 |
BISCUIT ROOT, also Bread Root (Lomatium cous )(Wats.) Coult. & Rose, Warm Springs, Indian name "Coush" or "Cous," pronounced Ka-oos. |
| |
BISCUIT ROOT, also Bread Root (Lomatium cous )(Wats.) Coult. & Rose, Warm Springs, Indian name "Coush" or "Cous," pronounced Ka-oos. |
"Coush", a variety of biscuit root, grows on dry, rocky hillsides and flats. It ripens in April and is dug after the seeds are formed, at which time it is easy to peel. It is cooked fresh as a vegetable or it may be dried whole by the same procedure as for bitter root. It may be ground, usually in a food chopper, and then spread out for drying. The small dry pellets are stirred into hot liquids (soups or meat broths) and serve as a slight thickening like potatoes or meal. In this ground form it is more readily usable than when dried whole. However, hunters like to slip a handful of the whole dried root in their pockets for snacks. Like "luksh," dried "coush" is often cooked with salmon for seasoning. It is also cooked with camas and a small amount of sugar. Nutritionally a one-cup serving of fresh coush provides about one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowance of vitamin C. The value decreases in the frozen product over long periods of storage and is lost completely so far as the dried product is concerned. Coush contains amounts of iron that may make significant contributions to the diet. One cup provides about one-third the Recommended Dietary Allowance for a man and about one-fifth the allowance for a woman.
