Breweries and Wineries: Wapato

Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia) is a semiaquatic perennial with starchy walnut- to golf ball–size edible rhizomes. It grows wholly or partially submerged in lakes, ponds, and marshes. The leaves have a characteristic arrowhead shape. It was once an important food plant for the Indian tribes, especially the Chinooks, on Sauvie Island at the mouth of the Willamette River in Oregon and along the lower Columbia. Families gathered the tubers by wading in the water and dislodging the plants with their feet so that they could be easily pulled up, or they hauled up the plants with their hands from a canoe. Wapato plants are harvested in late fall or early winter. The botanist Nancy Turner notes that wapato was baked in hot ashes and has a sweetish flavor similar to chestnuts.