Native Food Plants of the Pacific Northwest

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Native Food Plants of the Pacific Northwest
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What is Plant Cultivation?
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Plant cultivation by natives

• Intentional burning to create plant habitat
• Utilized tidal lands to cultivate certain plants
• Families owned land that they took care of and
  utilized over generations

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Plants used for food

• Many more utilized than shown
• Used for food and medicine
• Some cultivated, some gathered

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Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia)

• Submerged at the edges of lakes, ponds, and
  streams
• Resemble the Irish potato in texture and
  appearance, but have a sweetish flavor
• Eaten in the Frazer Valley and along the Columbia
  River
• Would keep for several months when raw and
  unwashed

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Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)

• Prolific throughout the region
• Ate by many tribes in region
• Bulbs ate fresh as well as cooked
• Used by some tribes to add flavor to other foods

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Blue Camas (Cammasia quamash)

• Grows in meadows
• Used and found throughout the region
• Except for choice varieties of dried salmon,
  there was no article of food that was more widely
  traded than camas. (Erna Gunther)
• Bulbs steamed
• Sweet taste because of the fructose formed during
  the cooking process
• Very important for potlucks

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Rice Root (Fritillaria camschatcensis)

• Grows in moist open areas, ranging from sea level
  to mountain meadows
• British Columbian First Peoples cultivated and
  owned crops
• Rice-like bulbs are eaten
• Prepared by boiling, sometimes mashed
• Can be bitter, even after they are boiled

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Tiger Lily (Lilium columbianum)

• Found in damp open woods and meadows, from
  sea-level to sub-alpine elevations
• Found throughout region
• Bulbs are steamed and eaten
• Taste like bitter roasted chestnuts

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Vaccinium Family

• Huckleberries, blueberries, cranberries
• Grew in various parts of the region, depending on
  species
• Very few species stored because of the thin shell
  on the berries
• Used by all the tribes when in season

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Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

• Found in humid costal forests
• Ranges from the coast to the Cascade mountains
• Ate them fresh or dried them the winter
• Made into cakes and dried for storage
• Used today widely in making preserves and jams
• Have a mealy or grainy texture

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Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)

• Found in shaded swamps, damp woods and moist
  clearings along roads
• Ranging from the coastal regions to the cascades
• Both the sprouts and berries are were eaten
• The sprouts could be either eaten raw or steamed,
  after being peeled
• Families sometimes owned patches of berries
• Tough to cake, so usually eaten fresh

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Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)

• Prefer shaded forests on the coast and open rocky
  areas toward the interior regions
• Once in much larger abundance, now less due to
  development
• Either eaten fresh or picked early and allowed to
  ripen and eaten later in the year

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Possible Agricultural Uses

• Rubus family of berries
• Hazelnut within permaculture or agrofesestry
  design
• Camas as a alternative crop for a sweetener
• Wapato as a potato substitute