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10\u00a0Edible Weeds Handbook\u00a0by Andrew Crowe (Penguin Random House, $35)<\/p>\n
A free copy of Crowe\u2019s excellent guide was up for grabs in last week\u2019s giveaway contest.\u00a0Readers were asked to describe their favourite forage. It was an extremely popular contest.<\/p>\n
There were numerous votes for good old miner\u2019s lettuce and chickweed. Blackberries sent Rob to lyric heaven: \u201cDelinquent bastard brother of the raspberry, or maybe free and indomitable cousin of said refined, red sycophant?\u201d\u00a0Alix, too, took a poetic delight: \u201cMy favourite free food would have to be something that I have been sucking up ever since I can remember \u2013 the little drops of nectar that get pulled down along the tube of the honeysuckle flower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iain chose parengo: \u201cPlucked off the rocks below the lighthouse at low tide. Wash in seawater, can be dried for keeping. Cook with 1lb parengo, 1lb butter. Delish! Dried, it was sent to soldiers in WWII.\u201d\u00a0Carey chose kawakawa leaves: \u201cPlace 1 leaf in cup and add boiling water.\u00a0Bush pick-me-up at its pure simple best. Full of vitamin C and antioxidants.\u00a0Place a little cool water in the cup if desired or linger over it hot for while \u2026 as you should with good cup of tea \u2026 and thank the bush.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julia wrote, \u201cSticky Buns or Slippery Jacks that flourish in autumn. They seem to grow in abundance under old pine trees. I gather them and peel off the slimy top skins, then ease off the yellow, sponge like gills. I\u2019m left with a beautiful,\u00a0saffron,\u00a0yellow fillet. I fry them in butter to add to an omelette or pizza or anything really. But I always dehydrate some for use in risotto, soups or Asian dishes. I think that they have a mellow, slightly truffle like flavour. Delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the winner is Liz, who wrote, \u201cMy favourite foragable edible is the bane of home gardeners and local councils: onion weed (Allium triquetrum).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire plant is edible including the bulbs that can be harvested in late summer and pickled.\u00a0I use the leaves raw in place of spring onion, leek, chives or garlic chives, in salads, dressings, stir-fries, etc. They also make great pesto.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe flowers I use to garnish salads, egg dishes, soups, dips, and \u2013 best of all \u2013 they are sensational deep fried in a tempura batter. When the flowers start dying off, I pick them, remove the petals to reveal a caper that can be pickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bulbs and white parts of the stem make a fabulous mayo, and the entire plant, along with some kawakawa and kelp, makes an incredible and healthy super salt. The complete,\u201d she concluded, with a swish of her apron, \u201call-rounder!\u201d<\/p>\n
Huzzah to Liz; she is the very deserving winner of\u00a0Edible Weeds Handbook\u00a0by Andrew Crowe (Penguin Random House, $35).<\/p>\n
FICTION<\/p>\n
1\u00a0The Vanishing Place\u00a0by Zoe Rankin (Hachette, $37.99)<\/p>\n
2\u00a0Julia Eichardt\u00a0by Lauren Roche (Flying Books Publishing, $36.99)<\/p>\n
3\u00a0The Book of Guilt\u00a0by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)<\/p>\n
4\u00a0Hooked Up\u00a0by Fiona Sussman (David Bateman, $38.99)<\/p>\n
A free copy of Sussman\u2019s highly readable thriller about a serial killer on the loose in Auckland is up for grabs in this week\u2019s giveaway contest. To enter, share a story or theory about the possibility of serial killers operating in New Zealand, and email it to\u00a0stephen11@xtra.co.nz<\/a>\u00a0with the subject line in screaming caps SERIAL by midnight on Sunday, September 28.<\/p>\n 5\u00a0Tea and Cake and\u00a0Death (The Bookshop Detectives 2)\u00a0by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $38)<\/p>\n 6\u00a0See How They Fall\u00a0by Rachel Paris (Hachette, $37.99)<\/p>\n 7\u00a0Dead Girl Gone\u00a0(The Bookshop Detectives\u00a01)\u00a0by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $26)<\/p>\n 8\u00a0Lepan\u2019s Shadow\u00a0by\u00a0Douglas Pearce (Opihi, $28)<\/p>\n Blurbology: \u201cAn\u00a0international mystery that spans decades and continents, triggered by a death in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert.\u201d<\/p>\n 9\u00a01985\u00a0by Dominic Hoey (Penguin Random House, $38)<\/p>\n 10\u00a0The Stars are a Million Glittering Worlds\u00a0by\u00a0Gina Butson\u00a0(Allen & Unwin, $37.99)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hooked-Up-hi-res.jpg\")
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