The Forager's Calendar: A Seasonal Guide to Nature’s Wild Harvests

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Look out of your window, walk down a country path or go to the beach in Great Britain, and you are sure to see many wild species that you can take home and eat. From dandelions in spring to sloe berries in autumn, via wild garlic, samphire, chanterelles and even grasshoppers, our countryside is full of edible delights in any season. John Wright is the country’s foremost expert in foraging and brings decades of experience, including as forager at the River Cottage, to this seasonal guide. Month by month, he shows us what species can be found and where, how to identify them, and how to store, use and cook them. You’ll learn the stories behind the Latin names, the best way to tap a Birch tree, and how to fry an ant, make rosehip syrup and cook a hop omelette.

Fully illustrated throughout, with tips on kit, conservation advice and what to avoid, The Forager’s Calendar is an indispensable guide for everyone interested in wild food, whether you want to explore the great outdoors, or are happiest foraging from your armchair. Foraging for food in the wild is quite an arduous hobby, and if you are looking for an excuse for hanging up your boots, John Wright’s book might be the answer. He is a fanatical forager himself, yet somehow the more he describes its benefits the less convincing they seem. Besides, he writes so engagingly that it’s hard to imagine that actual foraging can be more attractive than reading his accounts of it. In The Forager’s Calendar he lists well over 100 edible plants that flourish in the British countryside, grouping them according to the month when they are at their best and providing a detailed description and a colour photograph with each entry.