Description
FORAGING ARIZONA: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods in Arizona, by Christopher Nyerges
Arizona is a state rich in native foods that have been used for millenia by indigenous peoples, such as the broad diversity of cacti (we include some little known recipes), palo verde, mesquite, cat claw acacia, and the many native fruits, nuts, and seeds, such as wild cherries, acorns, chia, jojoba, chia, amaranth, and many more.
We cover all the commonly-available wild foods in Arizona, as well as the many introduced plants which have come from diverse parts of the world. These include such edibles as lambs quarters, purslane, dandelion, sow thistle, Russian thistle, salsify, nettles, and many more. These introduced plants are actually found all over the United States.
Many of the plants in this book are also quite nutritious, and a nutritional chart from the USDA shows the actual nutritional qualities of these plants. “Foraging Arizona: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods in Arizona,” is a Falcon Field Guide by Christopher Nyerges, released in November of 2020, part of the Falcon Press national Foraging series of books. This 244 page book is full color, and is organized by plant family, according to the latest Jepson Manual (“Higher Plants of California”). This is Nyerges’ 7th Foraging Guide by Falcon.
The book is fully illustrated with color photos, and an introductory chapter on the eco-types of Arizona. 270 pages. $22.95
Christopher always enjoyed this Fat Freddy’s Cat cartoon, about Tumbleweeds, and how they seem to have a life of their own. He got permission from the cartoonist to include this in Foraging Arizona book. Though Tumbleweed/Russian Thistle is not a native to this area, we all tend to associate it with barren parts of the west…
