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Foraging ID books

stevearno

stevearno

Slightly Talkative
Messages
22
Points
150
Age
48
Hi

I guess this question has been asked a billion times - i done a quick search ( using post title ) but nothing came up .So please forgive me if i am being repetitive

I am a compete novice when it comes to picking and eating wild foods - i guess the most knowledge i have is the plants and tree's you had growing up in the fields .

In recent years I have had this over whelming urged for a camping trip to the Scottish highlands ( roughing it ) and will be looking to go for a week soon ( well not exactly that far - just too a sea loch and still near civilization ). Of course i will have food but i would rather forage or catch it ( fish- taking into account laws of my chosen area )

my main problem is as the title would suggest "Foraging ID books" , there is an abundance of books on amazon and other sites . But what i keep running into via the reviews is lack of colour photo's for the complete novice . Alot of books seem to have no means of identification or just illustrations drawn with crayon according to some reviews

I guess i am looking for everything SEAWEEDS ,hedgerows and flowers and plants via seasons ( the link i seen on this site for seasons is dead for me )

I really don't want to be buying every book under the sun just to try find a starting point book for a novice

so far the books i have come up with or been recommended is the collins gems books and i like the look of this : Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No.5<< but this seems to more a recipe book

I would really appreciate if someone could point me in the direction of good ID books for the beginner. I am kind of hoping for it to develop into a hobby . A Scottish highland ( terrain ) book would be great i have seem a few but they are for the immediate-expert users

many thanks in advance

steven
 
Put Galloway Wild Foods in your search box mate, lots of information there. Unfortunately I can't find any books covering Scotland
 
thank you - i will DO ( yes -just looked at that thankyou it looks very good )

i don't think things like seaweeds would vary that much would they ? do you know any shore foraging books

I always like to go near the sea or rivers
 
stevearno said:
thank you - i will DO ( yes -just looked at that thankyou it looks very good )

i don't think things like seaweeds would vary that much would they ? do you know any shore foraging books

I always like to go near the sea or rivers
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I think the ray meats books pretty much cover every aspect of wild foraging Steve, try eBay, boot sales and second hand shops
 
Hi, mate and welcome :), I use the Collins gem pocket books.
 
yes thanks for the replies

i will look at all of them - i think collins gem books do sound a good starter book ... but i was hoping for a more expansive seaweed book ...still those sites look interesting
 
stevearno said:
yes thanks for the replies

i will look at all of them - i think collins gem books do sound a good starter book ... but i was hoping for a more expansive seaweed book ...still those sites look interesting
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Pretty much all the seaweed round the UK is edible Steve and none of them is going to make you sick or kill you
 
ended up with these :

Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No.5

reviews had it as a recipe book , but the reviews did say it is good as a ID book with full colour photo's

Fresh And Saltwater Fish (Collins Gem) (Collins Gems)

To ID fishes

Food For Free (Collins Gem)

books seems highly recommended ( even You guys )

Mushrooms (Collins Gem)

Not very keen on eating or foraging mushrooms as alot of them are poisonous - I think i would have to go on a course before i had the courage to tackle mushrooms. So book is really just a hobby

A Handbook of Scotland's Wild Harvests: The Essential Guide to Edible Species, with Recipes & Plants for Natural Remedies

bought this book - the reviews had it down as NOT a novices ID book but had alot of knowledge in it - seems the only book i can find on amazon with Scotland in mind


thanks for your help and site recommendations - it was very useful being pointed in the right direction . If you do think of any other books i would be very grateful to know . I guess the next thing that has come to mind is seasonal foraging
 
stevearno said:
ended up with these :

Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No.5

reviews had it as a recipe book , but the reviews did say it is good as a ID book with full colour photo's

Fresh And Saltwater Fish (Collins Gem) (Collins Gems)

To ID fishes

Food For Free (Collins Gem)

books seems highly recommended ( even You guys )

Mushrooms (Collins Gem)

Not very keen on eating or foraging mushrooms as alot of them are poisonous - I think i would have to go on a course before i had the courage to tackle mushrooms. So book is really just a hobby

A Handbook of Scotland's Wild Harvests: The Essential Guide to Edible Species, with Recipes & Plants for Natural Remedies

bought this book - the reviews had it down as NOT a novices ID book but had alot of knowledge in it - seems the only book i can find on amazon with Scotland in mind


thanks for your help and site recommendations - it was very useful being pointed in the right direction . If you do think of any other books i would be very grateful to know . I guess the next thing that has come to mind is seasonal foraging
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Looks like you have some good reading there Steve, HFW certainly knows his stuff when it comes to foraging
 
Nice books.
To mushrooms i really recommend to take a course with your local federation or expert.
 
cariocarj01 said:
Nice books.
To mushrooms i really recommend to take a course with your local federation or expert.
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I just got my first two books today -

Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No.5
Mushrooms (Collins Gem)

I knew mushrooms would be dodgy , but i never envisaged just how suspect until i started to skim through the book... it's going to have to be a HOBBY rather than a food source ( a notion i always thought , i never expected to eat or forage them) .
Well over 50% of the book ( 200+ species ) is either poisonous or inedible ...with lots of lookalikes . I can see mushroom picking is only for experts .
TBH - the only knowledge i had of mushrooms was one called jews ear ( which i believe is called something else ) , which from memory is often found on fallen birch and the chanterelle mushroom which appears to have a lookalike that is poisonous .

As for the river cottage book , I am a little disappointed it has the first 50 pages containing FLUFF and the last 100 of recipes... with only about 100 pages if that of content trying to cover everything from shell fish to seaweed to plants that could or might not grow near the sea . The only plus side is it does have pictures but they are a bit vague as they are taken from a distance

still i have alot of hope for the collins gems series - absolutely amazing books if the mushroom book is anything to go by ..I am really pleased with it
 
stevearno said:
I just got my first two books today -

Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No.5
Mushrooms (Collins Gem)

I knew mushrooms would be dodgy , but i never envisaged just how suspect until i started to skim through the book... it's going to have to be a HOBBY rather than a food source ( a notion i always thought , i never expected to eat or forage them) .
Well over 50% of the book ( 200+ species ) is either poisonous or inedible ...with lots of lookalikes . I can see mushroom picking is only for experts .
TBH - the only knowledge i had of mushrooms was one called jews ear ( which i believe is called something else ) , which from memory is often found on fallen birch and the chanterelle mushroom which appears to have a lookalike that is poisonous .

As for the river cottage book , I am a little disappointed it has the first 50 pages containing FLUFF and the last 100 of recipes... with only about 100 pages if that of content trying to cover everything from shell fish to seaweed to plants that could or might not grow near the sea . The only plus side is it does have pictures but they are a bit vague as they are taken from a distance

still i have alot of hope for the collins gems series - absolutely amazing books if the mushroom book is anything to go by ..I am really pleased with it
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The only safe way with fungi Steve is to go foraging with an expert
 
I had a day at River Cottage last October as a birthday treat. It was "Hedge-row foraging" with John Wright who was author of the River Cottage Handbook. A very interesting guy and showed us a range of fungi and plants, some of which they cooked for us to eat. I think for every one edible mushroom found there were at least ten you shouldn't eat. The big parasols were very tasty though.
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Joecole said:
The only safe way with fungi Steve is to go foraging with an expert
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I have to agree - whole hearty .I always knew this but obtaining the book has really reinforced the magnitude of how important a expert's knowledge and guidance really is .
What does fascinate me is the countless centuries of people who found out this knowledge - 100's of thousands of people probably died through crude ages from trial and error of wild foods for us to have this information prior to technology .

divebuddy said:
I had a day at River Cottage last October as a birthday treat. It was "Hedge-row foraging" with John Wright who was author of the River Cottage Handbook.
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Yep - john wright is the guy who wrote this book ... the knowledge in the book is really fantastic , I don't think the book markets or sells itself as a FIELD ID book . It's sort of a hybrid of recipe ,detailed knowledge and a ID book . It's a book with a bit more sophistication and probably a book for a more intermediate forager due to the quirky sometimes personal knowledge and the recipes
 
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