Stalking The Healthful Herbs [Paperback]

Euell Gibbons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2005

Here Euell Gibbons shows the reader how to enjoy the culinary and medicinal virtues of herbs and wild plants. Drawn from the author’s wide knowledge of plants as well as from the lore of native Americans and early settlers, the information is supplemented by nutritionists at Pennsylvania State University who worked with Gibbons on analysis of the entries.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Even those who have no intention of combing the countryside for cleavers, slippery elm or velvet dock will welcome the return to print of this 1966 classic guide to American wild herbs for its wealth of knowledge. Many since the late Gibbons ( Stalking the Wild Asparagus ) have written about the medicinal and nutritive properties of indigenous flora, and nouvelle cuisine has domesticated the notion of edible flowers, but the author's good-humored approach to preparing pine tree needles, boiled nettles and similar treats establishes his as a uniquely charming voice in the self-important world of health foods ("I would like to think that it was sheer genius that caused me to get all the proportions right in my first attempt to make this fragrant ambrosia rose petal jam, but I know it was just blind luck"). Gibbons is the quintessential American naturalist, rhapsodic about nature but eminently practical as well--and never above looking for get-rich-quick schemes, as demonstrated by his experiments to produce a chocolate substitute from basswood. Illustrated.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Scientific American

A handful of crushed pennyroyal rubbed on exposed skin will keep mosquitoes away. A half-cup of violet-leaf greens has as much Vitamin C as four oranges. Lemonade flavored with a jigger of borage juice is an especially cooling drink. The roots of Queen Anne's lace will do for a meal in an emergency. That insatiable stalker of the wildlings, Euell Gibbons, has been out hunting again.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 301 pages
• Publisher: "Hood, Alan C. & Company, Inc." (March 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0911469060
• ISBN-13: 978-0911469066
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Euell Gibbons best, back in print, February 21, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stalking The Healthful Herbs (Paperback)

The original "Stalking the wild..." editions went out of print some years ago and that was a shame. Nobody but a character like Euell Gibbons could write such a downhome book that passed on folk wisdom and botany in a delightful way.

I actually prefer this book to "Asparagus" because it is a bit more useful. For example, if you live nearly anywhere in middle America, violet leaves pop up in your lawn and garden. They're readily available and easy to find. And he gives uses for cucumber-scented borage, which you can actually plant from seeds. This herb now is a top seller for its healthful oil-rich seeds that contain linoleic acid. If borage doesn't grow in your fields, you can put it in your herb garden. He gives great ideas for violets, borage, mint and other herbs either readily found or available to grow.

Careful however; some of the wild herbs look alike; most dangerously hemlock and parsley, angelica and other members of the carrot family look alike with their feathery fronds. Best to take a course in plant identification at the local community college if you are collecting these.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the best..., September 2, 2005

By 

C. Morris (haslett, michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stalking The Healthful Herbs (Paperback)

A hundred years from now, I believe, the Gibbons books will still be regarded as first-rate texts. The science is, if not impeccable, supportive of Gibbons' readable and magnetic approach to edibles. He's a charmer, but not self-consciously so. His charm is in his love for the subject, and his expertise. Too bad Johnny Carson made a bit of a clown out of him, because he was anything but a clown. "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" is the centerpiece of his output; indispensable for anyone with any level of interest in the subject.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review By Texas Gulf coast Herbalist, (hobby), January 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Stalking The Healthful Herbs (Paperback)

I own the original. And am thrilled to see it reprinted. Gibbons was the virtuoso of the herbal heyday, and his stories of nature, and his naturalist outlook, will enthrall you as much as the herbs you'll learn about. He is, and will allways remain, part of this foragers life, even though I never knew him personaly.