Best UK field guide to edible plants

[Darryl of Sussex]

Hello,

I’d like to carry an easily transportable field guide to edible plants in the UK in my pack and i’d like your opinions.

Best wishes,

Darryl

 

[bob_the_baker]

Richard Mabey - "Food For Free" comes in a pocket edition.

If you are coastal then the River Cottage "Edible Seashore" or Fraser Christian's "Eat the Beach"

I must confess to having a connection with the last author so may be slightly biased on that one

 

[Broch]

I don't recommend carrying a 'pocket guide' if you intend finding, identifying, and eating when out and about unless you are already experienced.

Study the subject using good quality photographic guidebooks (by all means use a pocket one to remind you) then, when you know you can identify certain species for sure (without a book) you're ready to forage. OK, there are certain well known edibles that you don't need a book for but I urge you to use good books for identification first before foraging. The quality of the photos and drawings in the pocket guides is often just not good enough - and some, like Food for Free, contain mistakes.

 

[Darryl of Sussex]

I don't recommend carrying a 'pocket guide' if you intend finding, identifying, and eating when out and about unless you are already experienced.

Study the subject using good quality photographic guidebooks (by all means use a pocket one to remind you) then, when you know you can identify certain species for sure (without a book) you're ready to forage. OK, there are certain well known edibles that you don't need a book for but I urge you to use good books for identification first before foraging. The quality of the photos and drawings in the pocket guides is often just not good enough - and some, like Food for Free, contain mistakes.

Many thanks. That’s precisely the type of ID guide I want to take out with me but without it being a reference bookshelf volume eg. Roger Phillips ‘Mushrooms’, Ray Mears ‘Wildfood’.
I’ve seen lots of books but need experienced recommendations.

Best wishes,

Darryl


If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, it’s just a sprinkling for the May Queen.

 

[Janne]

When I learned about edible plants, I learned from an experienced forager first, then delved into books.

Hands on learning is superior, imho.

 

[Toddy]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-l...1_1_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1547842751&sr=1-1

Just such a very good book. Fits easily into a pocket, and is full of useful information.

That said, I do like to wander with someone who knows their area. Best way to learn I reckon.

M

 

[Darryl of Sussex]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-l...1_1_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1547842751&sr=1-1

Just such a very good book. Fits easily into a pocket, and is full of useful information.

That said, I do like to wander with someone who knows their area. Best way to learn I reckon.

M

Many thanks.

I need to find such a person from whom to learn. I thought a starting point would be learning how to ID ie leaf shape, position on stem etc etc


If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, it’s just a sprinkling for the May Queen.

 

[Janne]

Just a tad Off Topic ( somebody has to do it.... ) but I find most of the books fail to tell you how to prepare the Wild Veg.

For example, to have a solid meal of crushed wild garlic bulbs, chopped w. garlic leaves and chopped nettles will give you a heck of stomach ache.
Boil it and it is a meal for a King.

(I know this from own experience)

 

[Janne]

IMO you do not want to learn what is eatable.
More importantly, you want a good knowledge of what is poisonous.
Idiot son thought that Hemlock was a similar looking, eatable plant last summer,

 

[Clayze]

Richard Mabey - "Food For Free" comes in a pocket edition.

If you are coastal then the River Cottage "Edible Seashore" or Fraser Christian's "Eat the Beach"

I must confess to having a connection with the last author so may be slightly biased on that one

If perchance you stumble upon the first edition of Richard Maybe's Food for Free in Hardback in a charity shop , don't do what I did...dither. Wasn't there the next day!
On a more cheerful and practical note the Collins gem edition really does fit the bill as pocket size volume that can be stashed away without a second thought. Ultimately I like to be confident that I'm not going to suffer horribly from eating something that I thought was okay.
Blackberry's, fennel, damsons amongst others are on my ok list. Not forgetting ash keys..different thread methinks.

 

[oldtimer]

I agree about learning in the field from an expert. I've been privileged to have known several over the years. My favourite was the late David Baxter with whom I spent happy times looking for field mushrooms and the like in the woods around Cambridgeshire. I treasured the opportunities it gave me to produce groans whenever I described him as a "fun guy" to be with!

 

[Robson Valley]

If you look into any authoritative plant taxonomy text, you will find that flowers are an essential part of correct identification.
I'll never trust identification based on a leaf.
This creates the excuse to go out far more often to search for whatever is freshly flowering.
That's the starting point for plant ID.

 

[Woody girl]

I used the food for free book to start from. I have several versions of this useful book and the pocket version is a constant companion in my bag even now. The two important things to remember are just don't touch a mushroom unless it's 100%verified. Find a mushroom foray near you in the autumn and go out with an expert. Don't touch umbellifers untill you have the ability to identify one from another. Berries are pretty easy but if your not sure don't touch. Just stick to the obvious ones untill you have experience. Ie blackberry crab apple wild raspberry rosehip (don't eat the seeds !nasty little buggers are the seeds!)and bilberry are the obvious ones. Nuts are pretty easy and I don't think there are any poisonous ones in the UK. Try beech nuts fiddly but tasty. Then of course there is fishing and hunting for meat...with land owners permission of course.!
Books are great but there is no substitute for experience. So go get some nettles and make some nettle soup. The best spring to tonic going. At the moment I can find in my local small nettles in sheltered areas navel wort and sorrel. Soon there will be wild wood sorrel and lots of other goodies. Birch sap, beech leaves, Linden flowers and elderflower. Roll on spring !

 

[MrEd]

Richard Mabey - "Food For Free" comes in a pocket edition.

If you are coastal then the River Cottage "Edible Seashore" or Fraser Christian's "Eat the Beach"

I must confess to having a connection with the last author so may be slightly biased on that one

I second food for free, it’s small and quite comprehensive.

 

[Clayze]

I'd like to give little shout for the now long out of print Observer's range of books. Obviously not written for truly bushcrafty purposes but nonetheless some cracking illustrations and cheap as chips too!

 

[Woody girl]

Don't forget you can forage for tinder on your walks.old man's beard,cramp balls, (a hard black round fungus found on dead wood) ,bracken and grass. Punk wood, birch bark, pine cones etc.I collect even if wet as I can take it home and dry it out ready for use. I have a tinder collection in a small box that I can select what I want for my next fire.