Kudzu

Kudzu

vining kudzu

Flowering Kudzu

Kudzu is also known as Japanese arrowroot, ‘mile a minute’, ‘foot a night’ and ‘the weed that ate Georgia’.

If you live in the south you are most likely aware of kudzu. Most people call it an invasive useless weed; although it is quite invasive, it is far from useless. Kudzu is not native to the US, it was brought here from Japan and China and it actually took a lot of hard work to help kudzu grow and spread. These days it covers over 7 million acres of the deep South.

Kudzu was introduced to the United States in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu for erosion control. Hundreds of young men were given work planting kudzu through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Farmers were paid as much as eight dollars an acre as incentive to plant fields of kudzu in the 1940s. In 1953 the U.S government stopped advocating the use of kudzu and in 1972 the USDA declared it to be an invasive weed.

With the Southern climate being perfect for kudzu, the main complaint is that it just grows too well and too fast. The vines grow as much as a foot every day during the summer, weaving around trees, power poles and anything else that they come into contact with and under ideal conditions, kudzu vines can grow 60 feet each year.

Although kudzu can be quite a nuisance if it is not properly managed, it does do a great job of improving soil, strengthen dams, restoring worn out land; it is excellent for erosion control but if not managed kudzu can also destroy valuable forests by preventing trees and other greens from getting enough sunlight. Kudzu is also excellent as an animal forage, mulching and green manure, human food and medicine.

Kudzu has been used to reclaim desert or land overgrown with weeds. It is said, that if kudzu is trellised, there is no problem of it spreading by vine nodes, which otherwise would lie on the ground and take root. The U.S forestry department has been trying to find ways to kill kudzu, but what they found instead is that one of the herbicides tested actually made kudzu to grow better and the other herbicides used had no effect on it at all.

Since it is so invasive and so hard to kill, people have begun finding ways to put it to good use.

Kudzu has been found to be a valuable farm nitrogen fixer. Experiments showed that crops grown with kudzu for 10 years were double the yield that crops grown without kudzu. Some crops were 700% higher in yield following kudzu. Kudzu is a high protein (18%), low cost source of stock feed, liked by all stock including poultry. It can be cut for hay (The tip to cutting and making bales out of kudzu is to cut it low and bale it high.), which is considered equal in nutrient value to lucerne and clover and found to improve health of livestock. Fed to cows, milk production is increased. Goats and sheep thrive on having kudzu in their diet.

Allowing goats and sheep to range on it helps to eliminate it from taking over an area, and also helps to produce better quality goat’s milk and a higher quality of wool. The flowers provide excellent bee forage and good honey. If you are going to use kudzu as a continuing food source, you will have to remove your animals from the area occasionally, about a week, to allow new vines to grow.

Currently there is research underway to turn it into an alternative fuel source by using the yeast from kudzu that can ferment both xylose and glucose, kudzu could be a very rapid source of ethanol.

The vines of kudzu are quite strong and sturdy and therefore, southerners have been using it to make rope instead of using the man-made materials.

Being crafty, the women of the South took one look at this vine and saw baskets just waiting to be formed. They did however find that once these baskets were made you could not place them anywhere there was an abundance of moisture, such as a bathroom.  Just because the vine had been cut did not mean it had quit growing. The Kudzu vine will begin growing again when introduced to moisture of any kind.

Studies have shown that kudzu root extract has 100 times the antioxidant activity of Vitamin E.

The dried root of Kudzu has the ability to decrease the cravings for alcohol and is being used in the treatment of alcoholism. It is also helpful in preventing hangovers.

Kudzu increases circulation, an action that tends to reduce muscle pain and stiffness, and increases blood flow through the coronary arteries. One kudzu compound is a beta-blocker, which reduces a racing pulse induced by stress. It has traditionally been used for respiratory infections. Kudzu contains an estrogen like compound that can bind to breast cancer cells, blocking estrogens that stimulate cancer cells to reproduce.

It is one of the earliest medicinal plants, used in traditional Chinese medicine, with many profound pharmacological actions, including anti-dipsotropic (anti-alcohol abuse) activity. There are two isoflavones in kudzu and when taken orally, they help to reduce the craving for alcohol, and be of assistance in suppressing the appetite of patients with chronic alcoholism. Kudzu influences areas of the central nervous system that control the desire for alcohol and the extract helps stimulate regeneration to areas damaged by toxins.

Kudzu has a very high alkaline rating along with kelp, parsley, watercress, watermelon and rock melon. Kudzu is made into a very soothing broth, called kudzu cream, which helps to develop an alkaline bloodstream and constitution, and will also work on digestive and intestinal disorders, and a host of other health problems.

Other medicinal uses include: cough and colds, tonsillitis, measles, fevers, diarrhea and dysentery, intestinal ailments, enteritis, constipation, to remove excess fluid from the body, digestive disorders, bad breath, headaches and hangovers, sinus, anemia, internal bleeding, thirst, to relieve hunger, to increase energy, sexual apathy, impotence, infertility, asthma, diabetes, bronchitis, pneumonia, hypoglycemia, muscle shrinkage, dizziness, induce perspiration and as a strengthening and invigorating effect on the spleen, stomach and intestines, in fact the whole immune system.

The traditional way to drink kudzu, to strengthen digestion, relieve fatigue and increase vitality is to dilute 1 tsp. kudzu in a little cold water, and then add enough cold water to make a cupful. Bring mixture to the boil, stirring constantly and simmer until the liquid turns transparent. The flavor is bland and gives a cooling energy to the body.

Culinary Uses:

When in bloom, the flowers and leaves of kudzu give off a grape scent. The leaves of kudzu can be battered and deep fried.

The roots can be dug up, washed and then cut finely into slivers and then dried. When dried then can be ground up and used as a flour alternative to wheat and also used much like cornstarch.

Thickening with kudzu makes a clear mixture. Always mix the kudzu flour with cold water to a smooth runny consistency before heating. When heating or adding to a hot mixture, stir constantly to prevent the flour from going lumpy. Thickening with kudzu is usually done near the end of cooking. It can be used like gelatin for setting desserts and sweets recipes.

Other Uses

The fine fiber from the vines has many uses: paper making, fishing lines, basket weaving, stuffing cushions, building materials, and when burnt, it acts as a mosquito repellent. A very traditional use for the resilient silk-like fiber is for the Japanese kimono, which is highly prized and priced.

Kudzu used as mulch is said to be equal to that of lucerne. The leafy stems can be cut constantly, used as mulch, fertilizer, or added to the compost heap.

Those who use kudzu in their compost heaps and then apply that compost to their garden, have grown bigger, better tasting and healthier plants, because of the wonderful nutrients that kudzu provides to the plant and the soil.

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