Camas

U.S. Forest Service

One of the most important vegetable plants for the Native peoples of the high plateau was the camas bulb. They were usually eaten raw, boiled, or roasted in earthen ovens. But they could also be ground and shaped into cakes for storage, for the women to cook later in boiling water. Camas bulbs have a sweet taste and roasted camas has a “smoky fig” flavor.

Creative Commons

Native women used willow sticks to dig up the small bulbs after the pretty blue flowers had withered. They scraped off the black skin to revel a pure-white bulb, which can vary in size from one-half inch to over two inches in diameter.

A member of the lily family, camas were first introduced to Lewis and Clark in September 1805.