Forage all across the country with this informative guide to 274 edible plants, presented by expert Green Deane. Eating wild edibles is in our genes, and it can be healthy fun! It’s seasonal, sufficient, varied, and provides plenty of nutrients. It yields the satisfaction born of food independence and competence. There’s no packaging, no labeling, no advertising, and no genetic tinkering involved. But which plants should you eat—and when should you eat them? Let “Green Deane” Jordan guide you with Eat the Weeds . Green Deane teaches foraging classes and runs a popular foraging website (also called Eat the Weeds). Now he’s sharing his expertise with you. Eat the Weeds presents 274 wild foods and helps you to find, identify, and harvest them. The book begins with an introduction that includes tips for using this comprehensive book. The weeds are organized alphabetically, and an extensive index further helps you find what you’re looking for. Plus, a fascinating and informative table aids in choosing plants based on their notable nutrients! Perhaps you recognize a shortage in your diet of a specific vitamin and/or mineral. This guide points you to the plants that could remedy it. The information appeals to everyone from foragers, gardeners, and nature-lovers to raw food enthusiasts, vegans, and survivalists. Each entry includes an introduction to the plant and recommended methods for preparing it, as well as its nutritional information. Yes, nearly every featured wild edible includes a full nutrition table! Color photographs and visual descriptions assist you in field identification, and Green Deane’s insights are invaluable, whether you’re a beginning forager or someone with plenty of experience. Foraging is a treasure hunt, so eat healthier, save money, and have fun while enjoying Earth’s delicious and nutritious bounty. “Green” Deane Jordan is a life-long Greek bachelor with a degree in music and graduate studies in communications. In short, he’s paid to play and write. He is the author of many articles and two other books: 1001 Facts Somebody Screwed Up and 1001 More Facts Somebody Screwed Up . He doesn’t own or watch television, and he is not a vegetarian (a common assumption). Green Deane’s hobbies include gardening, cooking, collecting cast iron cookware, dancing, canoeing, public speaking, kayaking, cast netting, fishing, biking, hiking in Greece whenever possible, and, of course, foraging for wild foods and other unusual edibles. He has planted over 12 dozen different kinds of edible plants—cultivated and wild—on his small suburban lot in Central Florida, and he maintains a year-round 20' by 20' garden. On his cul-de-sac, he is the only one without a lawn of decapitated grass, much to his neighbors’ collective horror; he thinks of it as green diversity. Green Deane is also a musician and a writer. He is perhaps best known for his popular foraging website, Eat the Weeds. Yucca Yucca spp. Notable Nutrients or Uses: Potassium, vitamin E Safety Notes: Raw yucca blossoms and fruit can give you a stomachache, so try a little before eating a lot. Native Status: Yucca’s natural distribution range covers a wide swath of the Americas, from Guatemala north through Mexico to the southwestern US and as far north as western Canada. Yucca is also native northward to the coastal lowlands and dry beach scrub of the southeastern US, along the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic States from coastal Texas to Maryland, and occasionally as far north as New England. Green Deane’s Itemized Plant Profile Identification: Y. filamentosa, erect evergreen plant 4–25 feet tall, thick central stem, leaves long, dagger-like, sometimes branched, with shedding threads, flowers tulip-like, waxy, drooping. Fruit to 5 inches long, cylindrical, purple skin and pulp, many seeds. Y. gigantea, a desert species, can grow to 40 feet tall, is single- or multitrunked, and has erect spikes of pendant flowers followed by brown, fleshy fruits to 1 inch long. Y. glauca is a low-growing shrub with white-to-pale-green pendant flowers and shiny black seeds. Time of Year: Blossoms in late spring or early summer, fruits later in the year in northern climes Range: Y. filamentosa, as far west as Texas, north to Canada, and east to Massachusetts; also found in Florida. Y. gigantea, across the Desert Southwest from Texas to California and parts south. Y. glauca, from the Southwest north to Alberta Environment: Y. filamentosa, generally dry (but not arid) areas; other species prefer arid areas. Method of Preparation: Y. filamentosa, six-sided fruits edible raw or cooked, rubbery and bitter; cooking helps some. Flower petals raw in salads sparingly; may also be batter-dipped and fried, boiled, or roasted. Very young flower stalks peeled and boiled. Seeds roasted, ground, or boiled until tender Green Deane’s Notes When isn’t a yucca a yucca? When it’s spelled with one C, as in yuca . What’s the difference? A bellyache, maybe mor