CHRISTOPHER NYERGES’ “FORAGING ARIZONA”

JUST RELEASED November 2020

[Nyerges can be reached at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.]

 

Christopher Nyerges’ seventh book for Falcon Guides, “Foraging Arizona,” has just been released.  This botanical guide was written by Christopher Nyerges, the author 22 books, who has been leading wild food and self-reliance classes since 1974.

“Foraging Arizona” is a fully-illustrated guide to the edible and medicinal plants of Arizona, with lots of historical recipes and useful information about the flora of Arizona. 

California residents, and residents of surrounding states, will find many familiar plants in this book because many of the common plants of Arizona grow over a wide territory in the Southwest.  The very stereotypical desert plants are found in this books, such as the various cacti: the prickly pears, the barrel cactus, the apple cactus, the saguaro.  Nyerges has also found many recipes for how to use the fruits and pads.  However, he points out that it’s a myth that you can get water by shoving a spigot into a barrel cactus.  The book includes some 70 year old recipes for cactus dishes from the Cactus and Succulent Society.  A photo series shows how to clean and eat the prickly pear pads.

 

Some of the common wild food seeds of Arizona include chia, mesquite, palo verde pods, catclaw acacia, walnuts, and acorns.   Some of the native green leafy plants include amaranth, wild rhubarb, and miner’s lettuce. Botany students will find many of the introduced European “weeds” – so common over the entire U.S. – also included in this book.  These include common introduced plants such as dandelion, sow thistle, mallow, purslane, and mustards, all of which are found throughout Arizona.

 

Strawberries, blackberries, rose hips, and coffeeberries are all found in Arizona, and “Foraging Arizona” provides clear photos and descriptions of when and where to find these.

 

There is a nutritional chart in the front of the book showing the nutrient value of many of the common wild foods.  Included in the book is a chart showing that acorns are indeed a quality food, and that prickly pear – with all its essential and non-essential amino acids – can be called a superfood.

Though “Foraging California” is primarily a book about edible plants, there are some other uses mentioned, such as medicinal uses, and plants used for soap or rope.  The willow plant is included in the book, which is not a food, but a source of medicine (salicin) and a source of wood that has long been used for craft materials. The Creosote plant is also included in the book, which is one of the most important medicines from the native American traditions.  Again, since many of the plants listed are fairly widespread, people from other states have told us that they find the book useful there also.

 

 “Foraging Arizona” includes many non-native plants, because these so-called weeds are routinely killed off by gardeners and farmers using weedwhackers, plows and poisons, and yet so many of the common weeds are good food and medicine.   Some of the “invasive” plants turn out to be some of the most nutritious plants in the world, such as lamb’s quarter (poor man’s quinoa, and a rich source of minerals), purslane (highest plant source of Omega 3 fatty acids), and dandelion and its many relatives.  These are all described in “Foraging California.”

The book is dedicated to Nyerges’ chief botanical mentor, Dr. Leonid Enari, who had degrees in botany and chemistry.  Nyerges studied with Dr. Enari at the L.A.County Arboretum, and privately, and Dr. Enari assisted Nyerges with his first book, “Guide to Wild Foods.”

“Foraging Arizona” is available from bookstores, from Amazon, and from the School of Self-Reliance