Tsass and its Importance to the Ahtna

Tsass, the root of hedysarum alpinum (also known as Indian Potato) is cited by Ahtna Incorporated as being the “…most important plant food of the Ahtna other than berries.” There are recordings of Ahtna elders remembering the harvesting of tsass. Additionally, there are also several references to tsass found in the Ahtna language.

Ahtna Elder Mary Ann Billum remembered harvesting tsass stating that it was, “Good to eat in August and September and once in a while we eat it the 4th of July. No good in the spring time. Long ago, woman, she do that, she do that (dig up roots with a digging stick). Dirt all out, she pull it up. Three times she pack and she go home, pack it a long way home. She come home and make hole in the ground. And then she put it back and cover it up and uses spruce bark. And then she put dirt on top. And then in the wintertime she take and shovel again. Shovel snow off. And she open and the tsass is there. And in the wintertime she cook it. Oh nice to eat!” 

“About that much [an armful] you cut it and cut it slicing cross wise and put’em in native plate, wood. Then fish oil you put’em in. Boil it in water, take it up when it is soft like potatoes. Big as a finger, too big no good! With fish oil good. Put’em in dish. Cut it, cut it. Oh nice! No more talk. You make me hungry! Dig’em with sharp stick and hold them (the plant) and pull. Spring time no good to eat. Roots way down… Little wet ground, pull it out. Now to dry.”

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Another Ahtna Elder Lottie Sabon recalled, “Wild potatoes called tsass could be roasted in coals or boiled, but were generally not eaten raw. They were collected in September because in the spring they were too woody.”

Phrases found in the Ahtna language pertaining to “tsass” can be found in James Kari’s Ahtna Athabascan Dictionary (1990). These phrases include: “tsaas t’ghil’aen - he gathered Indian potatoes”; “tsaas - Indian potatoes, but not for fresh berries or green plants”; “tsaas Dił ael - hang up the Indian potatoes!”; “tsaas kahwghałcets’ - I dug up Indian potatoes”; “tsaas daldaetl’ - he ate Indian potatoes”; “Una ’Tsaas C’ilaen Na’ - Clearwater Creek, lit. ‘its creek has Indian potatoes creek.’”

It is easy to see why tsass has been cited by Ahtna Incorporated as being a “most important” plant to the Ahtna people. Tsass is recalled by Ahtna elders and tsass also appears frequently in the Ahtna dictionary.

Further Reading: 

"Ahtna Plants: Tsaas, Indian Potato,” Ahtna, Inc. (2020). https://www.ahtna.com/kanas/ahtna-plants-tsaas-indian-potato/ 

James Kari, Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary (Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1990), pp. 85; 88; 115; 146; 371.

William Simeone, Ahtna the People and their History (Glennallen: Ahtna Incorporated, 2018), pg.71.