Midwest Foraging: 115 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Burdock to Wild Peach

by Lisa M. Rose

“This full color guide makes foraging accessible for beginners and is a reliable source for advanced foragers.” —Edible Chicago

The Midwest offers a veritable feast for foragers, and with Lisa Rose as your trusted guide you will learn how to safely find and identify an abundance of delicious wild plants. The plant profiles in Midwest Foraging include clear, color photographs, identification tips, guidance on how to ethically harvest, and suggestions for eating and preserving. A handy seasonal planner details which plants are available during every season. Thorough, comprehensive, and safe, this is a must-have for foragers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and North Dakota.   
 

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Nature, Gardening, Reference, Outdoors, Survival

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2015

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and may buy a copy for home (I read a library copy). It features 115 wild edible plants found in the midwest and is full of color photos and lots of ideas for not just how to find the wild plants but also how to use them.

I wish there were more ID photos (there's often just one, and not necessarily of all the plant or the plant in the season you might find it), but there's so much I love about it that I'll just use it in conjunction with other ID guides.

The author clearly knows her stuff and honestly likes the plants she writes about, as opposed to some foraging authors who make some plants sound like survival food to suffer through.

Highly recommended.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice intro to Midwestern edible plants, just as the title suggests. I'm no stranger to harvesting wild plants, something I did a lot growing up in Alaska. My grandmother in particular used to teach me about what you could eat, from rose hips to the dozens of berry varieties native to Alaska. Alas, I've had to move around a lot for school and then work, and now I'm settled in Illinois, where I'm not really familiar with local plant life. This book is just what the doctor ordered.

[Callen Aster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good pictures, great overviews, always fun to read a regionally-specific book with this much information... can't give it 5 stars because the "how to identify" paragraph for quite a few plants was really weak and/or left out key features. But if you are able to cross-reference with other resources, this is a solid book

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second time to check this out but I am never going to “finish”. If you live in the Midwest and have a bit of land or have access to land where you can forage, you will want to have this on your bookshelf for reference. The many photos make the book useful and beautiful. Midwest Foraging is a 2015 publication but it is still good as gold (or goldenrod).

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic resource, will purchase.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful photos and lots of great details including ideas for uses! Can’t wait to buy my own copy to reference again and again!

[Wes Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Midwest Foraging is a good guide to an array of plants that can be foraged in the midwest. It is laid out well, with information about how to identify plants, when, where and how to gather them, how to eat them, and how thier future sustainability may be impacted by foraging the plants. However, while distribution is touched upon, a little more information on this, as well as more details and pictures on how to clearly identify the plants, would come in handy. That being said, this is a decent guide to have on hand.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to love foraging aback in the 1970's. It's wonderful to see it coming back into vogue. I'm not sure if my area is midwest or northeast anymore...I may be a bit of both as I found many plants I know in this one and another similar book I'll be reviewing shortly. I think that unless you know your plants, the actual book will be very useful for beginners as I believe the photos are in color. I had no idea salsify grew in my area and am very excited to try and locate it in the future! I think it must be an escapee from gardens. Doesn't matter, it's yummy and worth searching for!
Photos look promising as aids to plant identification. Loved reading the book!

[Shannon Telles lisowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can not wait to use the knowledge that I gained in this book this Spring/Summer. My 7 year old granddaughter has also spent several hours looking through it and seems very excited to use it as well.

[Heaether · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to buy this one.

[Ellenh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for this area.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best foraging book for our area for non-fungi. Great descriptions of how to use the plants as well.

[MNBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fantastic starter book to get ideas about edible plants in your areas. Yes, future research is needed as this is an introduction and if you plan to cook anything you’ll need recipes. I love that everything here is in color with multiple pictures of each plant. Positive identification is so important and I usually find myself checking my native plants app and looking online to see tons of pictures. If I don’t have a flower to go off of it’s very difficult to confirm, so caution is warranted. The only thing I would have enjoyed (and maybe will be added to future editions) is a tidbit at the top of each plant page about if it’s native or invasive. Some of these invasive plants like garlic mustard which we have allll over my area are invasive weeds that we could be foraging like crazy and it wasn’t mentioned here. Yet, super rare and delicate plants like ramps, ostrich ferns, and trout Lilly are mentioned as foraging options. I have ramps in my yard and the population is so limited I wouldn’t dare forage them!! Otherwise super colorful and if you are starting to forage like we are, this may be a good foray into some of the safer options like nettles and maple syrup (both of which we are trying!!).

[Joanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely agree with the quote on the cover "A beautiful book that any forager in the Midwest will want to own." My husband and I started foraging for mushrooms, as our new hobby during Covid, and with this new year decided we needed a more comprehensive field guide for more area edibles. Organized first by season and again alphabetically, with clear photos, I am looking forward to all our foraging discoveries this year. Thank you, Lisa Rose, you delivered exactly what we needed!

[Maria Damiani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice book to have as part of my foraging collection, but doesn't have enough info or photos to identify things with just this book. I like it and read it to get ideas, but definitely not a standalone guide.

[Brianna Matejovsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing about mushrooms

Bought this cause it was recommended for mushroom foraging but not one mushroom in the whole book and so disappointed

[Andrew Violette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spent a lot of time during this years pandemic learning to forage in suburban chicago. This book was great for identifying edible, wild midwestern plants.

[Cari Sly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found so many things I can find in my yard and in my next hike!

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library, purchasing my own copy for a field guide.

[Eleanor Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plant identification and info; few pictures and without recipes

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

No recipes! So refreshing. Just focused on the plants and nuts and how to find them.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear guide, with conservation/habitat worries paired with each entry. Very thoughtful given today's day and age.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

great foraging guide

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great pictures and descriptions!

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool and interesting. But I don’t think I’d ever actually forage. Liked that it was broken out into sections: how to identify, where and when to gather, how to gather, and how to eat.

[L BZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good! Better for the upper Midwest, in my opinion. I carry this with me sometimes when I go on nature walks.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe I should try this. I live in the midwest

[z · Rating 5 out of 5]

holds a permanent place on my bookshelf.

[Bobby Billen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very quick read, but very informative and detailed still. The pictures help!

[Denise Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great info written in a clear concise manner.