July’s Peach and Daylily Salad
Peppery arugula is the perfect match for the light, savory, green flavor of daylilies. For those new eating daylily flowers, they have a flavor that tastes a little like a mix of green beans with a hint of leek and a shadow of nectarine. A bit of a strange description, I know, but that’s why this daylily salad really works. It pairs the daylilies with fresh peaches and shallots. Add to that a homemade dressing, poppyseeds, and walnuts, and you’ve got the perfect July salad. Serve as part of your supper, or as a light lunch with some toasted sourdough.
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How to Identify Daylilies
A favorite little game I like to play is to walk down the road in July and ask my walking companion, “Lily or Daylily”? It’s a favorite of mine, but admittedly most of the people I put through this antic find it less amusing. I’ll correct their guess and draw out revealing the actual difference for as long as possible. Basically, I’m using botany to be obnoxious. Do I do it because I’m a middle child, or because I’m a Gemini? Tell me in the comments.
Disclaimer- use caution when foraging wild edibles, and always be certain of your identification. While I assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided on this site, I can’t be responsible for the accuracy of your information. Consult multiple websites, books and local experts, and when in doubt, do without.
And before I tell you how to tell the difference between daylilies and lilies, you may well be wondering if there even is a difference. Aren’t daylilies just a type of lily? No! Lilies are all part of the genus Lilium, that grow from bulbs. Daylilies are part of an entirely different genus called Hemerocallis. They’re called daylilies because while every plant has multiple buds, each of the flowers will bloom for only one day.
And before I get into the difference between daylilies and lilies, you may be wondering if it even matters. And it does. I’m even going to put this part in bold, because it really does matter. While daylilies are edible, many lilies are poisonous. You don’t want to eat lilies, but daylilies have edible flower, buds, shoots, and tubers. Technically I believe the stems and leaves are edible as well, but I’ve never heard of anyone eating them so I can’t verify if that’s true.
So how do you tell the difference between lilies and daylilies? Well lilies grow from bulbs and daylilies form tubers, so if you want to go digging you might be able to tell the difference that way. But before you get your shovel, hold on because there are other options. Daylilies have 6 petals, whereas lilies have 6 petals. So I guess that one won’t help much. They both also have 6 stamens. Daylilies bloom for one day, whereas lilies tend to bloom for about a week. So I suppose you could try and track a flower over a couple days, as long as you make sure you’re following the exact same flower and not catching the lily at the end of its blooming time. Daylilies are most often orange, but also come in yellow, red, purple, pink, whitish, and combinations of those colors. Lilies also come in all those colors.
So you can honestly just ignore pretty much everything in that last paragraph, because it wasn’t helpful. Despite making you read that paragraph, there is another way to tell the difference besides digging up the roots or doing overnight surveillance. Look at the leaves and stems. Daylilies have multiple stems that are long and come from a large clump of long, narrow leaves at the base of the stems. There are buds and flowers at the tops of the stems, but there should not be any leaves going up the stems. Lilies, on the other hand, grow from single stems (although there could be other lilies planted closely by). The stem of a lily will have many leaves growing from them up the entire stalk.
Sorry to drag it out, but we got there. Look at the leaves and the stems to tell if you’re dealing with something edible or something potentially sinister.
Looking for Daylily Recipes? Try one of these!
Looking for Leafy Salads? Try one of these!
- Spring Salad: Fennel and Dandelion Leaf Recipe
- Massaged Chard Salad with Flax and Pumpkin Seeds
- Hearty Bean Dinner Salad with Sun Dried Tomato Dressing
- Massaged Mustard Greens Salad
How to Make this Peach and Daylily Salad
Your peaches need to be peeled, your walnuts and poppyseeds toasted, your dressing made, the shallots chopped, and the daylilies and arugula washed. Thats it, folks- you’ve got peach daylily salad!
Let’s put that in a little more detail, starting with the peaches. Because they are so soft, peeling them with a knife or a peeler can be messy so there’s an alternative method. Boil a pot of water that’s large enough to easily fit your peaches, and while you wait for the water to boil fill a bowl with cold water and a few ice cubes. Once the water boils, add the peaches into the pot but only for about 30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peaches from the boiling water to the bowl of ice water. Let them cool for a couple minutes, and then the skins of the peaches should be fairly easily to remove. Remove the pits, and cut into relatively thin slices.
The baby arugula only needs to be washed and dried. The daylily flowers also need a wash, and then you only need to remove the petals. I discard the bit at the base, but used the stamens in the salad. The shallots should be thinly sliced, and then they too are ready to go.
Both the walnuts and the poppyseeds are toasted in a small skillet. This quick step helps to bring out their flavor. You need to toast them for about 5 minutes in a skillet (using no oil), making sure you stir frequently so that they cook evenly and nothing burns. Add the seeds, nuts, and everything else to a large bowl and move on to make your salad dressing.
The salad dressing is minced garlic, ginger, lemon juice, olive oil, miso paste, maple syrup, and salt and pepper. I like to make my dressings in a clean jar so that I can shake it to combine. I find that the best way to get the dressing thoroughly mixed. Add that to the salad and give it all a good toss so that all the leaves and petals are coated in the dressing.
July’s Peach and Daylily Salad
Ingredients
- 4-5 cups baby arugula
- 15-20 daylily flowers
- 2 large peaches (or 4 small peaches)
- 1 medium shallot
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 1 tbsp. poppyseeds
- 1 lemon (juice only)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tbsp. miso paste
- ½ tsp. minced ginger
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To make this salad, start by separating the daylily petals (you can also include the stamen) and washing and spinning dry the daylilies and arugula. Add them to a large bowl.
- To peel the peaches, boil a pot of water and prepare a bowl of ice water. Once boiling, place the peaches in the pot and boil for 30 seconds. Transfer the peaches to the ice water and let cool. At this point the skins should easily rub off. Cut the peach in half, remove the pit, and slice into thin slices and add them to the salad bowl. Thinly slice the shallots and add them to the bowl as well.
- Roughly chop the walnuts, and add them along with the poppyseeds to a small skillet. Toast for a couple minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant, making sure that nothing burns. Add them to the salad.
- Mince the garlic and ginger, and add them to a jar along with the lemon juice, olive oil, maple syrup, and miso paste. Shake or stir well to combine, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat everything well. Serve and enjoy.
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