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. |
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