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.
