Laagaq
Fritillaria camschatcensis (L.) Ker-Gawler
Plant
Chocolate lily, or rice lily, is a medium-sized herb with lance-shaped leaves that grows in Kodiak meadows. The plant has brown unpleasant-smelling flowers, and edible, rice-like bulbs and bulblets.
Gathering: People dig lily bulbs in the summer and leave some so that more will grow the following year. The bulbs are dug with a stick with a nail on the end, a spoon, a spike with a curved end, a shovel, or by hand. They can be preserved in water or brine, frozen, or cooked in seal oil and stored in a container.
Food: Lily bulbs were once an important food. They can be eaten raw, but people typically boil the bulbs till tender and eat them with oil. Some people mix them with berries and sour dock, add them to mashed potato akutaq, or use them in a stuffing for baked fish. Other people roast the bulbs over a fire.
