How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Identifying 40 Edible Wild Plants

by Ellen Zachos

How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying is a book for anyone who likes to go on nature walks and would like to learn about the edible plants they're most likely to come across-no matter what region they're in.


Author Ellen Zachos shares her considerable expertise, acquired over decades of foraging in every part of North America. She offers clear, concise descriptions of edible wild plants, in addition to any potential lookalikes, as well as critical information about proper harvesting, processing, and cooking. Zachos has curated the plant selection to include only the 40 most common, most delicious edible plants, ranging from black walnuts and juniper berries to elderflowers, burdock, fiddlehead ferns, lambsquarter, wild garlic, sunchokes, and many more.


With Zachos's expert advice and easy-to-follow guidelines, readers will be confident in identifying which plants they can safely eat and which ones they should definitely avoid. Easy instructions for preparation and eating for maximum enjoyment are included.

• ISBN10: 1635866138
• ISBN13: 9781635866131
• Publish Date: 26 October 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Storey Publishing LLC
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying is a beginner-friendly, accessible, and well written guide to foraging food items from the wild for consumption written and curated by Ellen Zachos. Released 10th Oct 2023 by Hachette on their Storey imprint, it's 250 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. 

This book has an interesting format in that it presupposes zero previous knowledge on the reader's part, and also divides the plant entries by areas in which they're commonly found. The chapters are thematic: introductory basic info, plants which grow everywhere, green plants in sunny disturbed soil, sun loving trees & shrubs, dappled edges & shady plants, and wet areas. There is also a good chapter with techniques and advice for preserving and using the harvests.

The book uses simple, accessible language as well as lots (and lots!) of clear photos to aid in identification. The author expends considerable effort covering sustainability (don't ever overforage), safety & ID, and responsible use of shrinking communal resources. The book has a North American focus, but many (most) of the plants have a much wider range, so the book will be useful to readers from outside North America.

Five stars. This would be a good choice for public or school library use, gifting, home use, for community/allotment gardens, activity groups and smallholders/self-sufficiency folks. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.