Stephen Fleming

This is the book I’ve been waiting for and it’s everything I wanted: a detailed guide to foraging and identifying edible mushrooms in the UK.

Of course you have to be able to identify inedible and poisonous mushrooms too, but most ‘fungal forays’ and most identification books cover everything you might find.
This book does too – the key difference is that the focus and purpose is to identify edible mushrooms and to forage and harvest them with care to preserve the mycelium and show more future growth.

This book goes further with details on how to clean, cook and preserve your mushrooms, as well as covering the health benefits of eating them. The author has provided recipes and a seasonal calendar too. Finally, there is a helpful identification logbook to help you learn as you record your finds.

I don’t want more people out there foraging for delicious and delightful mushrooms, so I’d love to say – don’t buy this, find any other interest instead. The truth is, if you still insist on being interested, this is a brilliant and comprehensive guide. show less

This is a concise introduction to foraging followed by some general information about the locations and uses of several native Texas plants. It is not sufficient for an identification guide, but it is a terrific source for recipes.

I received a free e-book version of Pacific Northwest Edible Plant Foraging & Mushroom Field Guide (amazon associate link) by Stephen Fleming from the author through the Library Thing early reviewers program.
My Expectations: I have wanted to learn how to identify local, edible mushrooms, so I had high hopes to learn some tricks to separate the edible from the dangerous.
What I liked: I really liked that the book went beyond specific plant identification. It includes healthy harvesting show more techniques, preparation and preservation, and it even includes some recipes. There's a seasonal calendar for local mushrooms, which shows me when to be on the lookout, and lists a surprising variety year round. There are also adorable "Identification Logbook" pages to print out and take on foraging adventures. I was especially surprised to learn that the entire Tiger Lily plant is edible, good in stir-fries, salads, and can be pickled. Now, I'm looking forward to next year's Tiger Lilies.
What I didn’t like: I noticed right away that the writing could be repetitive. However, in a guidebook, that's probably not the worst thing. I also found the online references for the images a bit off-putting. It would be nice to have the author take first-hand images for his guide. Or perhaps the photo references could be on a page at the back, to at least create the illusion of first-hand photos. The guide could also use more images of the different identifying details.
Rating: ♦♦♦♦ 4 out of 5
Overall, I'm excited to own this book. I recommend it to anyone living in the Pacific Northwest who enjoys exploring outdoors. show less

Elementary in a good way, this guide is appropriate for supervised children and passionate chefs with access to a thriving forest.

This book teaches well, but it leaves me with a few nitpicks. The images in chapter 3 seem more glam-shots, and there are too few of them. I would like to see mushrooms in various stages of growth and concealment. This goes triple for anything poisonous, where I would want to see diagnostic images. I feel it may be irresponsible to make a mushroom foraging guide show more that does not include psychedelics. If that's what your looking for give this book a hard pass because it has none. Nor is it comprehensive, so you cannot guess a mushroom is psychedelic by process of elimination. You may run into something poisonous.

But this sets out to be a good rated-G guide, and it is. I can't help but believe there are better mushroom foraging guides out there, but this one does teach well. show less