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Foraging: Over 30 Tasty Recipes to Turn Your Foraged Finds into Feasts (Idiot's Guides) Paperback – April 12, 2016

by Mark Vorderbruggen (Author)

4.8 533 ratings

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Find edible plants anywhere in North America!

Foraged delicacies have become the latest foodie obsession. Wild edibles collected by professional foragers are proliferating on the plates of top-tier restaurants because they offer novel and ultra-fresh sensations for the tongue, and they frequently taste more flavorful than farmed foods. For people seeking new food experiences and wanting to forage for themselves, Idiot’s Guides: Foraging shows how to find wild edibles and when and how to harvest them. Includes over 30 tasty recipes that describe how to prepare these wild foods.

- Includes common plants all across North America.
- Covers positive plant identification.
- Multiple large, full-color photos identify each plant (including the mature plant, how it looks at various stages of growth, and how it looks at the right stage of growth for harvesting).
- Each entry gives facts on the plant's habitat, physical properties, which parts are edible, harvesting sustainability, preparation, storage, and poisonous look-alikes.
-More than 30 delicious recipes.
-Includes range maps and charts that list plants by habitat and by season.

From the Publisher

Foraging Idiot's Guide


	Foraging	Grow Food For Free	Indoor Edible Garden	The Kitchen Garden
	See Details	See Details	See Details
Customer Reviews	533	2,623	278	292
Price	—	—	—	$17.55
Inside	Learn how to find and prepare wild food.	Grow, love, propagate and harvest your own fruit and veg organically and at zero-cost.	Grow herbs, vegetables, and flowers in your home that look amazing and taste even better with Indoor Edible Garden.	Take the uncertainty out of your harvest with clear, reliable gardening advice for every month of the year.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Vorderbruggen started one of the top foraging sites on the internet in 2008, but he has been a forager all his life. Both his parents' families used foraged foods to survive during the Great Depression, and they passed their knowledge on to him. Knowing how to harvest nature's free food fed him through the poverty years of his childhood and while getting a master's degree in medicinal chemistry and a PhD in physical organic chemistry. For the last 18 years, he has worked as a research chemist in the oil industry, using his knowledge of natural products to develop environmentally friendly replacements for traditional oil field chemicals. However, his evenings and weekends are spent guiding people back to nature's bounty, not only teaching them which plants are edible and/or medicinal, but also proselytizing how foraging heals the body, mind, and soul … and prepares them for the zombie apocalypse!

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Alpha (April 12, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1615648895
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1615648894
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.5 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #903,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,030 in Outdoors & Nature Reference
- #1,058 in Natural Food Cooking
- #1,473 in Hiking & Camping Instructional Guides

Customer Reviews:
4.8 533 ratings

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Mark Vorderbruggen

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Mark "Merriwether" Vorderbruggen, Ph.D. is often (somewhat) jokingly described as a scientist raised by wolves. Having a M.S. in medicinal chemistry and a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry, he brings science into the world of wild edible and medicinal plants. On the science side he has fourteen patents and numerous articles in research journals from his career as an industrial chemist. But his true love is plants and the miracles they contain. Since 2008 his website www.foragingtexas.com has been one of the top wild edible/medicinal plant sites on the internet; he's written countless foraging articles for a wide variety of magazines; taught hundreds of foraging walkabouts; appeared on radio, TV, and podcasts galore; wrote the acclaimed book Idiot's Guide Foraging (available on Amazon); and was co-creator of the Wazoo Survival Gear foraging bandana. In 2016 he turned his herbal chemistry skills to consumer goods to help develop the Workman's Friend line of skin care products. In 2020 he made the biggest leap of his life to become the medicine man for Medicine Man Plant Co. where he can finally bring forth the ancient plants that can still help with modern issues. Check out these herbal products here on Amazon at www.amazon.com/medicinemanplantco

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4.8 out of 5

533 global ratings

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Theyardherbs

A book for family bonding and memories.. and foraging too!

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

I can walk around outside with this book and identify almost all of the plants that are in the yard. It has beautiful colored pictures of each stage of growth, from when it’s young until when it is fully grown, which is excellent and something that many others are lacking. I have discovered so many delicious “weeds” that I now understand why I can’t keep the deer and rabbits out! This book will make you want to get outside and explore what nature has to offer. It is a great tool for any individual or family and will make for some interesting walks. I would strongly recommend to everyone who appreciates this world that we live in and encourage those who don’t get out often to do so, in hopes that they will learn to appreciate it more. This is a great gift for all of the younger explorers as well. I have grazed in my yard with my two year old great nephew, my college age nephew and son, up to my senior citizen mother, using this guide. It has been a great resource for information and more importantly has provided my family with an unexpected way to bond in the great outdoors. Those memories will no doubt last a lifetime and the knowledge will be shared for many generations to come. I believe that everyone who learns and participates in this or any outdoor activity which makes you appreciate and respect nature and our world will make for great stewards of our land and that alone is priceless. I appreciate the added extras in the book, like the recipes, the directions on how to harvest, the glossary that shows drawings and explains the terminology on plants and the map locations of where the plant can be found. It even tells you what time of year you can expect to find the plants. There are just too many quality and helpful details to mention. I wish all of the guides provided such wonderfully detailed information. This is a great way to get introduced to foraging and just a necessity in the library to those who are experienced foragers.

28 people found this helpful

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No Name Given, Thanks

Book packed with great info providing us with important skills

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020

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As soon as I got it, my grandson & I headed to a field across the road from my house. He had so much fun " making salad" for everyone. All of us have been learning from it. Now its a contest to see who can make the best salad, winner gets bragging rights. The important thing to note, everyone's learning about wild edibles. Lots of great pics to help id what you're looking at. The recipies have worked well also. Some of the things, like blueberries & blackberries are no brainers, others like wild carrots are harder to spot. There is also an article for each edible that warns, & gives pics of poisonous mimics. Very important stuff to know if you're foraging. All said, Im glad I got this book. Its proven to be a valuable resource. Its going on the shelf right next to my Euell Gibbons series ( anyone remember who he was?) These books will assure you never go hungry. Walking thru a field, or up the roadside is easy. 1 thing I should also note, the author says picking stuff from around rr tracks isnt a good spot as the food could have toxic substances. I cant say if thats true or not. I grew up inner city & picked a lot of blackberries next to the tracks. Obviously they didnt kill me & did me no damage. Wash what you gather before eating it & you should be fine.

7 people found this helpful

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k9881

Great book for beginners

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2023

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Information is good, pictures clear & help with identification, good info on mimic plants too.

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Cleo

Best general foraging book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2020

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I have used the e-version of this book for several years and love it. I recently bought the printed book because I am old school and love to browse through an actual book. The author is not only a very knowledgable forager, but also a chemist so he really understands the medicinal uses of plants. The book is beautiful, well-organized and clearly written to make plant identification easy. The plants described are chosen as being fairly common all over the United States, so this book is useful for most everyone.

One person found this helpful

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JF FIELD

This is a handy reference book

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

Yes, This is like an encyclopedia. When I get started reading I just get lost in the content. It has colored photos of every wild plant inside the book along with look-alikes to avoid. And it also has recipes for preparing the plant.

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Stacey Coster

Just a great person who loves sharing knowledge.

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2020

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Dr. "Merriweather" is a fount of knowledge. He has a facebook page that is great to follow. His web page foragingtexas.com is very informative. I first got his book on kindle, but I really needed a paper version to scribble in notes. Just recently I came across a bunch of sumac up in the grasslands area of north Texas. They didn't look quite the same (as far as ripeness) to his photos. I DM'd him on facebook, and he replied within minutes. He told me to "lick my finger and rub on the berries. Then lick my finger again. If I have a pleasantly sour taste, they are good to go." He is such a nice guy and has more knowledge than he can fit in one book.

3 people found this helpful

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Electablue

Just what I have been looking for

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is exactly the kind of foraging book I have been searching for. It has clear pictures of each part of the plant (flowers, seeds, stems, bark, etc.) along with details of harvesting and how to prepare what you harvest. It also has great tips on safe foraging and charts that show when each edible part of the plant is available in different parts of the country and a map on each plant page showing the range of the plant.. Although the book is for the entire U.S., because the author forages in Texas it is especially helpful for plants in my area. I found a number of the plants in the wilder areas of my backyard on my practice foraging expedition. I think this book would be great for either a novice or seasoned forager.

38 people found this helpful

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Infidel556

Stupendous, eat the weeds

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2021

Verified Purchase

So far I've discovered nearly 30 Edibles on my Ranch... now I can roam around the yard and pick things to add to my dinner or to make tea.... quite often I will just pick something that has been previously positively identified and have a snack while I'm hiking...Meriwether's descriptions and details are exemplary.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

M. Houston

Colour Photos & Lots of Great Info for Beginners

Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

I received a few "foraging" books for Christmas and this is one of the best ones. I had to exchange a couple that I received because they were fully in black and white - how can you be comfy eating something from a black and white photo?? You don't need to worry about that with this book - lots of great colour photos and descriptions. And I found the book laid out in a way that made sense to me.

My only call out is that this is 80% a foraging book and only 20% a recipe book - which is perfect for me since I was looking for more info on the foraging aspect but if you're looking for a cook book for foraging, this has approx 30 pages of recipes (yummy looking recipes!!)

Can't wait for spring so I can start using the book!!