We'd love to hear your reviews of this fantastic handbook. You can order your handbook here http://www.rivercottage.net/ShopProduct539/EdibleSeashoreRiverCottageHandbookNo5PREORDER.aspx and here is the review from the Guardian :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/21/seafood-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall


Edible Seashore available from rivercottage.net here http://www.rivercottage.net/ShopProduct539/EdibleSeashoreRiverCottageHandbookNo5PREORDER.aspx

Review from the foodie list

http://thefoodielist.co.uk/wp/river-cottage-edible-seashore-handbook/
Following on from the success of the first River Cottage handbook, Mushrooms, John Wright has excelled himself with Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No.5 (River Cottage Handbook 5). As essential as a bucket and spade for a trip to the beach, Edible Seashore covers everything you need to know about harvesting the bounties of the shoreline!

For the forager, the seashore holds surprising culinary potential. In this authoritative and witty book John Wright takes us on a trip to the seaside introducing us to the various species to be harvested, the practicalities such as conservation and the ethics of foraging; safety from tides, rocks and food poisoning; before introducing us to all the British seashore species that one might be tempted to eat. Finally, there are thirty brilliant recipes. Introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Edible Seashore is destined to join the other handbooks in the series as an indispensible household reference.

Have pulled the following review from my blog having been asked to post it here too...

Book Review - River Cottage Handbook No 5 - Edible Seashore

Wow. If ever there was a book that I wish I'd penned then this is it. This or Harry Potter.
But this is the book that has been in my head for years, one that has been lacking on every UK based foragers shelf; a guide to finding and eating the array of yummy treats found on our coastlines fresh & free to those who bother to look.

Since living in Japan in the early 90's I have harboured a love of seaweed in many forms, from the delicate sheets of nori wrapped round sushi rice and topped with a myriad of jewel coloured sashimi, to thick strips of Kombu bubbling away in a vat of (somewhat stinky) stock which (according to this book) is a major ingredient in miso soup. I didn't know that.

Where did we lose this love of seaweed? This island of ours is quite literally surrounded by it and surely our ancestors would have relied on it year round for vital vitamins & nutrients and yet today we turn our noses up at it. No more.

My fascination & proximity to the beach means I have collected an impressive collection of seashore & seaweed books. Most of the books available are for correctly IDing different types of seaweed and sealife, more still are recipe books aimed at cooking said ingredients but none I have found deal with the only issue I am interested in - locating & identifying the native bits I can eat.

At last I find one that does.

It covers all the edibles you may find along the UK coast from Cockles & Mussels to Sea Beet & Samphire to Lobsters & Kelp. It also includes a chapter on legal issues, health & safety issues and to top it all off has a rather inspiring recipe section at the back. I'm definitely gonna try the Seaweed & Elderflower Panna Cotta this spring and when I've made my prawning net I'll try the Spicy Prawn Soup too.

Another really nice touch in this series of River Cottage guides is that there is no girly dust cover to get torn but a tough manly hardback cover which I don't think would mind too much if it got dropped in the odd rockpool. I actually think it would add to its charm!

Well done John Wright, and thank you Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall. I love it.

www.hedgecomber.blogspot.com

Hi

Just received John's new book this week. Couldn't put it down and am off to Stiffkey beach this weekend for dinner!

Well done John even better than your last one and that one is looking pretty thumbed now.

Stuart Morris

Just ordered my copy, looks brilliant! Look forward to using it down on some of our lovely welsh beaches although a little concerned at some of them losing their blue flag status

OMG!!! ordered yesterday afternoon and arrived before 11am this morning!!!
BRILLIANT

Are there any Laverbread recipes in the book?

Jim crow

yep
Laverbread with clams and bacon on toast
Sounds nice although the supermarket laverbread we tried was pretty awlful I am sure homemade fresh would be totally different experience.

We have a Fishmonger van come to Lampeter twice a week from Crosshands-Llanelli way,he has Laverbread from Penclawdd,not bad stuff,but the best was from Swansea old market,so fresh you could hear the waves crashing,that rolled in Oatmeal,and wrapped in greaseproof paper,cannot beat it.

Jim crow

I would tell you the receipe but I really think that you should get the book

That is of course unless you are landlocked and unlikely to ever visit the coast

I`m only 10mls from Aberaeron,but the special seaweed does`nt grow everywhere,Penclawdd is re-known for the variety,also on the West Coast of Scotland somewhere,
Thats mainly why its not a well known dish over the border.

Jim crow

VERY, VERY good read; not just for the info, but the way it is written, very entertaining.

Thank you.

Here's an article from the Dorset Echo

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/4440020.Fancy_foraging_for_food_along_Dorset_s_coastline_/

"this is a book which is to be recommended to the scientist as well as to the general public"........ this is from a review of Edible Seashore written by my brother in law Professor James Wilson, Marine & Estuary Research Group, Trinity College Dublin. He has also sent it to the Editor of the 'Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association' Bulletin http://www.ecsa-news.org/

Full review.......

Edible Seashore: River Cottage Handbook No. 5
John Wright Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2009

If you are a believer in the old maxim that you should always eat the animal (or plant) you work with, then this could be the book for you. There are over 30 recipes based on a variety of seashore flora and fauna, from traditional potted shrimp to the Californian gold prospectors' favourite fry.

The book, with an introduction by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is the fifth in the River Cottage series of food from the great outdoors and proclaims itself to be 'A thoroughly practical guide '. It is certainly practical, with instructions on not only where to collect the various species but also the best equipment to use, and most importantly, an emphasis on collecting in safety. Fortunately, for those who have concerns about over-exploitation of a vulnerable and threatened habitat, the book also comes with a conservationist message about over-collecting (and each species starts with its conservation status) as well as the standard advice about turning stones back to their original position when finished. The book also comes with advice as to the legal considerations, restricted in this case to the different parts of the UK, but still demonstrating a lot of local variations, so perhaps overseas readers would be well advised to check their own rules.

The book covers the four main food groups - flowering plants, seaweeds, crustaceans and molluscs - and from each gives a selection of the most widely-consumed species. While there are few surprises in the selection of the species themselves, it is always mildly disconcerting to find out how much many of them were used and valued in the past and how neglected or indeed practically forgotten they are today.

However, this new publicity can be a double-edged sword. The first species considered, sea kale (Crambe maritima), epitomises some of the dilemmas. This large and long-lived plant is "rare, or rather its habitat is rare" as it is an inhabitant of pebble beaches, and, while not a protected plant itself (under UK legislation at least) is frequently found in SSSIs. As such, it may be one of the features for which the site is designated and any damage - under which its consumption would certainly fall - is illegal. The author himself admits to some reservations, and restricts himself to a couple of sea kale meals a year, although in this case the disappointment is probably masked by its culinary properties, as mature plants "have the flavour and texture of a damp, thick face flannel", with the recommendation from a Victorian authority that "this kale cannot be too much boiled".

Fortunately, the rest of the species are both less severely threatened and more tasty, with a number of both versatile and original recipes at the end of the book. These should appeal to all tastes, they should go a long way to popularising some of these sea foods again, and while some are obviously specific in their tastes (and textures), others are easily adapted to more conventional fish.

Overall, despite the reservations expressed above, this is a book which is to be recommended to the scientist as well as to the general public. For the former, it reminds us of the link between our work and society and for the latter, it draws valuable attention to an under-appreciated resource and emphasises the necessity of protecting both the resources and the habitats on which they depend. Kelp crisps, anyone?