the book Cornucopia

If you haven't seen this book you might want to borrow it from the library, it is an encyclopedic book of edible plants from all over the world..

One thing that I found terribly interesting when I was reading the book, and it is a big read, was the PARTS of plants that people generally don't eat ...but that are edible

The parts that most people would throw away, or leave to die in their gardens.

sure we all eat a few weeds or wild edibles..but how many of us actually eat the entire plant rather than just it's fruit..

Many plants out there are completely edible in all forms, some are not, so it is good to take notes on which ones are and which ones aren't.

some of the common garden annuals are completely edible..the stems and young shoots, the leaves, the flower buds, the flowers, the roots and the fruit and some even the seeds and pollen, and sprouts from the seeds.

If we were to use all the edible parts of the plants growing in our yard, or at least taste them to see if  we might like them, then we would be far less likely to be complainiing about food prices.

for several years I have been finding more and more books on edible wild foods ..as I love foraging and it is a family tradition for us as my grandparents were trappers and restaurant owners, and foraged food was always on the plate, they even drove miles and miles to get foods that weren't growing in our area and camped out as a family.

but I was very lax in realizing that the parts of the squash and melons, and bean plants etc that grew in my garden were edible and quite tasty.

also for several years I have been eating the flowers that grow in the flower gardens here, including the leaves..finding that osme of the plants i have growing like, well weeds, are very tasty, i eat violets in my spring salads , leaves and flowers, dames rockets, and malva, now regularly and am always snipping a few new plants to try..but this year I'm gonig to be eating some new flower fritters, thanks to reading the cornucopia book

Let's keep a thread going, what did you try new that you hadn't eaten before and did you like it??

I used this book extensivly during the first 10yrs of forest gardening.The nursery names and addresses are mostly out of date.He also says stuff is edible that sometimes isnt(snow berry)or that natives had taboos agaist eating too much.Its very thourough though and shows the most use of my books due to looking up stuff with garden hands.

I see that there is a 2[sup]nd[/sup] Edition "Cornucopia II".  Some people complained that there are no illustrations, but the book is 713 pages already.  If there were illustrations, you would need to carry it around in your wheel barrow!

I'v got the book and i'm from another country that US, and so the book is not very usefull cause i'm limited primarly by the stuff i can get from seed and tree compagnies here.

But it should be usefull to carry it to plant fairs.

Update :

i'm now using the book extensivly, to select good cultivars of plants (not to discover new plants to use), and it is very good, a lot of knowledge in it ! I also recommend Uncommon Fruits for Every Gardens from Reich and Agroforestry News magazine from Crawford, very detailed knowledge about cultivation, cultivars, rootstock, diseases ...