United States
£ GBP
For the forager, the seashore holds surprising culinary potential. In this authoritative, witty book John Wright takes us on a trip to the seaside. But before introducing us to the various species to be harvested, he touches on such practicalities as conservation and the ethics of foraging; safety from tides, rocks and food poisoning; the law and access to the shore, our right to fish, landing sizes and seasons; and equipment such as nets, pots and hooks.
Next comes the nitty-gritty: all the main British seashore species that one might be tempted to eat. The conservation status, taste and texture, availability, seasonality, habitat, collecting technique and biology of each species is covered; there are also quite a few gratuitous but fascinating diversions. The species covered include crustacea (brown shrimp, common crab, lobster, prawn, shore crab, spider crab, squat lobster, velvet swimming crab); molluscs (clams, cockle, dog whelk, limpet, mussel, oyster, razor clam, winkle); mushrooms; plants (alexanders, babbington's orache, fennel, frosted orache, marsh samphire, perennial wall rocket, rock samphire, sea beet, sea buckthorn, sea holly, sea kale, sea purslane, sea rocket, spear-leaved orache, wild cabbage, wild thyme); and seaweed (carragheen, dulse, gut weed, laver, pepper dulse, sea lettuce, sugar kelp, kelp).
Finally, there are thirty brilliant recipes. Introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Edible Seashore is destined to join the other handbooks in the series as an indispensable household reference.
"A perfect, and beautiful, book for beginners or intermediate-level shore-foragers"
– Guy Dimond, Time Out
"Whether you're an avid forager or simply keen to try something new, here's the ideal guide to wild food on our coastline. It covers around 40 seaside species in depth, so you can safely gather your ingredients, confident that they are both edible and ecologically sound. The conservation status of each creature and plant is clearly highlighted, as well as the areas you are most likely to find them. There are also recipes for your bounty – you'll be amazed at what you can do with seaweed, and there are plenty of tasty suggestions for the better-known seashore finds too."
– Handmade Living
"If you have yet to come across the River Cottage Handbooks, I can't recommend them enough"
– Rachel Khoo, Daily Mail
