I have been curious about the edibility of this plant ever since 1994 when my friend Owen fed me some Skunk Cabbage roots that badly burned my tongue and left me with sores for a week. I learned the hard way that raw Skunk Cabbage is NOT edible. However, Erna Gunther wrote in Ethnobotany of Western WA that the Skokomish steamed and ate the young leaves and the Quinault roasted the white part of the [leaf] stalks. The Quileute and Chinook also ate the roots (although I am inclined to believe that the white leaf stalks, which extend through the soil for several inches, may have been mistaken by ethnographers for the roots). (…)

I have experimented with both steaming and boiling the leaf stalks and found that boiling does a better job of rendering the stalks harmless. All parts of Skunk Cabbage contain long crystals of calcium oxalate called raphide that painfully embed in mucous tissues. Boiling cannot destroy raphides but it may fix the crystals into a starch matrix that prevent the sharp points from damaging our soft tissues. Leslie Haskin wrote in her 1934 publication, Wild Flowers of the Pacific, that Native Americans in Western Washington cooked Skunk Cabbage roots with hemlock cambium and it is interesting to speculate if the starchy cambium provided additional substrate for binding raphides. Another matter of speculatation is that raphides are most concentrated in the perennial roots and least concentrated in the new leaf growth, which may explain why the young leaf shoots were traditionally eaten. After boiling for about ½ hour in two changes of water, I only noticed a slight tingle on the sides of my tongue. The leaves have a mild flavor and substantial quality that is very similar to cabbage. [continue]

See? Now you know what vegetable to have with your steak tonight. See you in the swamp!

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

But today we found a stream where we hadn’t expected a stream to be, and gorgeous swamp lanterns to reward us for a long hike. This is one of them.

Previously: Swamp lanterns in a Gabriola stream.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Quite tropical-looking, don’t you think? This leaf is about four and a half feet tall.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

They’re poking up out of the water. Then there’s a gap between the water and the ice, and the ice is still affixed to the swamp lanterns.

(And where was I when I took this photo? In the water, of course.)

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Spring on Gabriola means swamp lanterns (skunk cabbage) will be blooming in shady streams and wetlands all over the island. Today we wandered into such a stream, more or less by accident, and had to wade though it to get out of the woods again. There were thousands and thousands of these plants, each a shining bit of cheer.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Early First Nations people knew that cooking skunk cabbage leaves and roots in many changes of water neutralized the chemical to provide a reliable but not very choice source of calories when food was scarce.

According to B.C. ethnobotanist Nancy Turner, the waxy leaves of skunk cabbage were used to wrap, carry, dry and store many foods. When vegetables, meat and fish were steamed, it was common to encase each food separately in skunk cabbage leaves. Not only were the juices of each food isolated but the wrapping imparted no additional flavour.

Skunk cabbage leaves were also folded into cones to make disposable, biodegradable drinking cups.

In times of famine when the Haida had no bait for their yew fish hooks, they used its roots as lures. The tuber looks like a bunch of fleshy white fingers and can trick a halibut into thinking it’s gulping up an octopus.

The whole article is fascinating; I had a hard time deciding which part of it to quote here. Don’t miss the bit about the plant’s temperature.

[Update: I've removed the link to the article, as the Tri-City news has removed it from their website..]

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

They’re just tiny things now, but will look like this when they bloom. Impressive, no?

The skunk cabbage page at wildmanstevebrill.com has lots more information about the plant, including a good reason to avoid eating skunk cabbage:

Marginally edible at best, skunk cabbage contains calcium oxalate crystals, which cause the must unpleasant burning sensation of the mouth and tongue. Boiling doesn’t dispel this quality. I once dried young skunk cabbage leaves in a food dehydrator for a week, following instructions from Lee Peterson’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Then I simmered them with lots of other vegetables, tomatoes, spices, and beans, making chili. I finally dispelled the calcium oxalate crystals from the skunk cabbage — unfortunately, they went into my mouth!

After cursing out Peterson for an hour before the burning and stinging of my tongue and mouth, caused by one bite (which I quickly spat out), subsided, I flushed the entire recipe down the toilet, and the plumbing’s never been the same since! [continue]

(From Gabriolan.ca.)