Edible wild plants, mushrooms, fruits, and nuts grow along roadsides, amid country fields, and in urban parks. All manner of leafy greens, mushrooms, and herbs that command hefty prices at the market are bountiful outdoors and free for the taking. But to enjoy them, one must know when to harvest and how to recognize, prepare, and eat them. The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts provides everything one needs to know about the most commonly found wild foods—going beyond a field guide’s basic description to provide folklore and mouth-watering recipes for each entry, such as wild asparagus pizza, fiddlehead soup, blackberry mousse, and elderberry pie. This fully illustrated guide is the perfect companion for hikers, campers, and anyone who enjoys eating the good food of the earth. With it in hand, nature lovers will never take another hike without casting their eyes about with dinner in mind.

How to find, identify, and cook them.

Presents a season-by-season guide to the identification, harvest, and preparation of more than two hundred common edible plants to be found in the wild.

Anyone who has spent serious time outdoors knows that in survival situations, wild plants are often the only sustenance available. The proper identification of these plants can mean the difference between survival and death. This book describes habitat and distribution, physical characteristics, and edible parts of wild plants—the key elements of identification. Hugely important to the book are its color photos. There are over one hundred of them, further simplifying the identification of poisonous and edible plants. No serious outdoors person should ever hit the trail without this book and the knowledge contained within it.

The wild plants in this book tell stories of land, people, and food. As renowned botanist Kelly Kindscher guides us through over one hundred edible plants in this beautiful field guide, we find that foraging has always been an important part of prairie life. Before colonization, Native American women were the primary gatherers of wild plants, which were an abundant, sustainable, and delicious feature of Indigenous diets. Colonizers reduced the significance of wild plants in prairie life as they relocated Native peoples and imposed their agrarian culture on the land, but these Indigenous foodways were never truly lost. In the recent past, foraging has become a tremendously popular way for many peoples to connect with the earth, promote sustainability, and revive and honor cultural food traditions. In this beautifully illustrated new edition, Kindscher explores 117 wild plants of the prairie, offering information about habitat, food use, and cultivation. Color photos and maps make this stunning book a useful foraging guide for anyone to take out into the prairie. A must-have for enthusiasts and professionals alike, Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie gives us the great opportunity to engage with the land we live in.

Arranged according to uses, offers a detailed listing of one thousand species of edible wild plants and ferns.

Edible wild plants, mushrooms, fruits, and nuts grow along roadsides, amid country fields, and in urban parks. All manner of leafy greens, mushrooms, and herbs that command hefty prices at the market are bountiful outdoors and free for the taking. But to enjoy them, one must know when to harvest and how to recognize, prepare, and eat them. The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts provides everything one needs to know about the most commonly found wild foods—going beyond a field guide’s basic description to provide folklore and mouth-watering recipes for each entry, such as wild asparagus pizza, fiddlehead soup, blackberry mousse, and elderberry pie. This fully illustrated guide is the perfect companion for hikers, campers, and anyone who enjoys eating the good food of the earth. With it in hand, nature lovers will never take another hike without casting their eyes about with dinner in mind.

Many North American plants have characteristics that are especially promising for creating varieties needed to expand food production, and there are excellent prospects of generating new economically competitive crops from these natives. The inadequacy of current crops to meet the food demands of the world’s huge, growing population makes the potential of indigenous North American food plants even more significant. These plants can also generate crops that are more compatible with the ecology of the world, and many also have inherent health benefits. Presenting detailed scholarship, a thoroughly accessible style, and numerous entertaining anecdotes, North American Cornucopia: Top 100 Indigenous Food Plants is a full-color book dedicated to the most important 100 native food plants of North America north of Mexico that have achieved commercial success or have substantial market potential. The introductory chapter reviews the historical development of North American indigenous crops and factors bearing on their future economic success. The rest of the book consists of 100 chapters, each dedicated to a particular crop. The book employs a user-friendly chapter format that presents the material in sections offering in-depth coverage of each plant. The first section of each chapter provides information on the scientific and English names of the plants, followed by a section on the geography and ecology of the wild forms, accompanied by a map showing the North American distribution. A section entitled "Plant Portrait" comprises a basic description of the plant, its history, and its economic and social importance. This is followed by "Culinary Portrait," concerned with food uses and culinary vocabulary. The chapters then provide an analysis of the economic future of each crop, discuss notable and interesting scientific or technological observations and accomplishments, and present extensive references.

The culinary do-it-yourself era is in full swing! Many chefs and cooks are seeking a deeper connection with their food through foraging, farming, and hunting, leading many to cast aside the casserole for modern spins on familiar foods. In Acorns & Cattails, nationally acclaimed chef Rob Connoley offers more than one hundred recipes featuring ingredients that any home cook can forage, grow, or hunt. Each recipe shares modern flavor and texture pairings that will excite professional chef and home cook alike. The comforting mesquite chocolate chip cookie, the indulgent pork belly poppers, and the haute hackberry rabbit paté launch homespun do-it-yourself dishes into modern classics. In addition to learning to cook foraged and farmed foods, readers will explore the basics of wild plant harvesting (including identification and ethical best practices) while enjoying humorous anecdotes from Connoley’s years of remote gathering. Photographer Jay Hemphill also presents stunning images that capture the bounty of North America.