Line your shelves with a few foraging cookbooks to inspire the budding wildcrafter chef in you. These books are full of amazing for foods and drinks!

In preparation for our big homestead move – I mustered the wherewithal to do a mighty book purge.  It was time.  The shelves runneth over. The adorable antique marble bird book ends my husband gave me last year couldn’t contain the library on my desk – officially more a library than a workspace prior to the purge.   I am only packing up that which I use and love.

And these five foraging cookbooks totally made the cut.

So if you are looking to expand your or a loved one’s library with some serious fantastic foraging cookbooks – these five titles deserve a place on the shelf.  Or in your lap, with a cup of hawthorn chai, because foraging, ya know?

Wild Drinks and Cocktails, by Emily Han.  My friend Emily really knows how to whip up an inspired beverage or two using wild, foraged ingredients.  Lucky enough in this fabulous online world to “virtually” know Emily, I traded some Willamette Valley cottonwood buds for a copy of her gorgeous book.  Her Hawthorn and Rose Elixir (page 123) has pretty much alllll of my favorite things in it!

The Forager’s Feast, by Leda Meredith.  Again, with friends like these – a wildcrafter will have the best foraging cookbook library ever.  Leda’s book is full of wonderful recipes inspired by her far-flung travels and experiences. Her Hebridean Dulse Broth (page 94) makes me want to forget about housework and farmwork and make a run for the coast to score some serious seaweed.

Foraging & Feasting, a field guide and wild food cookbook, by Dina Falconi: I may have mentioned before that I am a total sucker for botanical illustrations.  I am an art nerd without artistic talent. This beautifully illustrated book marries field guide and foraging cookbook into one lovely hardback.  The creamed wild greens (page 163) have me longing for the surge of spring growth!

The New Wildcrafted Cuisine, by Pascal Baudar.  Holy moly, this book… Current reigning godfather of wildcrafted sodas (his inspiration has touched the blog here and here), Baudar’s foraging cookbook isn’t limited to ferments, but also offers an abundance of amazingly thoughtful, mouthwatering recipes from wildcrafted ingredients. I can’t wait to try the pickled cattail shoots (page 276) and the duck breast prosciutto with wild sages sounds divine (page 162).

The Wildcrafted Cocktail, by Ellen Zachos.  I mean, really.  Another friend, Ellen, really knows her way around the good booze – and brings her foraging skills to the bar. This book is overflowing with the most interesting recipes.  The candy cap mushroom-infused rum for the “Earth and Awe” cocktail (page 140) – total magic.

To be honest, I am really glad that I did my major book purge.  There are so many excellent foraging cookbooks (I only hope to one day write one of my own) that I just need to make room for!  Should you make room on your shelf for one of these lovely editions, I can practically guarantee that you will be inspired to get outside and foraging!