Northeast Foraging: A Conversation with Author Leda Meredith
Posted in People on June 4 2014, by Joyce Newman
Joyce H. Newman holds a Certificate in Horticulture from The New York Botanical Garden and has been a Tour Guide for over seven years. She is a blogger for Garden Variety News and the former editor of Consumer Reports GreenerChoices.org.
Food expert and NYBG instructor, Leda Meredith, has created an essential field guide out this spring that will enable just about anyone to safely venture out to enjoy the best wild foods in our region.
Called Northeast Foraging: 120 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Beach Plums to Wineberries (Timber Press), the book provides invaluable plant lists for each season and area. The lists show when and where (open meadow, woodland, seashore, wetland) to locate delicious, edible plants covering the entire northeast region, from as far south as Maryland, and north to Maine, and even Ontario and Quebec.
Meredith devotes most of the book—262 pages—to detailed plant profiles, with vivid 4-color, close-up photographs and pointed advice on how to cook and preserve each plant. Daylilies, for example, are good for 3-season dishes; wild mint, it turns out, has a great many culinary uses; trendy ramps can be found for free, as can wild strawberries, perhaps the best wild fruit of all. Read on for more tips from the expert herself!