Foraging Northeast Edibles: 120 Wild and Flavorful Plants from Beach Plums to Wineberries with Leda Meredith

Amy Ashley: We love this book. It has great pictures and descriptions and how to use it. Only thing that could make it better is if it had recipes for the herbs.

United States on Sep 01, 2023

Laurie Lefebvre: Lots of pictures and some practical info

United States on Aug 22, 2023

jhawkins03585: I live in New Hampshire and this book is a good guide to what's edible. I like to go hiking and this lets me know what I could eat in a pinch. Read the book before you go hiking and then you can identify the plants so you'll know them when you need them.

United States on Jun 15, 2023

Laura B: I love the book gives a very descriptive detail on the plants, when to forage and how to use it. I would recommend it to anyone in the north east that is interested in learning about foraging!

United States on Apr 03, 2023

Sheena: This book makes a great gift and fun read over yea. Definitely informative and inspiring to incorporate more local forage in our lives.

Canada on Dec 23, 2022

"Bella": I like that the plants are all listed in alphabetical order. Great for quick reference/confirmation. I wish the pictures could be bigger (pics average around 3x 4.5 ") but the book would be almost too large to tote around if that was the case. Leda's style... She is very "to the point" and gives you the quick overview on Identification, Where and When to Gather, How to Gather, How to Eat, How to Preserve, Future Harvests and Warning. Not focused on the medicinal aspect of the plant or any recipes, just so you know. I'd recommend supplementing this with other books specifically geared towards each of those topics if you are interested in learning more about that.
She also has a list of recommended books to increase your foraging knowledge, which I appreciated. Study from a number of books, memorize as much as you can and THEN, bring this book with you as a quick look up/confirmation. She's got 120 plants in there, so you're pretty much covered!

Canada on Jul 17, 2022

Claudio: Un'ottima serie che copre interamente gli Usa, da consultare anche se non si va in vacanza nelle immense regioni selvatiche come raccoglitori di erbe. Ogni volume è curato da un autore diverso, ma viene rispettata la qualità delle schede e delle riproduzioni fotografiche, che sono sempre al top. Molte le erbe condivise nella fascia climatica mediterranea; difficile rendere conto del prezzo dei volumi della Timber Press, da acquistare ogni qual volta si scende sotto i 10€.

Italy on Apr 26, 2019

Mylène Bergeron Francoeur: I bought this book because it focused specially on the Northeast, where I live. I wanted to learn more about the edibles that I could possibly find in relative close proximity to home.

Leda is an enthusiastic forager,and her writing is very communicative of the pleasure she gets from this activity. In the first few pages of the book, there is a very handy guide on where to find which plant, by season. The rest if the book is simply put, the 120 different plants to harvest, in alphabetical order.

This explores common plants, like strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, pears, apples... but also lesser known ones, like the beach plum, black walnut, fragrant sumac, june berry or even the Pawpaw. The are lots of greenery presented inside the book and while they are not the most striking items in the book, I'm curious about a good lot of them. Notes are made on how to identify, where and when to gather, how to gather, how to eat, how to preserve, info for future harvests and any warnings that might be useful.

The book is well constructed, with good color quality pictures and glossy pages. I find myself referring to it often, even if I am still lacking a spot to do...

Canada on Nov 12, 2014

Wilderness Guy: There are 117 chapters that cover over 120 wild edible plant species. Some chapters cover more than one related species. The book contains 292 pages -- not counting the index and other appendix-type of material. The book is 9" high, 6.5" wide, and 3/4" thick.

Each chapter typically contains 2 full pages describing the plant(s) with at least one photo of the plant. A few plants are given 3 pages. More rarely, just 1 page or 4 pages are provided.

The single photos are typically very good. There are many instances where 2 or even 3 photos are provided. Nevertheless, there were many instances when I wished a photo would have been supplied to show close-up details of the leaf, flower, or other parts that were described in the text.

I was surprised to see that the author was apparently unaware that milkweed flower buds can be eaten raw -- i.e. not cooked at all.

The chapters are ordered alphabetically by the plant's common name.

Each chapter consistently includes the following headings or sections:

1. How to Identify.

This covers an overall description of the plant, its leaves, its flowers, its roots/rhizomes, and its...

United States on Jun 23, 2014

kathleen backler: The photos are clear, and would make it easy, in most cases, to identify a plant.
Good for beginners, and also more experienced foragers. There are always new ways to use these plants that I hadn't thought about. Notes about toxicity, and about sustainable harvest are a useful feature.
I like that the plants are arranged in alphabetical order, and they all have their proper Latin binomial in the heading.
Popular names are not the same everywhere .I am happy to add this book to my collection.

Canada on May 31, 2014