We strongly recommend foraging with someone experienced, or looking at pictures and descriptions from several online or printed resources to be sure of identification before harvesting and eating. Bluebird Forest Garden and the author of this content assume no liability for improper identification of wild foods.
Wild growing roots were an important source of starch and other nutrients for the Native Peoples of Idaho. In general perennial roots such as the Arrowleaf Balsamroot, camas, and lomatium would be harvested just after the bloom, as the foliage is dying back. At this time of year (mid-summer, usually) the leaves have done their work for the year and have filled the root with nutrition for surviving the winter and producing next year’s foliage, so the root is more plump and full of nutrition than other times of the year.
Arrowleaf Balsamroot This is another native edible root, which I have seen growing on a dry, rocky hillside, but not in the abundance that would encourage me to harvest it. It has large grey-green, slightly fuzzy, wavy leaves that bend upward on either side of the leaf stalk. They have a yellow bloom with a brown center, and the seeds are edible, although the ones that I saw had all the blooms eaten off by the deer!
Blue Prairie Camas This was a staple of the Native Americans, including the Nimiipuu. They gathered it in the summer, baked it in steam pits, dried it into powder and stored it to thicken soups or make bread. It has rich purple-blue flowers that in some places turn entire prairies into seas of waving blooms in early summer. The bulbs are best shortly after blooming. Some people recommend harvesting during bloom since it is easier to tell them apart from the death camas at that time. Death camas has a much lighter pink to very light purple bloom and the blooms are bunched near the top of the blooming stem. The edible Blue Prairie Camas has its blooms more evenly distributed down the blooming stalk, is generally larger, and has around 24 veins on each leaf as compared to the death camas which only has around 12 veins per leaf. I grow and eat the edible Blue Prairie Camas, as well as save seed from it for the Snake River Seed Cooperative.
Bracken Fern The tuberous roots of the fern bracken are a native food that I haven’t eaten yet. It seems they are best baked, after peeling the outer layer off. They are very high in starch.
Burdock This naturalized ‘weed’ is a common, wild-growing, nutritious edible that grows in many areas of Idaho. It even contains some important dietary oils. I’ve only seen one plant in my garden so far, so I haven’t harvested any yet. I’ve read that the tap root is edible in the first or second year and should be peeled before boiling to remove a bitter flavor. In the first year the plant just makes leaves which are large, wavy, green on the top, lighter green underneath, and roughly heart shaped. In the second year, it grows a vertical, branching stem and the burrs from which it gets its name.
Cattail This common native plant has been called the supermarket of the swamp, because it has a variety of edible uses, from the tubers to the new growing shoots in the spring to the pollen later on in the summer. I’ve tried the root and found it quite palatable. The roots are best harvested in late summer through early spring. Cattails grow in swamps, shallow ponds and still water. The leaves are flat; the blooming stalks are round and hollow, and both can grow between four and six feet tall.
Chicory This plant looks a lot like dandelion in its first year, but with a slight fuzz on the leaves. Both are non-native and commonly considered weeds, but contain many valuable nutrients and can be an important food source. Chicory root is often dried, roasted and used for tea. I like to stir fry the roots and plants early in the spring of the second year, before they bloom. The blooming stalks are tall, fibrous and branched, with blue flowers that have a thin whorl of petals and are usually only open for a few hours.
Curly, or yellow dock I eat the young leaves of this naturalized member of the dock family, and occasionally I’ll eat one of the long skinny taproots, from whose yellow color this dock gets it’s name. The root is higher in medicinal qualities so I eat it in small portions. The taproot is yellow, the leaves are dark green, serrated, long and fairly narrow.
Dandelion Like chicory the root of this naturalized plant can be dried, roasted and used for tea. And like chicory, I dig entire plants just before they bloom and fry or steam them — a big mess of greens and roots, and maybe a few blossoms as well.
False Soloman’s Seal This small native plant grows from a perennial tuber that is edible when cooked. To harvest the root without killing the plant, trace the tuber by laying open the soil above its horizontal course. It will have nobs on the top indicating the previous years growth crowns. Go back several crowns from the current crown and cut the tuber there, harvesting whatever is behind of previous years’ growth. The root of the very similar true Soloman’s Seal may not good to eat, so be sure you can tell them apart. The berries of False Soloman’s Seal are redish or striped, ripen in late summer in clusters at the end of the stems, and are edible, but said to be laxative if eaten in large quantities. The true Soloman’s Seal berries dangle in a long row along the underneath of the stem below the leaves, and ripen to blue, and are not edible. I’ve read conflicting things about the tuber of the true Soloman’s Seal: from edible when cooked, to not edible (at all!) to edible-if-you-boil-it-in-three-different-waters. I’ve not eaten it yet, so proceed at your own pace of exploration!
Lomatium This is the Latin name for a family of edible native plants that are abundant on the dry hillsides Idaho. Common names include Biscuit Root, Cous Root and Indian Celery. The tubers of this plant are edible, especially when cooked and can be made into a flour as well. The leaves and leaf stems are edible and the seeds and blossoms (beautiful yellow umbels) may be used as spices. Lomatium is in the same broad family as water and poison hemlock, but is usually shorter and prefers much drier habitat, but still good to double check characteristics before eating.
Mountain hollyhock, or mallow This native plant is so beautiful (and edible!) at all stages of growth. In mid spring it sends up thick stems from its extensive, woody root system. The tender centers of the stems may be eaten like asparagus, and later on the seeds and leaves are edible as well. In the summer the bush gets about five feet high with dark green, almost waxy leaves that are shaped like maple leaves and delicate pink blossoms with a distinctive spiral pattern to the petals before they unfold. The seeds (also edible) are encased in spiny burrs that are quite hard to handle without gloves. I dig the root in the fall, after the foliage has been killed by frost.
Queen Anne’s Lace Also known as wild carrot, this naturalized biennial has edible roots and foliage in its first year, and edible blooms and seed in the second year. Caution should be exercised, however as the seeds have some medicinal properties and have been used as a birth control in days gone by. The tap roots have a tough inner core and in some soils will be too small to be worth harvesting, but in rich soils have a tender outer layer. The outer layer is easily stripped off the inner core after boiling.
Sheep Sorrel This is a very tasty naturalized edible that’s good raw or cooked and adds a lot of (sour!) flavor to salads and stir fries. The plant can look completely different depending on where it grows: in shade it has large green leaves that have a unique shape with ‘ears’ near the the base of the leaves, and occasional reddish yellow seed heads. In full sun the leaves are usually inconspicuous and the red seed heads are all you really notice. It grows from an aggressively creeping rhizome that is often only an inch or so under the soil surface. The rhizomes (horizontal, creeping roots), leaves and seeds are all edible!
Soloman’s Seal See: False Soloman’s Seal, above
Spring Beauty Also called Indian Potatoes, this beautiful little native member of the miner’s lettuce family grows from a perennial, starch bulb that apparently is similar to potatoes, and can even be eaten raw. The leaves are also edible. There’s one plant in my garden growing wild, and other than that I think it mostly grows at higher elevations, so I’ve yet to find it in sufficient
Sweet Cicely An Idaho native that was used by tribal people as a seasoning. Both the leaves and root are edible and have a strong anise or licorice scent. This is a good way to distinguish it from toxic members of the carrot family, such as poison and water hemlock. The long black seeds of the Sweet Cicely variety that I’ve found are very apt to get stuck in socks during a walk across a meadow, making it easy to find and identify. The root would be old and tough by the time they are going to seed, however.quantities to try eating it.
Thimbleberry This plant has edible roots, as well as delicious berries. I’ve never gone to the work of digging up the roots yet, but whenever I’m clearing more garden, I’ll keep them in mind!
Thistle I’ve eaten the tap roots of the native Bull Thistle and found them very hearty and tasty. I’ve read that the slightly tuberous roots of the Canadian Thistle are good eating, too, but so far I haven’t bothered to dig and eat them. Thistle root can be dried and/or roasted for tea, or boiled to add heartiness to a soup. The roots are best harvested before the plant blooms.
Wild Ginger This is a neat native root with a distinctive ginger flavor. The root is much, much smaller than (and not related to) Asian ginger, but I have found it growing abundantly enough to warrant harvesting a good taste of it. I’ve found it growing in very moist, shady areas, near creeks and swamps. The leaves are very dark green, horizontal to the ground and have lobes behind the stem so that the leaves almost join or overlap behind the leaf stem. The roots are yellowish, round and rhizome like, spreading horizontally a few inches below the soil surface. Wild ginger root has a blood thinning quality and may cause kidney damage, so it should be eaten in small amounts (which is easy since it’s so small!).