Table of Contents
A Remembrance of Euell Gibbons John McPhee xi
Some Thoughts on Wild Food 1
The Acom: Ancient Food of Man 10
The Green Amaranth: Invader from the Tropics 14
Wild Apples and Crab Apples 17
Arrowhead or Wapatoo: Favorite Food Plant of American Indians 21
The Jerusalem Artichoke 25
Stalking the Wild Asparagus 28
The Sweet Birch 32
Blackberries and Dewberries 36
The Huckleberry and Blueberry Tribes 39
Great Burdock or Wild Gobo 46
Calamus: Confection, Cure-All and Salad Plant 50
Supermarket of the Swamps: The Common Cattail 55
Wild Cherries 61
Eat Your Chickory and Drink It Too 69
Wild Cranberries 75
The Official Remedy for Disorders 77
New Food from a Familiar Flower 83
A Salute to the Elderberry: With a Nod to Scarlet Sumac 87
Using Wild Grapes 96
Ground Cherries for Pies and Preserves 102
The Groundnut or Indian Potato 106
Japanese Knotweed: A Combination Fruit-Vegetable 109
Juneberries, Shadberries or Serviceberries 114
Sweets from Trees 117
May Apple, or American Mandrake 126
The Common Milkweed 130
Mulberries: Red and White 134
The Cult of the Mycophagists 139
Wild Mustard: Nature's Finest Health Food 152
The Wild Onion Family 157
The Pawpaw: A Tropical Fruit Come North 161
The Sugar-Plum Tree: Persimmon 164
Beating the Pigs to the Pigweeds 170
Poke: Wild Potherb Par Excellence 174
Purslane: India's Gift to the World 178
Raspberries and Wineberries 183
The Sassafras for Food and Drink 187
Economics of Wild Strawberries 194
The Spring Beauty or Fairy Spuds 201
The Common Sunflower 204
Wildwood Teas 208
Walnuts and Hickory Nuts 213
The Nose Twister: King of Wild Salad Plants 219
Wild Rice: Epicurean Delight 223
Winter Cress: The First with the Most 226
A Wild Winter Garden in Your Cellar 231
Wild Honey 235
How About the Meat Course 242
Spinning for Bluegills 249
How to Cook a Carp 256
The Crayfish: A Real Luxury Food 260
On Eating Frog's Legs 265
Turtles and Terrapins 268
Herbal Medicine from Wild Plants 272
The Proof of the Pudding 289
Index 297
