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12 reviews for:
Urban Foraging: Find, Gather, and Eat 50 Wild Plants In Your Neighborhood
Lisa M. Rose
3.36 AVERAGE
12 reviews for:
Urban Foraging: Find, Gather, and Eat 50 Wild Plants In Your Neighborhood
Lisa M. Rose
3.36 AVERAGE
what it lacks in identifying information it makes up for knowing how to use the wild plants and the recipes
I found this book to be a bit disappointing. It looked so polished and I loved the way the pages were presented but it didn’t quite go into the depth I was wanting. I felt like the plants featured weren’t the most useful, and despite including recipes I’m not confident I could actually find a way to use them.
Urban Foraging is a great introduction to gratifying foraging in our own city back yards and meadows. Author Lisa M. Rose details fifty common plants A to Z found in America including plant properties, beautiful photos, brief identification tips, medicinal and culinary uses and "things to consider". She also describes urban soil, foraging tools and sites to avoid (grey water, roadways, pesticide/insecticide spray).
As an experienced forager with a library of countless field guides, this would not be what I would take into the field but rather would use it for pleasure and to glean inspiration for recipes. Amongst those I would happily make include Autumn BBQ sauce, Savory Burdock Pickles, Roasted Daylily Blossoms Stuffed with Goat Cheese, Elderberry Syrup (I am always on the lookout for innovative ideas for syrups), Garlic Mustard Pesto and Nettle Risotto. Those plants without recipes often do have culinary suggestions such as using spruce tips. I can attest to their deliciousness in egg dishes, pickles, jelly and focaccia.
To properly identify plants one needs detailed photographs and drawings from various angles in situ to avoid possible errors. This is where this book does fall a bit short. However, it presents good basics to said urban plants we often take for granted (or even abhor) and their uses.
My sincere thank you to Timber Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this lovely book!
As an experienced forager with a library of countless field guides, this would not be what I would take into the field but rather would use it for pleasure and to glean inspiration for recipes. Amongst those I would happily make include Autumn BBQ sauce, Savory Burdock Pickles, Roasted Daylily Blossoms Stuffed with Goat Cheese, Elderberry Syrup (I am always on the lookout for innovative ideas for syrups), Garlic Mustard Pesto and Nettle Risotto. Those plants without recipes often do have culinary suggestions such as using spruce tips. I can attest to their deliciousness in egg dishes, pickles, jelly and focaccia.
To properly identify plants one needs detailed photographs and drawings from various angles in situ to avoid possible errors. This is where this book does fall a bit short. However, it presents good basics to said urban plants we often take for granted (or even abhor) and their uses.
My sincere thank you to Timber Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this lovely book!
I really liked the book and enjoyed the more culinary aspects of the herbs Im familiar with in a medicinal context. The recipes are lovely and I have a few already picked out I am excited to try. There were many pairings and ideas for appetizers, cocktails, garnishes, teas, and other applications outside of the written-out recipes. I would imagine that not every forager is making appetizers and cocktails regularly and thats definitely the audience, but there are also plenty of ideas for adding herbs into frittatas, salads, greens, soups, sandwiches, and an array of other things. One suggestion to add it to a radish-and-butter sandwich must be a Michigan thing; I had never heard of that one. And she is clearly quite fond of goat cheese, as am I, and it made its way into many entries.
If you're a first time forager, I would recommend getting an experienced person to join you or a more thorough guide for the actual plant identification as this book has mostly nice aesthetic pictures and not as many useful identification pictures. I was surprised that she included wild carrot because it is easy to confuse with hemlock, which she noted, but I also would not have been able to make a positive identification from that entry alone. Be careful in your identification and always double check and ask someone if you're uncertain.
I do wish someone in editing had caught the use of the slur "g*psy" in one of the titles and removed it and I was surprised that she would be unaware of that issue, so be warned that is there and I hope it is removed in later editions.
Overall I really liked it as a recipe and idea book, I'm excited to start making tasty dishes with the plants Im already used to using medicinally and a handful I haven't gotten a lot of experience with yet.
If you're a first time forager, I would recommend getting an experienced person to join you or a more thorough guide for the actual plant identification as this book has mostly nice aesthetic pictures and not as many useful identification pictures. I was surprised that she included wild carrot because it is easy to confuse with hemlock, which she noted, but I also would not have been able to make a positive identification from that entry alone. Be careful in your identification and always double check and ask someone if you're uncertain.
I do wish someone in editing had caught the use of the slur "g*psy" in one of the titles and removed it and I was surprised that she would be unaware of that issue, so be warned that is there and I hope it is removed in later editions.
Overall I really liked it as a recipe and idea book, I'm excited to start making tasty dishes with the plants Im already used to using medicinally and a handful I haven't gotten a lot of experience with yet.
2.5?
This is a hard rate for me. I found this at the library, thought the book was lovely and envisioned loving it so much I bought a copy for my own kitchen. Reality is: this is a very unique cookbook that would be great to have in the kitchen for a reference. HOWEVER this is in no way a “how to”. Many of the photos while pretty and “artsy” don’t give the best representation of what the plant actually looks like to forge it. This is not a beginner book in anyway. I also was very surprised to find when I got to the end of the book, that stock photography was used throughout. The book is pretty for sure, but is lacking in other necessary information and photos
This is a hard rate for me. I found this at the library, thought the book was lovely and envisioned loving it so much I bought a copy for my own kitchen. Reality is: this is a very unique cookbook that would be great to have in the kitchen for a reference. HOWEVER this is in no way a “how to”. Many of the photos while pretty and “artsy” don’t give the best representation of what the plant actually looks like to forge it. This is not a beginner book in anyway. I also was very surprised to find when I got to the end of the book, that stock photography was used throughout. The book is pretty for sure, but is lacking in other necessary information and photos
informative
slow-paced
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
Urban Foraging is an interesting and accessible guide to useful plants and foraging in urban/suburban environments written by Lisa M. Rose. Released 11th Oct 2022 by Timber Press, it's 236 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.
The author's introduction and general advice for finding and -safely- harvesting plant material provides a good basic starting point for beginning foragers. The following herbal A-Z which makes up the bulk of the content (from Apples to Yarrow) contains color photos of 50 different plants along with some recipes for tinctures, teas, foodstuffs, and more. I would strongly recommend readers proceed with caution and preferably in the company of experienced mentors/foragers to be sure of plant IDs and usages. Readers should be confident in their plant identifications and -not- rely very heavily on the information contained here for ID purposes. Additionally there were some at least slightly iffy bits of information included for preparation methods for some plants, such as acorn flour and artemisia which aren't straightforward to use as they are.
It's also worth noting that the information contained in this volume is slanted toward readers in North America, although many (most?) of the plants will also be found in some parts of Europe/Asia (and indeed have been introduced to North America by humans over time). Recipe measurements are provided in imperial (American) units. The author/editors have provided a metric conversion chart in the appendices as well as an abbreviated links list for further reading.
Three stars, potentially a good starting point, but proceed with caution and preferably with a mentor/guide.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Urban Foraging is an interesting and accessible guide to useful plants and foraging in urban/suburban environments written by Lisa M. Rose. Released 11th Oct 2022 by Timber Press, it's 236 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.
The author's introduction and general advice for finding and -safely- harvesting plant material provides a good basic starting point for beginning foragers. The following herbal A-Z which makes up the bulk of the content (from Apples to Yarrow) contains color photos of 50 different plants along with some recipes for tinctures, teas, foodstuffs, and more. I would strongly recommend readers proceed with caution and preferably in the company of experienced mentors/foragers to be sure of plant IDs and usages. Readers should be confident in their plant identifications and -not- rely very heavily on the information contained here for ID purposes. Additionally there were some at least slightly iffy bits of information included for preparation methods for some plants, such as acorn flour and artemisia which aren't straightforward to use as they are.
It's also worth noting that the information contained in this volume is slanted toward readers in North America, although many (most?) of the plants will also be found in some parts of Europe/Asia (and indeed have been introduced to North America by humans over time). Recipe measurements are provided in imperial (American) units. The author/editors have provided a metric conversion chart in the appendices as well as an abbreviated links list for further reading.
Three stars, potentially a good starting point, but proceed with caution and preferably with a mentor/guide.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
An interesting and informative book if you want to learn about foraging. There's plenty of information and it can be an excellent started guide.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine