Although very few of these plants are likely to grow for me in my new home of Hawai'i, I plan to buy the book anyway. Thayer's entertaining writing is reason enough for a plant geek or rewilder to pick up the book, and I'm sure I'll learn some new things about the old friends I had to leave behind.
I was happy to organize group buys in the past for Thayer's books to get us all wholesale prices. Although I can't do so for this one, you can pre-order the book directly from Samuel Thayer for $18 with free shipping. You can support his superb work while getting yourself a great discount on what's sure to be a great book. He's also offering discounts on his first two books if purchased along with the new one.
Enjoy!
Description of Incredible Wild Edibles From Samuel Thayer's website:
Sam's 3rd book on wild edible plants. There is no overlap in what is covered in this book or his previous 2 books. The plants contained in this book include:
- Black Mustard
- Bladder Campion
- Sweet Flag (Calamus)
- Caraway
- Chickweed
- Chufa
- Creeping Bellflower
- Fennel
- Wild Garlic
- Gooseberry
- Hickory
- Hops
- Japanese Knotweed
- Kentucky Coffeetree
- Maple
- Miner's Lettuce
- Mulberry
- Pawpaw
- Persimmon
- Poke
- Prairie Turnip
- Purple Poppy Mallow
- Purslane
- Quickweed
- Rose
- Sassafras
- Shepherd's Purse
- Sochane
- Strawberry Spinach
- Sweetroot (Sweet Cicely, Aniseroot)
- Violet
- Watercress
- Water Parsnip
- Wild Radishes
- Wintercress
Incredible Wild Edibles covers 36 of the best edible wild plants in North America: fruits, berries, nuts, shoots, leafy greens, root vegetables, culinary herbs, teas, and syrups that boast exceptional flavor and nutrition. The plants chosen represent every habitat and every region in North America, from the northern forests to the southwest deserts, from the largest cities to the wildest mountains. Rather than cover hundreds of species in brief accounts that leave the reader unsure of how to proceed, Samuel Thayer encourages readers to thoroughly learn one plant at a time. Each of these traditional foods has a rich culinary and cultural history―a wholesome past that is still relevant for our health and happiness today. The text is fully accessible to the novice, but remains botanically accurate and has the in-depth information that seasoned foragers crave.
Sharing the wisdom of a lifetime of daily foraging, the author answers all of the reader’s questions about each plant: How do I identify it? What might I confuse it with? Where can I find it? What part do I use, and when is it ready to be picked? How do I gather and prepare it? How can I be sure to harvest it responsibly? This discussion is accompanied by more than 350 color photos showing all the key features for identification, including potentially confusing species. Photos also depict the exact parts to use and the proper stage for collection. All of this is delivered in a familiar but authoritative tone, along with humorous anecdotes and insights from extensive real-life experience with each plant covered in the book.
Incredible Wild Edibles contains an index, bibliography, illustrated glossary, range maps, and foraging calendar. This third volume in Thayer’s Forager’s Harvest series has no overlap of the plants covered in the first two volumes.
