a mixture of flower and water to prepare the plant for deep-frying. The finished product, deep-fried kudzu! So how else is this Asian-native plant used around the world? Kudzu roots contain starch, which are traditionally treated with pomelo oil and used in beverages in Vietnam. In Japan, the starch is used as a thickener and can al...

Students are Eager to Try Kudzu Food and Drink High school students in Dr. Jay Bolin's group Invasive Alien Plants and Animals: Friend or Foe to the Environment? always enjoy the kudzu class. Why? Well, they get to eat and drink kudzu concoctions.  Granted kudzu has a bad name, and it has certainly caused a lot of headaches for a lot of people. Brought in to counter soil erosion, this plant quickly became an invasive plant that would crawl over and tangle up plants, trees, and old broken down cars sitting in the field. Fighting it back has been like trying to stick your elbow in your ear. Given it's hard to impossible to do much about kudzu, students learn to make the best of a bad situation. The campers go out hiking and pick young kudzu leaves and then get to cooking. One favorite is fried kudzu leaves. Students make and eat these in their focus group meetings. The kudzu leaves are battered and deep fried. This is quite a southern tradition. Most anyone from t...

By Lila Welsh When life gives you kudzu, fry it! The invasive species group has been trying some new ways to get rid of an invasive species. Kudzu is an invasive species. An invasive species is one that is introduced into an area and has no natural predators and is a generalized species, which means it can live in all kinds of environments. It seems nowadays in North Carolina that kudzu can be found in every forest. The kids in the invasive species group have found a way to help control the invasive kudzu. Eat it! The invasive plant is delicious when fried and is an innovative way to control a problem plant. The class is also thinking of preparing other kudzu dishes for the final festival such as kudzu salsa, kudzu quiche, and even a tenderloin with a kudzu sauce! "It's a bad plant that tastes good." -Grey Dorsett, Summit Camper   Photo by: Morgan King

You Will Never Guess What We Are Getting Ready To Do Dr. Jay Bolin and His Invasive Plants and Animals Focus Group Eating Kudzu By Rafaello I went to a unique Discovery Group on Tuesday. It combined poison ivy and deep-frying. (No, we didn't deep-fry the ivy). The discovery session was called "Invasive Species and Biodiversity: Eating the Plant that ate the South!" and was taught by Dr. Jay Bolin, a biology professor here at Catawba College. Dr. Bolin started out the session by talking about specific invasive species , what they are, and how they work. He then told us we were going to go pick some kudzu . After walking for about 15 minutes (of which the last 5 minutes was through a lot of poison ivy), we got to the kudzu. Kudzu is a nasty plant. It is a vine that grows extremely fast, and basically on anything. I saw some kudzu climbing up trees basically everywhere. We picked kudzu (while avoiding the poison ivy that was also everywhere). ...