Book Description
Edible wild plants, mushrooms, fruits, and nuts grow wild along roadsides, in country fields, and in urban parks. All manner of leafy greens, mushrooms, and herbs that command hefty prices at the market are bountiful outdoors and absolutely free for the taking. But to enjoy them you must know, when to harvest, how to recognize, and how to prepare and eat them. The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts provides everything you need to know about these wild treasures. Included is information on the most commonly found of these wild comestibles, going beyond a field guide's description to provide folklore and mouth-watering recipes for each entry, such as wild asparagus pizza, fiddlehead soup, blackberry mousse, and elderberry pie.
This fully illustrated guide is the perfect companion for hikers, campers, and anyone who enjoys eating the good food of the earth. With The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts in hand, you'll never walk through a field again without casting your eyes about with dinner in mind.
Customer Reviews:
Completely incomplete.......2005-01-16
It's amazing how 195 pages can contain information about all wild foods (of North America?) complete with descriptions and from field identification to its uses to the kitchen. Makes no mention of ethical harvesting (photos of ginseng and her stories of the market price of ginseng actually work against the spirit of wild foods) nor warnings of poisonous lookalikes (rendering the book dangerous). Never to be bought or caught holding a copy, so please be discreet if you want to find out for yourself in a library or bookstore.
Book Description
"Some new mushroomers will find this single volume all the library they need to harvest and enjoy wild mushrooms for the table."
—
Mushroom the Journal
"The publication is of excellent quality and print, well edited, authoritative, and provides an excellent introduction to edible and poisonous wild mushrooms."
—
Mycologia
Unusual shapes and colors make many mushrooms alluring to the eye, while the exotic flavors and textures of edible mushrooms are a gourmet delicacy for the palate. Yet many people never venture beyond the supermarket offerings, fearing that all other mushrooms are poisonous.
With amateur mushroom hunters especially in mind, David Fischer and Alan Bessette have prepared
Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America. This field guide presents more than 100 species of the most delicious mushrooms, along with detailed information on how to find, gather, store, and prepare them for the table. More than 70 savory recipes, ranging from soups and salads to casseroles, canapes, quiches, and even a dessert, are included.
Throughout, the authors constantly emphasize the need for correct identification of species for safe eating. Each species is described in detailed, nontechnical language, accompanied by a list of key identifying characteristics that reliably rule out all but the target species. Superb color photographs also aid in identification. Poisonous "lookalikes" are described and illustrated, and the authors also assess the risks of allergic or idiosyncratic reactions to edible species and the possibilities of chemical or bacterial contamination.
Customer Reviews:
MMMMMMMMMMMMMGood.......2006-07-25
Lovely photographs, excellent identity descriptions, tons of useful information and I love the recipes -- plan to make every one of them.
Excellent Book For Novice Edible Mushroom Hunter.......2005-03-25
This is a concise easy to use book for people just starting to
hunt for edible mushrooms. It concentrates extensively on the edibles, and look alike poisonous. By eliminating 1000s of other mushrooms it is great for identifying the finest edibles. It makes a great companion to a more all encompassing publication. The recipes I've tried were good also.
Limited scope, horrible recipes........2004-01-07
I bought this book many years ago as the first of what is now a fairly large collection on the subject. As the title indicates, it concentrates on the EDIBLE fungi, so the reviewer who was dissappointed because he/she could ID only one of the 13 mushrooms he/she found has unfair expectations out of the scope of this work. That said, only the most popular edibles seem to be listed here, and variants on those species are not covered in much depth. It's ok for those who just want to be able to distinguish a golden chanterelle from a jack-o-lantern, or a morel from a thimble-cap so they can safely gather some edibles. The worst thing about this book, however, is it's unfortunate recipes. Every single recipe I've tried from it completely sucks. Either the cooking method is inappropriate to that particular mushroom (turning delicate specimins to mush, for instance, or inundating absorptive ones with oil), or strong flavors from other ingredients overwhelm the sometimes subtle flavors of the mushrooms themselves. I get much better results by trusting my cooking intuition and experimenting than I do by following these recipes.
more confused than before.......2003-08-19
I came to US from Europe several years ago. It was a family tradition to go pick wild mushrooms every fall during my childhood years. So when I moved to Virginia countryside I decided I will try and revive the mushroom picking tradition in my new country. I started with a book to help me identify all those different, unfamiliar species of mushrooms. So I bought the "Edible Wild Mushroom Guide". I went to the woods and picked a bunch of different mushrooms - each one was different and tried to use the Guide to identify them . Out of about 14 visibly different species of mushrooms that I picked - the guide gave positive ID on ONE (!) mushroom only. Other 13 were not even included in the book. I can't testify to the quality of recepie part of the book - I was somewhat reluctant to cook things I can not identify!
Great for Beginners.......2002-11-15
For a "first" book on wild mushrooms I found this one to be very good. The pictures show the top, bottom, stems, colors and different parts of each mushroom. There are "warnings" on those that are ediable, but make some people sick, and the NO-NO"s are equally shown and written about. We're just new at this, and for a "starter" book this was just the ticket.
Book Description
To most Americans, mushrooms are the brown lumps in the soup one uses to make a tuna casserole, but to a select few, mushrooms are the abundant yet often well-hidden delicacies of the forests. In spite of their rather dismal reputation, most wild mushrooms are both edible and delicious, when prepared properly. From the morel to the chanterelle and the prolific and aptly named chicken of the woods, mushrooms can easily be harvested and enjoyed, if you know where to look and what to look for. Bill Russell's Field Guide to the Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic helps the reader learn just that--specifically for the often-neglected East Coast mushrooms of the United States and Canada.
Suited to both the novice and the experienced mushroom hunter, this book helps the reader identify mushrooms with the use of illustrations, descriptions, and environmental observations. Russell's fifty years of experience in hunting, studying, and teaching about wild mushrooms have been carefully distilled into this easy-to-use and well-designed guide. The book is divided into the four seasons, each with its unique mushroom offerings. Each mushroom section includes a detailed description, information about the mushroom's biology, tips on where the mushroom is most likely to be found, and a short "nutshell" description for quick reference. The book also includes color photographs of each of the mushrooms described.
Russell's Field Guide to the Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic shows the reader not only how to identify the most common mushrooms found in the region but also how to avoid common copycats--and what to do with the mushrooms once they're identified and harvested. With both color illustrations and insightful descriptions of one hundred of the area's most common mushrooms, Field Guide is an indispensable reference for the curious hiker, the amateur biologist, or the adventurous chef.
Customer Reviews:
A must have for the novice wild mushroom picker!.......2007-03-10
I found this book to be extremely informative and easy to follow. The illustrations were useful and guide helpful
Wonderful Mushroom Guide - I Highly Recommend.......2007-02-16
It is a wonderful book. Lots of color photographs and packed with detailed descriptions of mushrooms. The field guide allows the reader to identify mushrooms that are common to the Mid Atlantic, but also the Eastern United States. Included are many tasty recipes that make mushroom hunting the joy that it is. It is an essential guide for both amateur and professional alike.
Field Guide to the Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania And the Mid-atlantic (Keystone Book).......2007-01-10
As a PA resident, I found this book invaluable. It is clearly written, and has great photos as well. Anyone intersted in mushrooms should... make that must, have several references, but if you live in this part of the world this is the first book to look at! Other books I've read are not always clear as to a specific mushroom's distribution. I know the fungi in this book are found here, and that focus makes identification so much easier.
Average customer rating:
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Mushrooms, Wild and Edible: A Seasonal Guide to the Most Easily Recognized Mushrooms
Vincent J. Marteka
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Book.......2004-11-09
I've used this book for reference many times. It is a very comprehensive guide to mushrooms!
Book Description
There are not many people who can claim to have been collecting, cooking, and devising recipes for mushrooms for more than sixty years, but Antonio Carluccio is one of them. Carluccio's interest in mushrooms-his mycological education-began at the age of seven when he went on mushroom hunts with his father and has culminated in his Neal Street Restaurant in London.
Today, mushrooms are more popular then ever. Chefs everywhere use these delectable morsels to provide a powerful punch of flavor, without adding many calories or fat.
The book begins with a complete field guide, in which forty species are identified with photos. To ensure safety, poisonous look-alike species are also meticulously documented. Then comes a veritable feast of more than 150 mushroom recipes-from classic Italian preparations to Asian-inspired creations and contemporary dishes. Mouthwatering photos accompany each recipe and evoke the earthy sensuality that only mushrooms can bring to the table. In The Complete Mushroom Book, Antonio Carluccio shares the excitement of the hunt and a lifetime of expertise in the kitchen with a new generation of enthusiasts eager to reap the pleasures of cooking with mushrooms.
Customer Reviews:
The Complete Mushroom Book.......2007-01-09
This book is what the title says - The complete mushroom book. It is the only book you need. Read it, learn and you can be safe picking all mushrooms in Sweden and the rest of the world. And then you can make the most delicius dishes with help from Antonio Carluccio's recipes. He is the most marveleus mushroom expert both in the woods, fields and citchen. I am very impressed!
Bo Johnsson
A Feast for the Mycophyle and the Mycophagist.......2003-12-29
This book by an Italian, Antonio Carluccio, transplanted to England covers the botanical classifications of edible mushrooms and fungi, tips on collecting, a guide to identifying edible and toxic mushrooms, and a large collection of mushroom recipes. It has many things to recommend it, but it also should be given more than a cursory thought if you have an interest in purchasing the book.
As a compulsive book collector, I often justify the purchase of a book solely on the presence of one good idea comprising not much more than a page or two, but you may not have such liberal criteria when laying out the long green for a book, especially for bone white plants.
The devil's advocate view of this book is that:
It's coverage of mushroom identification and distinction of culinary from toxic is weak in that the book does not give a consistant photographic coverage to all species. I would be extremely nervous if I knew someone was using only this book as a field guide. A quick comparison photographs for the edible boletus badius on page 33 with the toxic russula emetica on page 71 shows how similar two very different mushrooms can look. The comparison is scarier when you see that the two species flourish at the same time of the year. My main point is that to a non-mycologist, this appears to be a very inadequate field guide. Much better would be one species per page with much more consistant coverage over all species.
While the title of the book refers to all mushrooms, it's emphasis is clearly on wild mushrooms. About 75 percent of all the recipes call for wild mushrooms, primarily morels and many of the recipes calling for cultivated species call for unusual or expensive species, up to and including truffles.
So what does that leave for the non-mushroom hunter living in Brooklyn? Here are some reasons for buying this book:
The well written text and good photography provides a worthy vicarious experience of the thrills of mushroom hunting in Devon, England.
The recipes give several worthy methods for preserving mushrooms, including drying and pickling. This is the material I would pick to primarily justify the purchase. I have not seen it anywhere else.
Even if you substitute the humble Pennsylvania button mushroom or the slightly more upscale cremini for the blue stocking morels and procinis, you get a wealth of recipes to add to a vegetarian diet. The recipes draw heavily from French and Italian cuisine, but they include a broad selection from various oriental cuisines as well. Even a fair number of German and Spanish dishes are included. Oddly, there seems to be practically no recipes for the portobello.
You also get useful practical tips on handling and eating mushrooms. The book makes it clear that almost every mushroom is healthier to eat cooked than to eat raw. I have heard it said that even our darling little Kennet Square button mushrooms have toxins which must be cooked to remove the toxins. Give the raw mushrooms a pass the next time you hit the salad bar. The information on taking special care with raw mushrooms and alcohol is pretty chilling, but again, as testified by the long popularity of Coq au Vin, this danger is eliminated by thorough cooking.
In general, I would rate the culinary advice on mushroom technique to be very useful.
Since I am very fond of cookbooks on single subjects, I recommend this book for the recipes and techniques and background on mushroom culture and collection in the wild, as long as you keep the wild part to your armchair. The price is a bit high, so I would not click on the order button without some check on alternate titles, especially the volume by Jane Grigson, `The Mushroom Feast' which I have not yet had the pleasure to sample.
Book Description
This step-by-step guide introduces the beginning mushroom cultivator to everything he needs to know, from sterile culture procedures to indoor bottle gardens to indoor/outdoor compost gardens. Ten chapters cover equipment, growing media, compost, small indoor quantities, starting cultures, and incubation. Black-and-white line drawings and half-tones complement the 16 full color photos taken by the author, founder of the mail order business Mushroom People.
Customer Reviews:
Not Quite Worth The Price.......2000-12-27
Apparently, this book was written to cater to those interested in hallucinogenic fungi. I initially bought this book in the hopes that it would teach me how to set up a cultivation operation focused primarily on edible, gourmet mushrooms. What I got instead was a poorly organized book rife with errors. The text has almost nothing to say about growing edible mushrooms. Rather, it is basically little more than a souped-up underground manual for the cultivation of hallucinogenic or so-called 'magic' mushrooms.
To demonstrate how erroneous this book is, the author begins the book by saying that fungi are plants! As any good student of biology knows, fungi lack chlorophyll, thus can not be considered plants, and occupy their own, separate kingdom. These and other gross errors throughout the text make it unfit as a starting point for those interested in mushroom cultivation.
The book is poorly organized, and places way too much emphasis on the psilocybe mushrooms, with passing reference to the cultivation of Pleurotus (oyster) mushrooms. In addition to some gratuitous color photos of a variety of Psilocybe mushrooms, and a few poorly placed black and white photos, this unremarkable book comes without an index, references, or supplementary materials. Furthermore, for the money you spend, you will not get much more than eighty six pages devoted to terse methods for locating, identifying, and cultivating the Psilocybe mushrooms (and this even is at a very low level).
The title of this book should actually be: 'Growing Hallucinogenic Mushrooms'. For those interested in Psilocybe mushrooms, this book may serve as an adequate reference. For individuals interested in the edible and gourmet mushrooms, a good starting point is Paul Stamets' utilitarian book 'The Mushroom Cultivator' and his comprehensive, though sometimes off-beat 'Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms'.
Mushrooms Galore!.......2000-08-04
This is a great book, and at no. 137,000 this Bob Harris' book on Mushrooms seems all set to pass the other Bob Harris' book on Chomskian analysis of how dumb all those journalists are, excepting of course Mssrs. Cohen and Solomon.
Growing Wild Mushrooms.......2000-03-30
Growing Wild Mushrooms is a good book for a biggining Mycologist. It runs through the basic procedures from making an agar medium to harvesting. But what makes this book worth a four star rating is it's wonderful color photos. It's one thing to read text, but quite another to to see clear illustrations. I would recocgmend this book to any aspiring Mycologist
Average customer rating:
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Peter Jordan's Wild Mushroom Bible
Peter Jordan
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0754810666 |
Book Description
Anyone looking to explore the culinary variety made possible by savory mushrooms will want this stunning book with more than 600 color photographs. Learn to identify, collect, store and enjoy mushrooms in everything from dessert to main course.
Customer Reviews:
Exceptional and Updated!.......2007-08-15
The 5 Star rating is due to the fact I live in the geographical area that this book is focused toward. (Pacific NW) It gives very clear descriptions and key indicators that help in determining which mushrooms are edible, as well as information regarding those that are not. It explains toxicity, advises about being careful with certain fungi, and informs greatly!
I do wish Margaret was still with us, but am pleased that the book was updated by her colleague.
excellent resource for Northwestern pot pickers.......1998-07-08
The photography in this book is excellent. The book is keyed to the Pacific Northwest, so those who live in or visit the area will find it very easy to use. The descriptors are clear especially concerning edibility. The book fits nicely into a day pack for all you hikers out there. I would highly recomend this book, it is probably one of the best books out there!
Average customer rating:
- Beautiful, straightforward, full of delicious recipes
- Fungi Lovers Favorite
|
Wild Mushrooms (Northwest Homegrown Cookbook Series)
Cynthia C Nims
Manufacturer: Westwinds Press
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Binding: Paperback
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Stone Fruit: Cherries, Nectarines, Apricots, Plums, Peaches (Northwest Homegrown Cookbook Series)
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Crab (Northwest Homegrown Cookbook Series)
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Salmon (Northwest Homegrown Cookbook)
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The Mushroom Lover's Mushroom Cookbook and Primer
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The Chanterelle Book
ASIN: 1558686959 |
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful, straightforward, full of delicious recipes.......2005-12-25
I love this little cookbook- and not only for the wild mushroom recipes, but also for Cynthia Nims care and delicacy in food handling and preparation. I seldom find recipe books that take 'delicacy' into consideration-- she notes the ways that the mushrooms interlace with other ingredients, like the way that brie slices are infused with the taste of the truffle slices. I particularly love the Buckwheat Crepes with Wild Mushrooms, Ham and Gruyere.
The whole book is beautiful- it may sound odd, but the paper quality is excellent. The cover has that high quality paperback flap that fold over, making the cover thicker and more durable than regular soft cover books. The illustrations are beautiful.
There is great information on finding societies that take you on wild mushroom hunts, buying wild mushrooms, and care and handling of wild mushrooms.
Fungi Lovers Favorite.......2004-09-14
This tasty book covers wild mushrooms from Apps to Entrees. Cynthia's passion for local ingredients and fun recipes comes through in every word. If your a mushroom lover this book is a "must add" to your cookbook collection.
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