What did the Indians of the northwest coast eat?

What did the Indians of the northwest coast eat?

Food. Northwest Coast tribes had no pressing food problems. They could get plenty of fish, shellfish, and even whales, seals, and porpoises from the sea and local rivers. The men built weirs (underwater enclosures) and traps to catch huge hauls of salmon and candlefish as they swam upstream to spawn.

What fruits did the Native Americans eat?

Other foods that could be found naturally in the Americas and were often eaten by American Indians included eggs, honey, maple syrup and sugar, salt, nuts (including peanuts, pine nuts, cashews, hickory nuts, and acorns,) fruit (including cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, chokecherries, wild plums.

What did Native Americans do with berries?

American Indian tribes harvested large quantities of blueberries to be eaten raw or dried for later use. Dried berries were added whole to puddings and cakes or ground and added to flour, soups and meat as flavoring (Davidson, 83). Blueberries were also a commonly mixed with dry, ground meat to make pemmican.

What kind of berries grow in the Pacific Northwest?

Edible Berries of the Pacific Northwest

• bearberry (aka kinnikinnick)
• black currant.
• black huckleberry.
• blackberry.
• blueberry (aka bilberry)
• bunchberry.
• chokecherry.
• cloudberry.

What kind of food did the North West eat?

Salmon was a major source of food, along with other fish such as trout, halibut and herring, followed by acorns, hundreds of different plants, marine mammals (whales, otters, seals), bears, beavers, lynx, deer, and small game like rabbits and hares.

What season did the Indians pick berries?

In spring, they hunted, fished and picked berries. In summer, they grew crops (beans, corn, and squash). In fall, they harvested crops and hunted for foods to preserve and keep for the winter. The Native Americans used natural resources in every aspect of their lives.

What berries did Cree eat?

The lingonberry grows wild across northern Canada, Alaska and part of the northeastern USA. Known as “wisakimin” by the Cree Indians, “keepmingyuk” by the Inuits and “nissimininanakashi” by the Naskapis, the vitamin-rich lingonberries were consumed fresh, cooked and sun-dried.

Are creeping raspberries edible?

You can eat creeping raspberry fruit — but don’t expect much more than a mouthful. While the orange fruit is edible and tasty, each raspberry is tiny and the plant does not produce huge yields. That means there’s only so much room for fruit production.

Can you eat salmonberries?

Young shoots can be eaten both raw or cooked like asparagus. Salmonberry has also been used to flavor beer and wine. As many other endemic plants, salmonberry has several special medicinal properties. It can be consumed as a tea to treat diarrhea or dysentery.

What kind of berries are native to the Pacific Northwest?

Great in: Jams, jellies, pies, and cobblers, or just eaten as-is. Origins: Native to the West coast of North America, salmonberries were traditionally eaten with salmon or salmon roe by Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Color and shape: Mature berries are most commonly a yellow-orange. Younger berries may appear red.

What kind of food did the Northwest Indians eat?

Inland tribes also depended on fish to a great extent, especially salmon. However, meat, berries, nuts and roots formed a greater part of their diet than of the diet of the coastal tribes. Berries were eaten fresh or cooked into a pulpy mass that was then poured into wooden frames lined with skunk cabbage leaves where they remained until dry.

Where to find red berries on the west coast?

Originally native to the British Isles (often used as a decorative shrub in gardens and popular during the Christmas holidays), this evergreen plant is an aggressively invasive species to the West Coast and is found in abundance across Washington stretching all the way to California. Color and Shape: Bright red, round berries.

When is the best time to eat berries in the Pacific Northwest?

Originally introduced for fruit production, they are now naturalized and widespread throughout the Pacific Northwest and are easy to spot by their large, vigorous, thicket-forming growth and sharp spines covering the stems. Peak Season: July through September. Great in: Jams, jellies, pies, and cobblers, or just eaten as-is.