Question for you "Natives"

[mrmoskillz]

What kind of roots?  What do you use them for?

[PlateauNDN]

2 are commonly mashed into a paste or dried and eaten whole(my favorite).  1 is about the size of a nickel to a qauarter if it's a good winter and the other about a golf ball.  the 3rd resembles spaghetti but shorter, about 3 to 6 inches and it can be dried and served  or mixed with salmon in a soup   these show up low and then follow the melting of the snow up till end of may.  then another root isn't ready til end of summer and its similar to a carrot.  then theres wild onions and wild potatoes.

[inchtowntracking]

Are you digging up camas and bitter root. Uaslly do the potatoes when out hunting and need a snack.

[carpsniperg2]

We have lots of death camas on our place Not the stuff you want to eat!

[PlateauNDN]

We have lots of death camas on our place Not the stuff you want to eat!

Which pic of the plants do you have?  Or is it a different plant top?  We're gathering for our childrens name givings this summer or fall so we'll be digging and gathering a lot of foods.

[Arteman]

2 are commonly mashed into a paste or dried and eaten whole(my favorite).  1 is about the size of a nickel to a qauarter if it's a good winter and the other about a golf ball.  the 3rd resembles spaghetti but shorter, about 3 to 6 inches and it can be dried and served  or mixed with salmon in a soup   these show up low and then follow the melting of the snow up till end of may.  then another root isn't ready til end of summer and its similar to a carrot.  then theres wild onions and wild potatoes.

Is there a market for these different edible roots, be neat to try something different I've never had.  Also to the OP, good topic of interest.

[Miles]

PlateauNDN, can you post up some pictures of the actualy roots?  I'd be interested in seeing what they look like, along with any other edible plant photos you might have.

[Yak-NDN]

a few

[PlateauNDN]

2 are commonly mashed into a paste or dried and eaten whole(my favorite).  1 is about the size of a nickel to a qauarter if it's a good winter and the other about a golf ball.  the 3rd resembles spaghetti but shorter, about 3 to 6 inches and it can be dried and served  or mixed with salmon in a soup   these show up low and then follow the melting of the snow up till end of may.  then another root isn't ready til end of summer and its similar to a carrot.  then theres wild onions and wild potatoes.

Is there a market for these different edible roots, be neat to try something different I've never had.  Also to the OP, good topic of interest.

Not outside the Tribal Communities.  The State had classified some of our traditional roots as noxious weeds in the past and was tryng to eliminate them from certain areas.  That occurred not to long ago and I believe they still consider some roots noxious weeds and from what I heard some programs and at least 1 or 2 of our Council Members are trying to get them removed from the list so they don't destroy fields of them. 

Thanks Yak for sharing and I don't have any pics of the actually edible portions.  I've already got mine stored away til later this year.

[HairTrigger]

@ pleateaundn and
@yak-ndn
how come you dont share about the one that works better then the lil blue pill?

[PlateauNDN]

@ pleateaundn and
@yak-ndn
how come you dont share about the one that works better then the lil blue pill?

    Heck no, that's a secret, you can't be giving out secrets like that.  Pretty soon companies will be tearing up the hills trying to figure out which plant it is trying to market and sell it.  

[Pathfinder101]

2 are commonly mashed into a paste or dried and eaten whole(my favorite).  1 is about the size of a nickel to a qauarter if it's a good winter and the other about a golf ball.  the 3rd resembles spaghetti but shorter, about 3 to 6 inches and it can be dried and served  or mixed with salmon in a soup   these show up low and then follow the melting of the snow up till end of may.  then another root isn't ready til end of summer and its similar to a carrot.  then theres wild onions and wild potatoes.

Is there a market for these different edible roots, be neat to try something different I've never had.  Also to the OP, good topic of interest.

You might be able to find a market for the camas roots, they taste a little like a very strong turnip and add a nice flavor to stews.  I don't think you would find much of a market for Bitterroots.  They are aptly named.   
Cool pics Plat.

Roosies are native BTW.  Read Lewis and Clark's journals.  That's all they ate the winter they lived at Fort Clatsop.  They ate so much elk they actually got sick of it and began to go to lengths to find other foods...

[PlateauNDN]

2 are commonly mashed into a paste or dried and eaten whole(my favorite).  1 is about the size of a nickel to a qauarter if it's a good winter and the other about a golf ball.  the 3rd resembles spaghetti but shorter, about 3 to 6 inches and it can be dried and served  or mixed with salmon in a soup   these show up low and then follow the melting of the snow up till end of may.  then another root isn't ready til end of summer and its similar to a carrot.  then theres wild onions and wild potatoes.

Is there a market for these different edible roots, be neat to try something different I've never had.  Also to the OP, good topic of interest.

You might be able to find a market for the camas roots, they taste a little like a very strong turnip and add a nice flavor to stews.  I don't think you would find much of a market for Bitterroots.  They are aptly named.   
Cool pics Plat.   If you tried some of my grandmothers methods of preparing them you'd think twice about which one was marketable.  I can't tell you how many non-tribal members have been hooked once they've tried the more popular way of preparing the bitterroot or in our language pyaxi (p-yuck-ee) it doesn't sound like "yuck" but relatively close.

Roosies are native BTW.  Read Lewis and Clark's journals.  That's all they ate the winter they lived at Fort Clatsop.  They ate so much elk they actually got sick of it and began to go to lengths to find other foods...

[Pathfinder101]

2 are commonly mashed into a paste or dried and eaten whole(my favorite).  1 is about the size of a nickel to a qauarter if it's a good winter and the other about a golf ball.  the 3rd resembles spaghetti but shorter, about 3 to 6 inches and it can be dried and served  or mixed with salmon in a soup   these show up low and then follow the melting of the snow up till end of may.  then another root isn't ready til end of summer and its similar to a carrot.  then theres wild onions and wild potatoes.

Is there a market for these different edible roots, be neat to try something different I've never had.  Also to the OP, good topic of interest.

You might be able to find a market for the camas roots, they taste a little like a very strong turnip and add a nice flavor to stews.  I don't think you would find much of a market for Bitterroots.  They are aptly named.   
Cool pics Plat.   If you tried some of my grandmothers methods of preparing them you'd think twice about which one was marketable.  I can't tell you how many non-tribal members have been hooked once they've tried the more popular way of preparing the bitterroot or in our language pyaxi (p-yuck-ee) it doesn't sound like "yuck" but relatively close.

Roosies are native BTW.  Read Lewis and Clark's journals.  That's all they ate the winter they lived at Fort Clatsop.  They ate so much elk they actually got sick of it and began to go to lengths to find other foods...

My stepdad was a Spokane.  I thought I had tried them every which way under the sun... but I am willing to accept the idea that there may be a way out there to make Bitterroots "not bitter" .  I have not seen one though...   

[HairTrigger]

Boil them more then once path 2 to 3 times add salt an pepper if you wish