Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada: A Photographic Guidebook to Finding and Using Key Species

Description

This beautifully illustrated guidebook provides specific, easy-to-understand information on finding, collecting, identifying, and preparing the safer and more common edible and medicinal mushroom species of New England and Eastern Canada. Author David Spahr, a trained commercial photographer, here combines his mycological expertise and photographic skill to produce an attractive and detailed overview of his subject. Based on decades of practical experience and research, the book is written in a clear and forthright style that avoids the dry, generic descriptions of most field guides. Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada also provides useful ideas for cooking mushrooms. Rather than simply providing recipes, the book discusses the cooking characteristics of each variety, with advice about matching species with appropriate foods. Many mushrooms contain unique medicinal components for boosting the immune system to fight cancer, HIV, and other diseases, and Spahr offers practical and prudent guidelines for exploration of this rapidly emerging area of alternative therapeutic practice.

David Spahr has collected, photographed, and eaten wild mushrooms for 35 years. He is a member of the Maine Mycological Association and maintains a Web site devoted to the subject, mushroom-collecting.com. Also a second degree black belt and longtime tai chi practitioner, he lives in Washington, ME.

"David Spahr combines his considerable knowledge of fungi, art, photography, fine cuisine, wine, and more into a beautiful and captivating book. For anyone interested in wild mushrooms, from beginner to expert, this unique work provides valuable information that you won't easily find anywhere else. I give it my highest recommendation." -Bill Russell, author of Field Guide to the Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic "Clear, user-friendly information on every aspect of mushrooming for the pothunter makes this the mushroom book I wish I had when I first began foraging." -"Wildman" Steve Brill, "America's Best-Known Forager," and author of Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places and The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook "David Spahr has put together an informative book and a worthy addition to the knowledge of anyone interested in finding, identifying, photographing, and cooking wild mushrooms." -Patrick Hamilton, chef for the Sonoma County Mycological Association (SOMA) "For arm-chair foragers or amateur mycologists ... the book offers photographs and helpful hints for collecting mushrooms in the woods and the fringes of the suburbs." -Port City Life Magazine "Excellent for the food connoisseur in your household. In addition, physicians, dieticians, nutritionists, health buffs and professional chefs will enjoy this book immensely." -Basil & Spice