What is Quamash?

Quamash, technically referred to as Camassia quamash and sometimes called "Little Camas" or "Camas Lily", is a permanent herb from Western United States and Canada. The native Americans used the bulb of this plant for food. Soon explorers also relied on this edible survival plant. Quamash is still consumed, but rarely, currently as part of traditional Indian cuisine. The plant reaches a height of approximately 18 inches (45.72 cm). In the United States, Quamash is a native of California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana. In Canada, the flower naturally grows in British Columbia and Alberta. The bulbs are harvested in the autumn, well after the petals fall completely and the stems will dry. Those in charge of the fields would clean the rocks and weeds and cultivate the soil. They also needed to remove any nearby "deadly camas" or Zigadenus venosUS , a poisonous flower with a similar look. Families have passed ownership and responsibility for these fields to their children. Lewis and Clark, famous American explorers, also partially relied on bulbs as a food source during their expedition.

Native American Women land bulb in flour used for bread. They also combined bulbs with different grass and baked the mixture in the pit throughout or longer. Soon the settlers followed this example and choked Quamash until they changed. Settlers could then eat it all or crush a cooked, blackened bulb and use it instead of a pumpkin or squash in a cake and similarly. When it is slowly cooked, complex inulin sugar found in bulbs disintegrates into fructose, so the final product is both soft and sweet.

Nowadays, the large field Quamash rarely grows in the wild. Gardeners tend to grow more for the beauty of the plant rather than its release but knewA gardener with an interest in Indian culinary traditions can still consume a bulb of flowers by slow baking or grinding into flour. Boiled, sweetened bulbs can also be combined with other ingredients, including water and butter to create a traditional sauce. Full sun and wet, acidic soil often produces the strongest crop of quamash flowers. However, the plant is relatively adaptable and small bundles continue to grow in the wild in meadows, grassy prairies and wet lowlands.