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Gardening Reference

Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada

by (author) Nancy J. Turner

Publisher
Fitzhenry and Whiteside
Initial publish date
Sep 1988
Category
Reference
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780889027510
    Publish Date
    Sep 1988
    List Price
    $12.95

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Description

Of all the different kinds of wild foods used by man, wild fruits are without doubt the most widely enjoyed- and usually the easiest to gather and prepare. Few people realize that rice and other grains, sumac, sunflower seeds, and pond-lily seeds are fruits. Nuts, of course, are also fruits, but because they are rarely recognized as such, except in botanical terms, they are specifically referred to in the title of this book.

Nutritionally, wild fruits are as rich in vitamins and minerals as cultivated fruits, lower in sugar and calorie content, and free of wax coating, chemical sprays or artificial ripening agents. What's more, wild fruits nearly always taste better than their cultivated counterparts.

There are over 35 species included in this guide and cookbook for wild-food gourmets. Each section contains a botanical description, notes on general habitat and distribution, a drawing or colour photograph, and information on the folklore of each plant, with notes on its historical, medicinal, or cosmetic uses.

Also included are a large selection of recipes for jams, jellies, beverages, wines, pies, desserts, main dishes and snacks. Some of these are based on recipes that were used by the Indians and the Inuit, or by early pioneers.

About the author

Nancy J. Turner is an ethnobotanist, and Distinguished Professor Emerita, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Canada. She has worked with First Nations elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America for over 50 years, helping to document, retain and promote their traditional knowledge of plants and environments, including Indigenous foods, materials and traditional medicines. Her two-volume book, Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge (July, 2014; McGill-Queen’s University Press), integrates her long term research. She has authored or co-authored/co-edited 30 other books, including: Plants of Haida Gwaii; The Earth’s Blanket; Keeping It Living (with Doug Deur); Saanich Ethnobotany (with Richard Hebda), and Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples, and over 150 book chapters and papers. Her latest edited book is Plants, People and Places: the Roles of Ethnobotany and Ethnoecology in Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights in Canada and Beyond (2020). She has received a number of awards for her work, including membership in Order of British Columbia (1999) and the Order of Canada (2009), honorary degrees from University of British Columbia, University of Northern British Columbia and Vancouver Island and Simon Fraser Universities.

Nancy J. Turner's profile page

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