Backyard Foraging

There's food growing everywhere! You'll be amazed by how many of the plants you see each day are actually nutritious edibles. Ideal for first-time foragers, this book features 70 edible weeds, flowers, mushrooms, and ornamental plants typically found in urban and suburban neighborhoods. Full-color photographs make identification easy, while tips on common plant locations, pesticides, pollution, and dangerous flora make foraging as safe and simple as stepping into your own backyard. Turn the everyday landscape into a food-filled paradise with this guide to safely identifying and consuming common edible plants.


1 Getting Started: Identifying Habitats in the 'Hood
Ensuring Safety * Ethical Harvesting

2 Harvest with Care: You Don't Have to Sacrifice Your Scenery
Picking Shoots and Young Foliage * Foraging Flowers, Fruits, and Nuts * Digging Roots and Tubers * Timing for Taste

3 Grazing Greens: Tasty Leaves and Stems

4 The Fruits of Nature's Labor: Edible Flowers and Fruits

5 Nature's Granola: Nuts and Seeds

6 Hidden Treasure: Roots, Tubers, and Rhizomes

7 Superstars: Plants with Many Edible Parts

8 Friendly Fungi: Five Easy Mushrooms

9 You Wouldn't Do This If It Didn't Taste Good: Preserving Advice and Basic Recipes
Freezing * Dehydration * Syrups, Jams, and Jellies * Booze * Baked Goods and Savory Dishes * Fruity Miscellany * Resources and Recommended Reading * Books about Wild Edible Plants * Foraging Books and Blogs * Mushrooms * Vendors of Mushroom-Growing Supplies * Food Preparation

Interior Photography Credits

Index
Eat Your Way Around the Block
Discover food in the plant life all around you: your backyard, your front yard, or a nearby park or vacant lot might be rich with edible possibilities. Ellen Zachos, an experienced foraging guide, safely leads you through harvesting etiquette, plant identification, and tips on how to eat the leaves, flowers, nuts, seeds, roots, and mushrooms that are there for the taking. Foraging - the fun, safe, and free way to eat locally.