The Skillful Forager: Essential Techniques for Responsible Foraging and Making the Most of Your Wild Edibles

by Leda Meredith

Overview

The ultimate forager’s guide to working with any wild plant in the field, kitchen, or pantry—featuring plant profiles, harvesting and preservation tips, and easy recipes

From harvesting skills that will allow you to gather from the same plant again and again to highlighting how to get the most out of each and every type of wild edible, trusted expert Leda Meredith explores the most effective ways to harvest, preserve, and prepare all of your foraged foods. Featuring detailed identification information for over forty wild edibles commonly found across North America, the plant profiles in this book focus on sustainable harvesting techniques that can be applied to hundreds of other plants. This indispensable reference also provides simple recipes that can help you make the most of your harvest each season.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611804836
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Leda Meredith has been foraging since she was a toddler (it's her great-grandmother’s fault). An instructor at the New York Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Leda is also the author of five books including Northeast Foraging and The Forager’s Feast.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Twenty-First-Century Forager ix

Part 1 Getting Started

1 How to Use This Book 2

2 The Nuts and Bolts of Foraging 4

3 Gearing Up 17

4 Which Wild Edible Where and When 22

Part 2 All About the Wild Edibles

5 Leaves 34

6 Roots, Tubers, Rhizomes, and Bulbs 64

7 Shoots and Stalks 86

8 Flowers, Pollen, and Buds 98

9 Fruit 124

10 Seeds, Nuts, and Pods 150

11 Bark and Twigs 189

12 Sap 205

13 Mushrooms 210

14 Seaweeds 232

Part 3 Getting the Most Out of Your Wild Edibles

15 Troubleshooting Flavor Fumbles 240

16 Universal Wild Food Recipes 246

17 Preserving Wild Foods 255

Acknowledgments 267

Glossary 268

Useful Resources 270

Index 273

About the Author 284

Editorial Reviews

"This is a book that needed to be written—an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to be more than an armchair forager." —Hank Shaw, author of Hunt, Gather, Cook

"Identification is the first task of the forager, but what comes next? It turns out, almost everything. How does one select the best berries, the tenderest greens, the freshest mushrooms, and gather them in an ecologically responsible manner? What is the most practical way to clean, crack, or pit them? How can they be stored? In The Skillful Forager, Leda Meredith answers just these questions, laying out the basic skills that she has perfected through decades of gathering wild plants and using them in the kitchen. She leaves readers with a set of practical, simple, healthy, and delicious recipes that can be adapted to a variety of ingredients, wild or domestic—just the way that real home cooks cook everyday food. Because to Leda, that’s what foraged food is." —Samuel Thayer, author of The Forager’s Harvest

"In The Skillful Forager, Leda Meredith doesn’t just describe some of her favorite wild edibles, she lays the groundwork for you to become a better forager. Leda covers recommended plants and mushrooms, safe and mindful harvesting, and wraps it all up by describing multiple cooking and preservation techniques we all can use to make the most of our harvests. The Skillful Forager takes you from field to table with excellent information, inspiring ideas, and lots of fabulous flavor." —Ellen Zachos, author of Backyard Foraging

"The Skillful Forager is a product of this millennium, reflecting current concerns such as sustainability. It adds some interesting wrinkles to help those who would like to safely sample wild foods. Foraging today is largely an urban conceit, engaged in for any number of reasons, most of which are valid. Perhaps the most important is encouraging closer observation of the natural world. The author’s extensive experience with teaching foraging has generated many helpful suggestions, not only for the beginner, but the veteran forager as well. It includes detailed harvesting techniques; the best time to harvest; which part of the plant is most useful; keeping the harvest fresh; and methods of preparation for the table.  The book’s strength is its emphasis on techniques for collecting, preparation, and ethics…engaging and readable." —Botanical Research Institute of Texas

From the Publisher