Food

Spruce

As food

Spruce gum, dzèh kwan' (G) dzih drinh' (T), is the hard, older kind of tree sap or pitch, with a red or rose colour. It can be picked year round from the trees with a knife, stick or fingers. It can then be chewed like a piece of gum. Both the gum and the juice it produces can be swallowed as you chew. Spruce gum was commonly given to children as a treat when out in the bush cutting wood or picking berries.

As medicine

English

Birch

As food
Birch syrup (k’ii chų’ (G), k’ii chuu (T)) can be collected for one to two weeks in mid-June. The syrup, which is used as a topping for pancakes and other foods, is made by boiling down the sap until it thickens. A lot of sap must be collected to make a small amount of syrup.
 
As medicine
English

Willow

As fuel
The small, dry twigs found among branches on the willow tree are good for starting fires. Mary Francis (COPE,c) said that willow was used to make smoke for drying meat. 
 
As food
In the spring, the Gwich’in peel bark from the new shoots and lick the sweet juice, chew the stem or eat the tips. Annie Norbert said,

           Mrs. Norris used to eat the pussy buds just like that.

English

Red willow (alder)

As food
Annie Benoit of Aklavik says that scraping off the dark outer covering of the bark is an option before eating or boiling it. Medicine from red willow is considered as valuable as spruce gum tea. The bark can be collected year round from any size of red willow.
 
As fuel
Effie Francis (COPE) preferred alder wood for drying fish:
English

Labrador tea - dwarf

As food
The leaves and stems can be picked year round and boiled into a tea. In the spring, the white flowers can also be collected and used to make tea. Muskeg tea is considered good for children and is known to be a relaxant and high in vitamin C. Many Gwich’in Elders, including Ida Stewart from Fort McPherson, add a regular tea bag for flavor.
 
As medicine
English

Onions, wild

As food
In spring the flower stalk is generally longer than the leaves and is topped with a pink or purple flower. The leaves and bulb are both edible. Laura Pascal (COPE) and Sarah Peters (COPE, b) both talked about using onions for food.
 
Source: Andre, Alestine and Alan Fehr, Gwich'in Ethnobotany, 2nd ed. (2002)      
English

White Moss (Reindeer lichen)

This lichen grows in large mats in spruce forests, where it is often eaten by caribou. According to Alfred Semple, Lazarus Sittichinli said it takes a long time to grow. He also told Alfred that if you eat animals that eat willow, like moose, you will get hungry more quickly than eating animals that eat lichen, like caribou. William Teya said, as children, they were taught to respect the lichen. Children were not supposed to play on it and if you took some, you were to pay for it.

English

Rhubarb, wild

As food

The picking time for this plant lasts only about two weeks. The rhubarb plant is ready to eat in mid-June when it is about 20 to 25 centimeters tall (eight to 10 inches). When the plant is young it can be eaten raw, after first removing the leaves and seedy tops from the plant, and peeling off the outer skin. It is very crunchy and juicy. Once the plant has gone to seed or has many white flowers, the plant is too dry to eat.

English

Fireweed - tall

As food
The pink flowers of the fireweed plant are edible and can be mixed in with jello and salads. In the spring, the new shoots can be cooked like asparagus, chopped and eaten as greens, or mixed in with salads.
 
As medicine
The whole plant can be boiled and the liquid rubbed on the skin for rashes. A poultice is made from the leaves and applied to burns, bee stings, aches and swelling caused by arthritis.
English

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Food