Customer Reviews

Basic Essentials Edible Wild Plants and Useful Herbs, 3rd (Basic Essentials Series)

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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Be warned, this book is not for novices or beginners. I bought this book with no prior knowledge of wild plants or herbs or their properties. I wanted to discover - at a glance - what was edible, what was poisonous, and what was medicinal. However I was disappointed starting on page 1.

Page one shows you a tiny 2"x2" (approx) color photo of edible green-colored Cattail shoots on a plate. It also warns you to avoid a poisonous look-alike, Blue Flag Iris, and refers the reader to Appendix 2 for more information. There, Blue Iris is shown in an even tinier 1"x1" (approx) photo. The plant shown is a blue flower against a green background. Look-alike? Not exactly, at least not represented as so. As a novice, I would have found it much more beneficial to have the edible vs poisonous photos side-by-side, in similar frame, I could know and understand the difference.

All of the poisonous plants in Appendix 2, I noted, are tiny 1x1 photographs. Frustrating. I would think their deadly nature and therefore relative importance would warrant larger, more clear photographs.

Instead, the photographs of plants throughout this book usually consist of approximately 2x2 or smaller pictures taking up less than 1/6 of the page. The rest of each page usually contains useful location, creative cooking, and important medicinal tips, which is certainly useful but feels a little sparse and only like an introduction for each plant.

At the end of the day, this book will be retained as a useful recipe book as I doubt I will find so many creative cooking tips in other plant identification books. This book would no doubt be a useful addition to the experienced backpacker or survivalist. However, my search for a proper edible plant and herb reference continues.

A fantastic basic guide to wild edibles. A great place for the beginner to start and plenty here for the more advanced, also. Jim has selected some of the most useful plants found in North America. The identification helps are excellent (including color photos). But what I like most is Jim's practical suggestions for harvesting and preparing these while still remaining brief (even includes some recipes). It's hard to find a guide like this. (I honestly can't think of one right now).

I also own most of his videos and highly recommend them as well. I've gone foraging with Jim a couple of times and consider him a friend. He's a lot of fun and you'll find his videos are a lot of fun, also.

Overall rating: 3 stars

Plant identification: 2 stars

Plant uses: 4 stars

Picture type(s): color photographs

Who will find it useful: novice foragers and those who want recipes for cooking wild edibles.

Notes: The main selling point of this book is its appendix of recipes. It is also one of the few books that covers seaweeds. It's pictures are small and not very good, though. You need to either already know your wild edibles or have another book on hand for edible plant identification.

Reviewed by Juanita Watson for Reader Views (4/06)

Meuninck is a long-time biologist and author of books and special-interest videos covering wild plants, edibles, medicinal herbs and natural health. This is a revised edition of the classic booklet released through the "Falcon Guide" series back in the late 1990s.

Though in no way a definitive compendium of edible plants and herbs, it is a great introductory guide to some of the common plants you'd encounter throughout the United States and Canada. The glossy color pictures are fantastic and Menunick has included highly interesting and useable information for each plant - accurate descriptions, locations, cooking tips, and medicinal uses. He also spotlights warnings for the plants that may be poisonous if not used properly, or if they have toxic look-alikes, as well as a useful list of rules to consider when foraging for wild foods.

One of the unique aspects of Menunick's book is the addition of great-tasting recipes for the outdoors enthusiast who wants to cook with their wild finds. Dishes such as the Japanese Sauté (that includes dandelion leaves, watercress and stinging nettle), and Vegetarian Egg Rolls with Wild Berries and Maple Syrup Salsa were among my favorites.

Overall, "Basic Essentials Edible Wild Plants and Useful Herbs" is a well put together book with useful information for your next outdoor trip, or backpacking adventure.

Received book free of charge.