“What are the best books about Foraging?” We looked at 105 of the top Foraging books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 25 titles, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Foraging” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 75+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.
Also, see our article on The Best Mushroom And Foraging Books.
Happy Scrolling!
Lists It Appears On:
A cook-book which incorporates a tour of the British countryside in search of wild ingredients. The book presents all the recipes from both of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s television series of the same name, as well as new recipes. Guidance is included on where to find the ingredients.
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Full-color illustrated guide to identifying 200 Western mushrooms by their key features.
Lists It Appears On:
Learn all about the interesting and delicious wild harvest of Alaska, western Canada, and the Northwest in this significant illustrated volume on 147 wild plants.
Lists It Appears On:
Full-color photographs face detailed descriptions of 250 plant species in the western United States and Canada, covering field identification, habitat and range, edibility, medicinal uses, and more.
Lists It Appears On:
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Lists It Appears On:
Foraging the Mountain West is a hands-on manual for identifying, harvesting, and preparing real food. It is written for the backpacker who would rather bring more knowledge and fewer provisions into the wilderness. It is intended for the happy homemaker who wants to eat well and spend less. It is ideal for the creative chef who wants to explore new ingredients and impress diners with novel dishes.
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Lists It Appears On:
Hedgerows, moors, meadows and woods – these hold a veritable feast for the forager. In this hugely informative and witty handbook, John Wright reveals how to spot the free and delicious pickings to be found in the British countryside, and how to prepare and cook them. First John touches on the basics for the hedgerow forager, with an introduction to conservation, safety, the law, and all the equipment that you may need. Next he guides you through the tasty edible species to be found. Each one is accompanied by photographs for identification, along with their conservation status, habitat, distribution, season, taste, texture and cooking methods – not forgetting, of course, some fascinating asides and diversions about their taxonomy and history. Fifty species are covered, including bilberries, blackberries, raspberries, common mallow, dandelions, hedge garlic, horseradish, pignuts, nettles, sloes, sweet chestnuts, water mint, bulrushes and wild cherries. After this there is a section describing the poisonous species to steer clear of, with identifying photographs as well as warnings about nasty ‘lookalikes’. Finally, there are thirty delicious recipes to show how you can make the most of your (edible) findings. Introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hedgerow is an indispensable household reference, and an essential book to have by your side for every trip into the countryside.
Lists It Appears On:
If there is a frontier beyond organic, local, and seasonal, beyond farmers’ markets and sustainably raised meat, it surely includes hunting, fishing, and foraging your own food. A lifelong angler and forager who became a hunter late in life, Hank Shaw has chronicled his passion for hunting and gathering in his widely read blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, which has developed an avid following among outdoor people and foodies alike. Hank is dedicated to finding a place on the table for the myriad overlooked and underutilized wild foods that are there for the taking—if you know how to get them. In Hunt, Gather, Cook, he shares his experiences both in the field and the kitchen, as well as his extensive knowledge of North America’s edible flora and fauna. With the fresh, clever prose that brings so many readers to his blog, Hank provides a user-friendly, food-oriented introduction to tracking down everything from sassafras to striped bass to snowshoe hares. He then provides innovative ways to prepare wild foods that go far beyond typical campfire cuisine: homemade root beer, cured wild boar loin, boneless tempura shad, Sardinian hare stew—even pasta made with handmade acorn flour. For anyone ready to take a more active role in determining what they feed themselves and their families, Hunt, Gather, Cook offers an entertaining and delicious introduction to harvesting the bounty of wild foods to be found in every part of the country.
Lists It Appears On:
Incredible Wild Edibles covers 36 of the best edible wild plants in North America: fruits, berries, nuts, shoots, leafy greens, root vegetables, culinary herbs, teas, and syrups that boast exceptional flavor and nutrition. The plants chosen represent every habitat and every region in North America, from the northern forests to the southwest deserts, from the largest cities to the wildest mountains. Rather than cover hundreds of species in brief accounts that leave the reader unsure of how to proceed, Samuel Thayer encourages readers to thoroughly learn one plant at a time. Each of these traditional foods has a rich culinary and cultural history―a wholesome past that is still relevant for our health and happiness today. The text is fully accessible to the novice, but remains botanically accurate and has the in-depth information that seasoned foragers crave.
Lists It Appears On:
Nature’s Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Wild Edible Plants. Nature’s Garden follows the same award-winning format of Samuel Thayer’s first book, with in-depth chapters covering 41 new wild edibles. In this volume you will find the most authoritative accounts of several important food plants, such as hackberry and American lotus, available anywhere. You will find mouth-watering photography of cranberries, blueberries, huckleberries, strawberries, wild plums, and more. You’ll hear of new methods for using dandelions. You’ll finally be able to make sense of the tricky wild lettuce/sow thistle group. You’ll discover that wild carrot and poison hemlock can be reliably told apart, thanks to a detailed chart accompanied by 19 photographs.
Lists It Appears On:
Here is a classic collection of inventive recipes and imaginative cooking ideas from the all-time master improviser and gatherer of healthful wild foods.
Lists It Appears On:
Here Euell Gibbons shows the reader how to enjoy the culinary and medicinal virtues of herbs and wild plants. Drawn from the author’s wide knowledge of plants as well as from the lore of native Americans and early settlers, the information is supplemented by nutritionists at Pennsylvania State University who worked with Gibbons on analysis of the entries.
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First published in 1919, Dr. Sturtevant’s collected writings provide a detailed guide to literature on edible plants, cultigens, and secondary food sources
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Do you know your mushrooms? This is the only mushrooming book that will introduce you safely and with confidence to the not-so “underground” hobby of mushroom hunting and gathering. Gathering edible wild food is a wonderful way to forge a connection to the earth. Mushrooms are the ultimate local food source; they grow literally everywhere, from mountains and woodlands to urban and suburban parks to your own backyard. The Complete Mushroom Hunter will enrich your understanding of the natural world and build an appreciation for an ancient, critically relevant, and useful body of knowledge. Amateur mycologists and mushroom enthusiasts will find this is a guidebook for their passion. Mushroom guru Gary Lincoff escorts you from the mushroom’s earliest culinary awakening, through getting equipped for mushroom forays, to preparing and serving the fruits of the foray, wherever you live. Inside you’ll find: -A brief, but colorful history of mushroom hunting worldwide -How to get equipped for a mushroom foray -A completely illustrated guide to the common wild edible mushrooms and their poisonous look-alikes: where to find them, how to identify them, and more -How to prepare and serve the fruits of your foray, plus more than 30 delicious recipes -Plus, dozens of colorful, priceless anecdotes from living the mushroom lifestyle
Lists It Appears On:
A guide to 32 of the best and most common edible wild plants in North America, with detailed information on how to identify them, where they are found, how and when they are harvested, which parts are used, how they are prepared, as well as their culinary use, ecology, conservation, and cultural history.
Lists It Appears On:
This beautifully photographed book offers up dozens of creative recipes and instructions for preparing a pantry full of preserved foods, including Pickled Acorns, White Sage-Lime Cider, Wild Kimchi Spice, Currant Capers, Infused Salts with Wild Herbs, Pine Needles Vinegar, and many more. And though the author’s own palette of wild foods are mostly common to southern California, readers everywhere can apply Baudar’s deep foraging wisdom and experience to explore their own bioregions and find an astonishing array of plants and other materials that can be used in their own kitchens.
Lists It Appears On:
Katrina Blair’s philosophy in The Wild Wisdom of Weeds is sobering, realistic, and ultimately optimistic. If we can open our eyes to see the wisdom found in these weeds right under our noses, instead of trying to eradicate an “invasive,” we will achieve true food security. The Wild Wisdom of Weeds is about healing ourselves both in body and in spirit, in an age where technology, commodity agriculture, and processed foods dictate the terms of our intelligence. But if we can become familiar with these thirteen edible survival weeds found all over the world, we will never go hungry, and we will become closer to our own wild human instincts―all the while enjoying the freshest, wildest, and most nutritious food there is. For free!
Lists It Appears On:
An authoritative and beautifully illustrated book on wild food and foraging by a leading expert Wild food is all around us, growing in our hedgerows and fields, along river banks and seashores, even on inhospitable moorland. In this definitive book, hundreds of these plants are clearly identified, with color photography and a detailed description. Roger Phillips also gives us fascinating information on how our ancestors would have used the plant as well as including more than 100 more modern recipes for delicious food and drinks. From berries, herbs, and mushrooms to wild vegetables, salad leaves, seaweed, and even bark, this book will inspire you to start cooking with nature’s free bounty. lncludes dual measures.
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Lists It Appears On:
Imagine what you could do with eighteen delicious new greens in your dining arsenal including purslane, chickweed, curly dock, wild spinach, sorrel, and wild mustard. John Kallas makes it fun and easy to learn about foods you’ve unknowingly passed by all your life. Through gorgeous photographs, playful, but authoritative text, and ground-breaking design he gives you the knowledge and confidence to finally begin eating and enjoying edible wild plants. Edible Wild Plants divides plants into four flavor categories — foundation, tart, pungent, and bitter. Categorizing by flavor helps readers use these greens in pleasing and predictable ways. According to the author, combining elements from these different categories makes the best salads.
Lists It Appears On:
The ideal portable companion, the world-renowned Collins Gem series returns with a fresh new look and updated material. This is the perfect pocket guide for aspiring foragers. Over 100 edible plants are listed, fully illustrated and described, together with recipes and other fascinating details on their use throughout the ages. Practical advice on how to pick along with information on countryside laws and regulations on picking wild plants helps you to plan your foray with a feast in mind. This is the ideal book for both nature lovers and cooks keen to enjoy what the countryside has to offer.
Lists It Appears On:
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places shows readers how to find and prepare more than five hundred different plants for nutrition and better health. It includes information on common plants such as mullein (a tea made from the leaves and flowers suppresses a cough), stinging nettle (steam the leaves and you have a tasty dish rich in iron), cattail (cooked stalks taste similar to corn and are rich in protein), and wild apricots (an infusion made with the leaves is good for stomach aches and digestive disorders). More than 260 detailed line drawings help readers identify a wide range of plants — many of which are suited for cooking by following the more than thirty recipes included in this book. There are literally hundreds of plants readily available underfoot waiting to be harvested and used either as food or as a potential therapeutic. This book is both a field guide to nature’s bounty and a source of intriguing information about the plants that surround us.
Lists It Appears On:
Euell Gibbons was one of the few people in this country to devote a considerable part of his life to the adventure of “living off the land.” He sought out wild plants all over North America and made them into delicious dishes. His book includes recipes for vegetable and casserole dishes, breads, cakes, muffins and twenty different pies. He also shows how to make numerous jellies, jams, teas, and wines, and how to sweeten them with wild honey or homemade maple syrup.
Lists It Appears On:
Simply the best and most complete mushroom field guide and reference book, MUSHROOMS DEMYSTIFIED includes descriptions and keys to more than 2,000 species of mushrooms, with more than 950 photographs. Mushroom authority David Arora provides a beginner’s checklist of the 70 most distinctive and common mushrooms, plus detailed chapters on terminology, classification, habitats, mushroom cookery, mushroom toxins, and the meanings of scientific mushroom names. Beginning and experienced mushroom hunters everywhere will find MUSHROOMS DEMYSTIFIED a delightful, informative, and indispensible companion.
| # | Books | Authors | Lists |
| 26 | 100 Edible Mushrooms | The Survival Garden | |
| 27 | A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America | Lee Allen Peterson | Goodreads |
| 28 | A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs | Steven Foster | Goodreads |
| 29 | A Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand | Andrew Crowe | Goodreads |
| 30 | A Peterson Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs | Christopher Hobbs | Goodreads |
| 31 | Abundantly Wild: Collecting and Cooking Wild Edibles in the Upper Midwest | Teresa Marrone | Goodreads |
| 32 | Any of Samuel Thayer’s books | Backdoor Survival | |
| 33 | Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat | Ellen Zachos | Goodreads |
| 34 | Booze | John Wright | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 35 | Booze for Free Hardback | Andy Hamilton | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 36 | Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification | Wild Edible | |
| 37 | Botany in a Day: Thomas J. Elpel’s Herbal Field Guide to Plant Families | Thomas J. Elpel | Goodreads |
| 38 | Cassell’s Wild Flowers of Britain & Northern Europe | Eat Weeds | |
| 39 | Common seaweeds | Field Studies Council | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 40 | Concise British Flora in Colour | Eat Weeds | |
| 41 | Culinary Artistry | Wild Edible | |
| 42 | Culpepper’s Complete Herbal | Nicolas Culpepper | Original Outdoors |
| 43 | Dandelion Hunter: Foraging the Urban Wilderness | Rebecca Lerner | Goodreads |
| 44 | Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love and the Perfect Meal | Ava Chin | Goodreads |
| 45 | Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies | Linda Kershaw | Goodreads |
| 46 | Edible and Useful Plants of California | Honest Food | |
| 47 | Edible and Useful Plants of the Southwest: Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona | Delena Tull | Backdoor Survival |
| 48 | Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains | Honest Food | |
| 49 | Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field-To-Kitchen Guide | David W. Fischer | Goodreads |
| 50 | Edible Wild Plants & Herbs : A Compendium of Recipes and Remedies | Pamela Michael | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 51 | Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide | Thomas Elias | Goodreads |
| 52 | Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager | Langdon Cook | Goodreads |
| 53 | Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer’s Market, with 88 Recipes | Tama Matsuoka Wong | Goodreads |
| 54 | Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook | Dina Falconi | Chestnut Herbs |
| 55 | Foraging and Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook | Dina Falconi | Goodreads |
| 56 | Foraging with Kids: 52 Wild and Free Edibles to Enjoy with Your Children | Adele Nozedar | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 57 | Fungi Name Trail: Identification Guide | Field Studies Council | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 58 | Gathering the Desert | Honest Food | |
| 59 | Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms | The Survival Garden | |
| 60 | Harrap’s Wild Flowers (Top Recommendation) | Eat Weeds | |
| 61 | Idiot’s Guide to Foraging | Wild Edible | |
| 62 | Keeping It Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America | Douglas Deur | Goodreads |
| 63 | Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside : Creative Ways to Help Children Discover Nature and Enjoy the Great Outdoors | Fiona Bird | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 64 | Medicinal Plants of the Desert & Canyon West | Michael Moore | Nectar Apothecary |
| 65 | Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West | Michael Moore | Nectar Apothecary |
| 66 | Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West | Michael Moore | Nectar Apothecary |
| 67 | Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World | The Survival Garden | |
| 68 | National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms (National Audubon Society Field Guides) | The Survival Garden | |
| 69 | Native American Ethnobotany | Wild Edible | |
| 70 | Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide | Wild Edible | |
| 71 | Northwest Foraging: The Classic Guide to Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest | Doug Benoliel | Goodreads |
| 72 | Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats | Wild Edible | |
| 73 | Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation | The Survival Garden | |
| 74 | Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary | James G. Harris | Goodreads |
| 75 | Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska | Jim Pojar | Goodreads |
| 76 | Preserves | Pam Corbin | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 77 | Preserving Wild Foods: A Modern Forager’s Recipes for Curing, Canning, Smoking, and Pickling | Matthew Weingarten | Goodreads |
| 78 | Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide | Rosemary Gladstar | Goodreads |
| 79 | Southern California: “The New Wildcrafted Cuisine” | Pascal Baudar | Backdoor Survival |
| 80 | Southwest Foraging – 117 Wild & Flavorful Edibles | John Slattery | Nectar Apothecary |
| 81 | The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms | Gary Lincoff | Goodreads |
| 82 | The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants | U.S. Department of the Army | Goodreads |
| 83 | The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America: Nature’s Green Feast | Wild Edible | |
| 84 | The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally | Robin Mather | Goodreads |
| 85 | The Front Yard Forager: Identifying, Collecting, and Cooking the 30 Most Common Urban Weeds | Melany Vorass Herrera | Goodreads |
| 86 | The Illustrated Guide to Edible Wild Plants | U.S. Department of the Army | Goodreads |
| 87 | The Joy of Foraging: Gary Lincoff’s Illustrated Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Enjoying a World of Wild Food | Gary Lincoff | Goodreads |
| 88 | The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of Secrets, Eccentrics, and the American Dream | Langdon Cook | Goodreads |
| 89 | The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals | Michael Pollan | Goodreads |
| 90 | The Regional Foraging Series | Backdoor Survival | |
| 91 | The Wild Flower Key | Francis Rose | Original Outdoors |
| 92 | Thrifty Forager: Living Off Your Local Landscape | Alys Fowler | Goodreads |
| 93 | Ugly Little Greens: Gourmet Dishes Crafted from Foraged Ingredients | Mia Wasilevich | Chestnut Herbs |
| 94 | Vegetative Key to the British Flora | Eat Weeds | |
| 95 | Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods | Wild Edible | |
| 96 | Wild Flower Key | Eat Weeds | |
| 97 | Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland | Eat Weeds | |
| 98 | Wild Flowers of Britain & Northwest Europe | Eat Weeds | |
| 99 | Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe | Podlech and Lippert | Original Outdoors |
| 100 | Wild Food | Gordon Hillman and Ray Mears | Original Outdoors |
| 101 | Wildcook – ceps, shrubs & rock ‘n’ roll | Garry Eveleigh | Hedgerow Harvest |
| 102 | Wildflowers Of Tennessee, The Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians | Wild Edible | |
| 103 | Wonderful Wildflowers of Wales | Pat O’Reilly and Sue Parker | Original Outdoors |
| 104 | Mushrooms | John Wright | Original Outdoors |
| 105 | Mushrooms | Roger Phillips | Original Outdoors |
| Source | Article |
| Backdoor Survival | The Best Foraging Books Worth Reading |
| Chestnut Herbs | The Ten Best Books on Foraging Wild Foods and Herbs |
| Eat Weeds | Top Plant Identification Books For Foragers |
| Goodreads | Popular Foraging Books |
| Hedgerow Harvest | Family Foraging Books |
| Honest Food | Best Foraging Books |
| Nectar Apothecary | 6 of the Best Books for Identifying & Harvesting Wild Medicinal |
| Original Outdoors | Ten foraging books you need on your bookshelf |
| The Survival Garden | The Best Mushroom Foraging Books |
| Wild Edible | Best Foraging Books |
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