The Essential Reference: Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference is at once an encyclopedia, a produce market manual, and a treasure trove of recipes. With produce specialist Elizabeth Schneider as your guide, take a seed-to-table voyage with more than 350 vegetables, both exotic and common. Discover lively newcomers to the North American cornucopia and rediscover classic favorites in surprising new guises.

In this timely reference, Elizabeth Schneider divulges the secrets of the vegetable kingdom, sharing a lifetime of scholarly sleuthing and culinary experience. In her capable hands, unfamiliar vegetables such as amaranth become as familiar as zucchini -- while zucchini turns out to be more intriguing than you ever imagined.

Each encyclopedic entry includes a full-color identification photo, common and botanical names, and an engaging vegetable "biography" that distills the knowledge of hundreds of authorities in dozens of fields -- scientists, growers, produce distributors, and chefs among them.

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference is an indispensable resource for home cooks, food professionals, gardeners, information seekers, and anyone who simply enjoys good reading.

Elizabeth Schneider is the author of Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference (IACP Book of the Year), Ready When You Are: Made-Ahead Meals for Entertaining, and coauthor of Better Than Store-Bought and Dining in Grand Style. Her magazine series "Produce Pro" (in Food Arts) and "Vegetable Wise" (in Eating Well) received James Beard awards. Hundreds of her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Gourmet, Food & Wine, and many other publications.