Foraging for Edible Wild Plants and Mushrooms: The Ultimate Herbalist’s Survival Manual

This book helps with plant identification for everything from using foraged plants for cooking, to making medicines like tinctures and oils. I love that I can pull out my phone and pull up pictures and detailed descriptions about plants I see as I'm out foraging. This book can truly save you from the horrors of ingesting a poisonous plant that could not only cause illness but death. This book is a great book to have on hand and gives you step by step guide into everything you need to know, tools you will need to have and even how to find water if needed. There is a great series of excellent pictures from toxic plants and what to do if you have a run in with them, to look a-likes as well as edible and healing plants. This book breaks down each part of the plant for easy identification and how to use the various parts. It is also filled with little stories about the author himself which not only make this book a great guide but also very personable. The book tells a little bit about how the author started his own journey into foraging for mushrooms then gives a very interesting history about mushrooms (I found this part very intriguing and learned alot). After that there is a brief bit of information about ways mushrooms can help not only in food shortage situations but also how mushrooms can help the environment by breaking down plastics, how they respond to climate changes, and even how mushrooms are being used to make biodegradable plastics. (I also found this to be fascinating). The book then goes into explaining what mushrooms really are, how they eat and reproduce, what types of fungi produce mushrooms, and the anatomy of a mushroom. The diagrams and pictures are extremely helpful and break down the different parts so even a beginner mushroom hunter will feel confident foraging for the first time. This book lists common edible mushrooms with pictures. And each mushroom has a description with identifying features, a range of where to look for them, the season they grow in, lookalikes so you know you are finding the correct mushroom and not an imposter, and how best to prepare them for consumption. There is even a whole chapter on poisonous mushrooms and what to look out for. Another chapter goes over medicinal mushrooms and what benefits these mushrooms provide. This is followed by a chapter of psychedelic mushrooms. How to identify them, the legality of consuming them and so for forth. There is even a chapter on rare mushrooms and what makes them rare finds. The book then goes over all the things you need to know, prepare for or have with you when you go foraging. This is also broken down by regions. With a checklist so you know your as prepared as you can be. I personally found this book to be very informative and fascinating. I look forward to reading more books by this author. I highly recommend this book to and beginning forager and anyone who has experience as well.

This is the second book that I read by this author. I really like how he shares his expertise with us. He tells us everything that we need to know about looking in the wild for plants and flowers and such, and explains exactly what to look for how to use them, and their food value as well their usage for health aids. The book features pictures of the herbs and plants, so that they are easily recognizable. The author also talks about lookalike plants that might be dangerous or not as desirable (not as tasty) as the plants that are featured. I highly recommend this book and anything else by this offer. You can tell he is an expert on the subject, and I am very grateful to him for sharing this knowledge with us.

Just started it but it’s very informative

Easy to understand with a good mix of illustrations both photographs & drawn images. I like that specifically because it makes identification easier then if it was just a written description , photograph , or artists rendering. The author writes is a clear and warm style, its not a chore to read through its also easy to navigate. For someone starting foraging or even just wanting to know more about whats growing around them this is a handy book.

The media could not be loaded.  Good content, I definitely appreciate the section about stuff to avoid. My only recommendation would be to add color photos to have a better idea about what to look for and how it might differ from a toxic look alike (or being not quite ripe yet).

The purpose of this book was to help identify edible plants, flowers, mushrooms. It would be EXTREMELY important to see what they looked like IN COLOR! Some of the black and white pictures were not very good either. Somewhat blurry. I bought two of these for gifts... so disappointed. I didn't see any reviews talking about that! Yes, it has good information, but the pictures need to be in color. Wasted time and money... now I have to return. :(

Considering food prices, especially for exotic items it doesn't hurt to have this well made book at your disposal. Easy to read and understand this is a great tool for foraging.

this was supposed to be a gift but it came damaged, all the photos in the book ar not in color and was overall disappointing