Yampah...

Yampah...

Perideridia gairdneri or common yampa
.. is wide-spread in this Wallowa country.
A desert parsley that smells like carrot
.. and a choice staple wherever it is found.

Late spring blooming, often where cous
.. and camas grow. This trio of plants
provides awesome abundance and nutrition,
.. bounty from natures' garden.

I know some high meadows on Snake
.. River divide that are almost overpowering
in their scent when yampa comes to bloom.
.. Tall white waving inflorences and lacy leaved.

White cylindrical carrot-like roots
.. mildly nut-like and strongly carrot-flavored.
Yampahs like deep soil and are often
.. abundant in rocky thin soils.

Eaten raw, baked or boiled, dried and ground
.. these roots are a treat... and their seed
makes a fine caraway-flavored seasoning.
.. Yet, few today even dare to try them.

--r.anderson 28Jan2011

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/ofp/per_gai.htm

Camas...

Camas . . .

A late spring showy lily
.. turns Wallowa prairies and swales
..... a deep purplish hue . . .

Elk often snip heads
.. yet across Zumwalt prairie
..... the bloom seems vast.

Easily dug, often harvested,
.. the raw bulbs are edible,
..... a mucilagineous and starchy bulb.

Long slow cooking
.. as in a pit oven, overnight
..... converts starch to fructose.

Emerging black gooey lumps
.. taste awesomely sweet
..... a treat in sugar poor environment.

Camas baked with couse
.. combines the sweetness
..... with potato-like starchiness.

Combined camas-couse
.. bakings, shaped and dried
..... make stable long-term staples.

Vernal wetland restoration,
.. garden-stock for comestibles
..... and showy garden color, today.

Ancient ethnobotanical traditions
.. with neoteric applications
..... offer multiple rewards for foraging.

-- r.anderson