Iowa Ag Connection - Four Invasive Species You Can Eat in Iowa

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Four Invasive Species You Can Eat in Iowa
Iowa Ag Connection - 08/30/2016

According to the National Invasive Species Information Center, invasive species are plants or wildlife that thrive and spread aggressively outside their native habitat and cause economic or environmental harm. Many are quite tasty, and eating them helps reduce further proliferation in the environment. As always, learn to identify wild edibles from an experienced forager first.

Bighead and silver Asian carp were introduced to North America through fish farming operations in the Mississippi River basin, but unfortunately they escaped containment due to flooding in the 1970s. Since then they've traveled upriver, and today many Iowa waterways are affected. This poses huge ecological concerns because these carp are very large (some can weigh more than 100 pounds), produce a large number of offspring (one female bighead carp can produce nearly 2 million eggs per year), eat voraciously (up to 20 percent of their body weight per day), live a long time (10 to 20 years) and can pose a risk to recreationalists--silver and occasionally bighead carp may leap several feet out of the water when frightened.

You can help by eating up these invaders, which are highly recommended for everything from fish tacos to steamed flaky meat for salads. DNR biologist Kim Bogenschutz says the meat itself is firm, white, flaky, and mild tasting, but there are a lot of bones. Luckily, these carp are considered "rough fish" and have no length requirement or bag limit for harvesting, so as long as you have a valid sports fishing license you can take plenty with a pole, bow or spear.

Autumn olive, silver carp, garlic mustard and rusty crayfish are some of Iowa's edible invasive species (always learn from an experienced forager) | Iowa DNRWhile carp have not been a popular food fish in Iowa past, it's more of an image problem than an edibility problem. Common carp are bottom feeders and sometimes taste "muddy," but Asian carp are plankton-feeders with a much milder flavor. These fish are even considered a delicacy in their native ranges. For the best-tasting carp, gut your catch and put it on ice immediately after catching, and rinse the filets well before cooking. This is especially important for Asian carp because the flesh can deteriorate quickly, and transporting live Asian carp is illegal. Other recipes suggest scoring carp meat thoroughly, spicing it heavily, soaking it in milk or vinegar to remove any unpleasant taste.

For more information on cleaning Asian carp, Kim Bogenschutz recommends the following Youtube video by USGS researcher Duane Chapman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1NVUV8yhmU

This species was named for its leaves' similarity to those of actual olives, although the two are unrelated and the fruit of the autumn olive is more like a berry. It's native to east Asia, but autumn olive has been formally documented in at least 19 Iowa counties, and DNR biologist John Pearson says that it likely occurs throughout the state.

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