Foraging: A practical guide to finding and preparing free wild food

A practical guide to finding and preparing food from hedgerows, parks, fields, woods, rivers and seashore. Aimed at the beginner, it also has a wealth of tips for the enthusiast, and, unlike other books on wild food, covers foraging in the urban environment as well as the countryside.

The book shows the reader 'Where, How and When' to find the best edible berries, leaves, flowers, mushrooms, seaweed, shellfish and snails, with clear and full instructions on what is safe to eat. Foraging covers the 100 wild foods that are good to eat, fun to find, easy to identify - and will make a healthy difference to your diet and your bank balance.

The book is organised by environment so when taking a walk, gardening, or having a day out you know how to gather a hedgerow harvest, a field feast, a seaside salad. Each entry features one species, and fully explains its looks, exactly where in the habitat it will be found, when it is ripe to eat, its alternative names, its history, how to harvest it, its culinary uses. There are full instructions too on preparation of each plant/fungi/animal, along with recipes for its use. Comfrey fritters, hazelnut pate, nettle beer,sorrel soup, dandelion coffee, blackberry jam....

John Lewis-Stempel is an acknowledged expert on wild foods having lived for twelve months on only what he could forage, an experience captured in The Wild Life: A Year Living on Wild Food, published by Transworld.