I've got the collins gems food for free and been recommended the river cottage hedgerow book too.
Any other good uns I should look out for?
Any other good uns I should look out for?
recommend me books for wild food id
- Thread starter Man of Tanith
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Food for free is the classic, but make sure you get the "normal" edition not the pocket guide, the pocket guide's pretty rubbish.
All the river cottage books are good, a bit different to most plant books in that they give you ideas for recipes too.
I like the kingfisher field guides (illustrations), Gemma prefers the Dorling Kindersley ones (photographs).
www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk is a great resource for flora and fauna ID.
Cheers,
Stuart.
All the river cottage books are good, a bit different to most plant books in that they give you ideas for recipes too.
I like the kingfisher field guides (illustrations), Gemma prefers the Dorling Kindersley ones (photographs).
www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk is a great resource for flora and fauna ID.
Cheers,
Stuart.
Ive got the Roger Philips one amongst others.
the Wild Food School, do some good free e book/pamphlet downloads for your tablet/smartphone
http://www.wildfoodschool.co.uk/urban/
the Wild Food School, do some good free e book/pamphlet downloads for your tablet/smartphone
http://www.wildfoodschool.co.uk/urban/
But, still, I think those Roger Phillips books are unbeaten for id-ing - full blown decent colour photographs.
You're welcome will. The links been posted on here before. A lot of stuff, you can teach yourself with the aid of books, and the web, but I think foraging is one of those things you really are best attending a course for.
A lot of plants, are obvious to identify, but with some even when you think you've correctly identified it, you cant be sure. Better to learn from someone who knows.
[There are partial book downloads for some of roger philips id books I think. Gives you a few chapters, for free, then if you like you can download the rest of the book for a small fee. If you have an Iphone, there was an app, as I recall, which allowed you to take a photo of a leaf, and it will immeadiatly match that leaf to its online database. I think it uses facial recognition technology, and will tell you what tree it is. Wasnt available on android though, last time i looked, a few years ago]
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I've been trying to forage for edible plants for a year or so. I never seem to have my book (Food for Free) on me when I spot something that looks suspiciously edible. My mind then convinces me it is edible! I reckon about 40% of the things I've eaten have been wrong! (Once something I thought might be common sorrel was something that nearly burned my mouth out! And I'd just emptied my water bottle to tap a birch tree - so I ended up drinking & rinsing my mouth with muddy puddle water
)Hoping to meet up with some local bushcrafters next year and trading some knowledge... definitely better to learn from someone who knows
Mouse is bang on - work on recognising plants and then work on the edible side - the Miles Irving Book is a good for instance - it's great on what is edible, but the illustrations are woeful, even when you know the stuff he talks about.
What I mean is, if you know a plant you can then pick up it's uses.
But if you start with a picture/drawing/photo of something that is edible and go out looking for it you might end up finding something similar, but that could give you some problems.
You need to build up your botany for this stuff. And don't be put off by the sciencey sounding stuff. Can you tell the difference between an oak tree and a dandelion? Yes? That's botany. The rest is refinement.
It's an open door - push it.
What I mean is, if you know a plant you can then pick up it's uses.
But if you start with a picture/drawing/photo of something that is edible and go out looking for it you might end up finding something similar, but that could give you some problems.
You need to build up your botany for this stuff. And don't be put off by the sciencey sounding stuff. Can you tell the difference between an oak tree and a dandelion? Yes? That's botany. The rest is refinement.
It's an open door - push it.
