The Fruit Forager's Companion: Ferments, Desserts, Main Dishes, and More from Your Neighborhood and Beyond

From apples and oranges to pawpaws and persimmons

"Sara Bir’s voice is quirky, informed, and fresh. The Fruit Forager’s Companion will push any soul who is interested in foraging into the curious world of fruits. . . . You want someone with passion and appetite to lead you on a foraging quest, and Sara has plenty of both."—Deborah Madison, author of Vegetable Literacy and In My Kitchen

Half of the fruit that grows in yards and public spaces is never picked or eaten. Citrus trees are burdened with misshapen lemons, berries grow in tangled thickets on the roadside, and the crooked rows of abandoned orchards fill with fallen apples. At the same time, people yearn for an emotional connection that’s lacking in bland grocery store bananas and tasteless melons.

The Fruit Forager’s Companion is a how-to guide with nearly 100 recipes devoted to the secret, sweet bounty just outside our front doors and ripe for the taking, from familiar apples and oranges to lesser-known pawpaws and mayhaws. Sara Bir—a seasoned chef, gardener, and forager—primes readers on foraging basics, demonstrates gathering and preservation techniques, and presents a suite of recipes including habanero crabapple jelly, lime pickle, pawpaw lemon curd, and fermented cranberry relish.

Bir encourages readers to reconnect with nature and believes once the foraging mindset takes control, a new culinary world hiding in plain sight will reveal itself. Written in a witty and welcoming style, The Fruit Forager’s Companion is a must-have for seekers of both flavor and fun.

Winner — IACP 2019 Reference & Technical Cookbook Award

Sara Bir, chef, writer, and plant nerd, aims to get people outside and looking at their everyday surroundings in a completely new way. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, she teaches classes for home cooks and has worked as a chocolate factory tour guide, sausage cart lackey, food editor, recipe tester, restaurant critic, librarian, and arts and entertainment reporter. Bir’s writing has been featured in Saveur, Lucky Peach, Serious Eats, Modern Farmer, Best Food Writing 2014, and two Full Grown People anthologies. She enjoys plantspotting around her neighborhood in Marietta, Ohio, and skates with her local roller derby team as Carrion the Librarian.