Books on shoreline foraging

[Rumplestiltskin]

Hello everyone.

First post!

I'm quite interested in the topic of seashore foraging (doesn't matter which regions shoreline the book relates to: I'm interested in everywhere).

There are plenty of books out there on fishing and shellfish gathering, but not so many on shoreline vegetation foraging. Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall published one recently that describes a lot of edible shoreline vegetation around the UK, with some great recipes, and he's even made a DVD episode on the topic, but that's about all I can find.

It's an interesting concept, and, if you go by what Fearnly-Whittingstall suggests, the foreshore is a "larder" that is wholly underexploited and can rival farmed produce for variety, taste and 'healthiness'.

However, I also think that there's a bit of Russian roulette involved if you choose to forage. For one, it's often impossible to know what foreshores have been polluted in the past and currently retain dangerous toxins, or are currently polluted and not safe.

Never the less, I'm interested if anyone can recommend any books on the topic, or if you forage on a regular basis, if their are any general rules to follow to avoid certain death.

Cheers!

[Roy M]

STALKING THE BLUE EYED SCALLOP by Euell Gibbons, written in the 60's, but still in print and available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. A classic!

[snort]

Some years ago I used to correspond with a seaweed researcher. I'd take photos and send them in. I was grateful to learn about the subject a bit and am pretty sure you can find someone in your area who can fill you in on edible seaweeds with an online search.
As for land plants, New Zealand spinach is one that is edible and pretty common to the coastline I know most (California).

[JPA Cate]

Hey, snort, what on earth is New Zealand spinach?? When I was there, they ate England spinach! I kid you not. ?????????

Ann

[a64pilot]

Possibly some survival books? I know old military survival books had a lot about living off the land in them, say WWII vintage.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Rumpelstiltskin.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Hey, snort, what on earth is New Zealand spinach?? When I was there, they ate England spinach! I kid you not. ?????????

Ann

Tetragonia tetragonioides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Normanby]

There's a book available to download somewhere called "Sailing the Farm" by somebody Neumeyer(?), written in the 1980s.
It's something of a doomsday preppers guide for sailing, but there are a few chapters among the political guff about a variety of edible seaweeds, with illustrations.



Matt
Compass 28

[barnakiel]

I would not do this. Stuff ashore and in the water belongs to someone. Ask before you pick anything.

Maybe that was foraging in the old times, but today with so many people everywhere it all belongs.

b.

[shorebird]

Here in British Columbia there are many thousands of miles of pristine coastline bordering on rainforest. While I can't recommend a particular book, there are many available about edible plants in BC. Mushrooms in particular are commonly foraged, but many other plants are available.

[kentobin]

http://cruisenews.net/sailfarm.pdf

Originally Posted by Normanby

There's a book available to download somewhere called "Sailing the Farm" by somebody Neumeyer(?), written in the 1980s.
It's something of a doomsday preppers guide for sailing, but there are a few chapters among the political guff about a variety of edible seaweeds, with illustrations.



Matt
Compass 28

[snort]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Hey, snort, what on earth is New Zealand spinach?? When I was there, they ate England spinach! I kid you not. ?????????

Ann

Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide

It grows like a weed, but it actually tastes good and is sold in seed packets for people to grow at home.

[Astrid]

For British Columbia, you might want to try Northern Bushcraft:

Wild Edible Plants of British Columbia

As Shorebird says, we have scores of edible plants along a relatively sparsely populated coast line.

[Whitebread117]

For the USA, especially the southeast, the Foxfire series (actually a lot of the info contained is geographically universal). Started as a writing project at the Rabun Gap Nacoochie School in the Georgia highlands and evolved into a 10 volume historical encyclopedia on simple living in Appalachia. For instance volume 1 includes chapters on edible plants, moonshining, preserving food including meat without refrigeration, log cabin building, faith healing, and planting by the (zodiac) signs.

Some of it is quaint nostalgia, a small bit is old/primitive superstition, most of it is valuable info for the do-it-yourselfer

[sparrowhawk1]

Originally Posted by kentobin

http://cruisenews.net/sailfarm.pdf

Thanks I really appreciate that. I love that book