Mains
Waterblommetjie bredie
Also known as waterblommetjiebredie
In winter the flowers of the Cape pondweed, a plant of the Western Cape's seasonal ponds and vleis, go into a bredie with mutton or lamb.
- TraditionCape
- Kind of dishMains
- SeasonJune to OctoberWaterblommetjies can be harvested only while the plant is in flower, from about June to mid-October, according to CapeNature.
- OccasionAny day of the week
The story
The flowers and buds of Aponogeton distachyos, a floating plant of the Western Cape's seasonal ponds and vleis, are cooked with onions, mutton or lamb and potatoes, and cooks often add a few leaves of wild sorrel for sharpness. Waterblommetjies means little water flowers, and like other bredies this one is served with rice.
Many of those ponds dry out in summer. Because only the flowers are eaten, the fresh dish follows the plant's flowering season, which CapeNature puts at roughly June to mid-October. The flowers are sold fresh in the winter months, and tinned waterblommetjies are sometimes available too.
They were traditionally gathered wild as a vegetable, and SANBI notes that demand has since led to commercial plantings in ponds around the province.
Stories
Related reading
Sources
Check out these sources
- Aponogeton distachyos: the waterblommetjie · CapeNature
- Aponogeton distachyos · SANBI PlantZAfrica
- The bittersweet (and spicy) history of South African cuisine (Tony Karon) · Explore Parts Unknown
- bredie, n. · Dictionary of South African English (Rhodes University Dictionary Unit)
