Never tried these. Young shoots are edible. Roots can also be sliced and stewed like water chestnuts.
I read somewhere that early settlers used cattails as candles too.
Hey, you know those cattails fluff can be used as a pillow stuffing and it is supposed to take asthma away.
Haven’t tried it though.
Ive had them - young shoots at the base - peeled - either raw or battered and deep fried - pretty good...Ive enjoyed puffball mushrooms as well - pretty simple identification - not that common though...havent had watercress though it is somewhat common up here...but have also had dandelions, nasturtium flowers (they are peppery and look good in salad)
I’ve enjoyed cattail often.
Best time to harvest the edible tips is when the upper half (pollen stick) is about exposed from the green sheath in the spring and the lower half is still wrapped in the sheath. Harvest both if you are hungry or the supply of cattails is sparse, harvest only the pollen top if you are picky. Use snippers.
Boil them in lightly salted water for 4 or so minutes until tender, like Asparagus in a large frying pan. They will be soft, almost to where the pollen fibers fall off. Drain and serve.
Add a little butter, maybe sprinkle on spices, and enjoy while they are hot on the stick. The flavor is really nice, on par with good corn on the cob but richer. You can get an appetite for it, and every spring it becomes a craving. The pollen tips are easier to eat, you get more good food for less picking, while the lower parts are a little different flavor, more like spinach than corn. Still very good.
The trick is to catch them on the day the tops are out but the bottom parts are still in the sheath. LIke strawberries or Zuccini, you have to pick them on the day they are ready. It calls for watching the patch you want to pick.