Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide

Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide was first published in 1986 to a fanfare of outstanding reviews and has become a modern-day classic. Now more timely than ever, this encyclopedic cookbook answers the most pertinent questions about the rainbow of fruits and vegetables available in supermarkets nationwide. Here is what home cooks need to know about arugula, cilantro, mango, shiitake, and snow pea as well as the less familiar carambola, chanterelle, lemongrass, passion fruit, and tomatillo. Descriptions rich in culinary, botanical, and historical information set the stage for nearly 100 of these produce items, while detailed methods of selection, storage, and preparation lead to more than 400 easy-to-follow recipes designed to bring out the best in each fruit and vegetable.

Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables is an indispensable reference for home cooks and professionals, gardeners and world travelers, and the food-curious everywhere.

In this delightfully chatty, alphabetical guide to the many exotic fruits and vegetables now appearing in the local market, magazine food writer Schneider likens cherimoya to a "pre-Columbian jade pine cone"; suggests you meet broccoli raab "head on"; rhapsodizes over the "delicious, promiscuous" chili-pepper; and defends "slippery, slimy" okra. She tells how to select pomegranates and loquats, describes such oddities as malangas and feijoas, and offers brief biographies of the newcomers. Her recipes, collected from across the world, are as unusual as her subject: she includes five different ways to serve nopales (cactus pads) and six taro dishes. Even the relatively ordinary spaghetti squash can be much more than a substitute for pastaSchneider suggests baking it in an herbed cheese sauce. Most recipes are simple to prepare and, aside from their uncommon main ingredient, use items found in any well-stocked kitchen. Now there's no need to quiver in fear when faced with a calabaza: lug it home and enjoy! Illustrations.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.