Nutritional significance of two important root foods (springbank clover and pacific silverweed) used by native people on the coast of British Columbia

The roots of Pacific silvenveed (Potentilla anserina spp. pacifica) and the rhizomes of springbank clover (Trifolium wormskioldii) are two foods known to have been used extensively by native groups of British Columbia. Reported here are nutrient content and scores on acceptability of these foods gathered and prepared with two methods used by the Nitinaht and Nuxalk (Bella Coola) Indians. It was found that silverweed and clover “roots” have excellent contents of Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn in comparison to the potato, which is the modern replacement food in the Indian diet. Steaming or pit‐cooking did not appreciably change the contents of six minerals studied. Overall mean acceptability scores on a 5‐point hedonic scale were 3.0 and 3.5 for pit‐cooked and steamed silverweed roots and 4.1 and 3.7 for pit‐cooked and steamed clover rhizomes.