Indigenous/Tribal community: Chinook, Straits, Hul’qumi’num, Squamish, Sechelt, Comox, Lummi, Lushootseed, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka’wakw, Ktunaxa, Sisika, Selish, Nez Perce and Great Basin. Many traditional First Nations languages had words for this local food, but the Chinook names, camas or lecamas, came to be the most popularly used. Camas bulbs may come from two related species of […]
Ostrich Fern Fiddleheads
Indigenous/Tribal community: Malecite Ostrich fern fiddleheads are the new foliage of the Matteuccia struthiopteris plant. The fern is called mahsos in the language of the aboriginal Malecite people, a word meaning “good magic”. The fiddleheads are found near floodplains or riverbanks in rich, alluvial soil, or in bottomlands thickets and woods. Fiddleheads have […]
Tancook Island Sauerkraut
Tancook Island sauerkraut is produced from a cabbage cultivar that has been grown on this small Nova Scotia island for over 175 years. The smallish, tight-headed cabbage is perfect for making sauerkraut. The seeds are saved from year to year for replanting and the local cabbage fields are fertilized with seaweed harvested from the island […]
Savignac Tomato
The Savignac tomato is a medium to large sized tomato native to the Lanaudière region of Quebec. Lanaudière is situated northeast of Montreal, between the St. Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains. The variety is well adapted to Quebec’s cool climate and short summers. The fruits are round (8-10 cm in diameter) with a reddish […]
Nodding Onion
Nodding Onion (allium cernuum) The Nodding Onion, also known as sweet onion or barbecuing onion, is a wild plant native to western Canada. Nodding Onions are perennial plants with elongated pinkish colored bulbs, often grown in clusters, and nodding bunches of pink flowers that bloom from May to July. The plant reproduces from seed or […]
Miner’s lettuce
Miner’s lettuce, also known as Winter Purslane, Spring Beauty, or Indian lettuce, is a wild plant native to southwestern British Columbia. The name Miner’s Lettuce comes from its use by prospectors/miners as a salad green and a source of Vitamin C to prevent scurvy. Historically indigenous peoples of the Pacific Coast of North America also […]