A foragey book review

The lovely library has ordered in a book I've been after (I love the library. I may have mentioned this); The Forager Handbook, by Miles Irving.

I haven't read it from cover to cover yet, but a quick skim read suggests it's one of the most comprehensive foraging books I've come across so far. It not only covers most different varieties of every possible edible plant (did you know that there are three different type of sow thistle?), but gives ideas for preparation for most of them. However, it does, I think, assume a degree of knowledge on the part of the forager, as the identification drawings aren't nearly as thorough as those in, for example, Richard Mabey'sFood For Free.

It is also one of the prettiest books I've seen for a long time. You wouldn't think it was a book for frugal foragers, and it would probably look quite at home on a posh coffee table (I don't have a coffee table, so can't tell you for sure).

All in all, definitely worth a read - it's quite cheap on Amazon, or you can follow in my even more cheapskate footsteps and get it from the library (I had to ask my library to order it in, as it's quite a new book and they didn't have it yet).

Now I just need to find some more foraging time...