Book picks similar to
Apples by Roger Yepsen


nonfiction
apples
nature
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Apples of Uncommon Character: Heirlooms, Modern Classics, and Little-Known Wonders


Rowan Jacobsen - 2014
    Now he does the same for our favorite fruit, showing us that there is indeed life beyond Red Delicious-and even Honeycrisp. While supermarkets limit their offerings to a few waxy options, apple trees with lives spanning human generations are producing characterful varieties-and now they are in the midst of a rediscovery. From heirlooms to new designer breeds, a delicious diversity of apples is out there for the eating.Apples have strong personalities, ranging from crabby to wholesome. The Black Oxford apple is actually purple, and looks like a plum. The Knobbed Russet looks like the love child of a toad and a potato. (But don't be fooled by its looks.) The D'Arcy Spice leaves a hint of allspice on the tongue. Cut Hidden Rose open and its inner secret is revealed.With more than 150 art-quality color photographs, Apples of Uncommon Character shows us the fruit in all its glory. Jacobsen collected specimens both common and rare from all over North America, selecting 120 to feature, including the best varieties for eating, baking, and hard-cider making. Each is accompanied by a photograph, history, lore, and a list of characteristics. The book also includes 20 recipes, savory and sweet, resources for buying and growing, and a guide to the best apple festivals. It's a must-have for every foodie.

The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks


Amy Stewart - 2013
    Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley. Gin was born from a conifer shrub when a Dutch physician added oil of juniper to a clear spirit, believing that juniper berries would cure kidney disorders. "The Drunken Botanist" uncovers the enlightening botanical history and the fascinating science and chemistry of over 150 plants, flowers, trees, and fruits (and even one fungus).Some of the most extraordinary and obscure plants have been fermented and distilled, and they each represent a unique cultural contribution to our global drinking traditions and our history. Molasses was an essential ingredient in American independence: when the British forced the colonies to buy British (not French) molasses for their New World rum-making, the settlers outrage kindled the American Revolution. Rye, which turns up in countless spirits, is vulnerable to ergot, which contains a precursor to LSD, and some historians have speculated that the Salem witch trials occurred because girls poisoned by ergot had seizures that made townspeople think they d been bewitched. Then there's the tale of the thirty-year court battle that took place over the trademarking of Angostura bitters, which may or may not actually contain bark from the Angostura tree.With a delightful two-color vintage-style interior, over fifty drink recipes, growing tips for gardeners, and advice that carries Stewart's trademark wit, this is the perfect gift for gardeners and cocktail aficionados alike.

Sprouts: The Miracle Food: The Complete Guide to Sprouting


Steve Meyerowitz - 1994
    Includes extensive nutrition charts, seed resources, and questions and answers with Sproutman.

Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food


Wendell Berry - 2009
    Long before Whole Foods organic produce was available at your local supermarket, Berry was farming with the purity of food in mind. For the last five decades, Berry has embodied mindful eating through his land practices and his writing. In recognition of that influence, Michael Pollan here offers an introduction to this wonderful collection.Drawn from over thirty years of work, this collection joins bestsellers The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Pollan, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, as essential reading for anyone who cares about what they eat. The essays address such concerns as: How does organic measure up against locally grown? What are the differences between small and large farms, and how does that affect what you put on your dinner table? What can you do to support sustainable agriculture?A progenitor of the Slow Food movement, Wendell Berry reminds us all to take the time to understand the basics of what we ingest. “Eating is an agriculture act,” he writes. Indeed, we are all players in the food economy.

Y'all Come Eat


Jamie Deen - 2008
    - Chapters spotlight the Deen brothers' specialties--from Bobby's all-time favorite goulash to Jamie's amazing cheeseburger pies.- Fresh and upbeat, it's spiced up with lively Deen brothers' tidbits and stories giving you an inside look at their lives.- Deen family photos and recent photos of the brothers shaking it up in the kitchen with family and friends add a special touch.

The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit


Amy Goldman - 2008
    Here, in 56 delicious recipes, 200 gorgeous photos, and Goldman's erudite, charming prose, is the cream of the crop.From glorious heirloom beefsteaks - that delicious tomato you had as a kid but can't seem to find anymore - to exotica like the ground tomato (a tiny green fruit that tastes like pineapple and grows in a tomatillo-like husk), Homegrown Tomatoes is filled with gorgeous shots of tomatoes so luscious they verge on the erotic.Along with the recipes and photos are profiles of the tomatoes, filled with surprisingly fascinating facts on their history and provenance, and a master gardener's guide to growing your own. More than just a loving look at one of the world's great edibles, this is a philosophy of eating and conservation between covers - an irresistible book for anyone who loves to cook or to garden.

Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old-Fashioned Experience


Ron Faiola - 2013
    Also recorded in this book are the regional specialties served at these clubs, ranging from popovers and fried pickles in the northern part of the state to Shrimp de Jonghe in the south. One Northwoods supper club even features fry bread, a traditional Native American dish uncommon to most any restaurant.The "supper club experience" is a tradition embodied by many long-standing restaurants scattered throughout the small towns of Wisconsin. It is based around a bygone idea that going out to dinner is an experience that lasts an entire evening. The clubs emphasizing food made from scratch, slow-paced dining, and family-run businesses. Combine this with stately dark-panel decor, complimentary relish trays, and the best brandy Old Fashioned sweet you'll ever have, and you have barely scratched the surface of the Wisconsin supper club's appeal.Author Ron Faiola is the critically acclaimed director and producer of the documentary by the same name. Supper clubs are hugely popular with Wisconsin locals and regularly frequented by all Midwestern foodies "in the know." With Wisconsin Supper Clubs as a guide, these establishments are primed to be choice summer road trip destinations for anyone looking for low-cost vacations this summer. After the successful debut of Faiola's documentary, this book is sure to be a hit throughout the region and beyond.

In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food


Stewart Lee Allen - 2002
    Among the foods thought to encourage Lust, the love apple (now known as the tomato) was thought to possess demonic spirits until the nineteenth century. The Gluttony “course” invites the reader to an ancient Roman dinner party where nearly every dish served—from poppy-crusted rodents to “Trojan Pork”—was considered a crime against the state. While the vice known as Sloth introduces the sad story of “The Lazy Root” (the potato), whose popularity in Ireland led British moralists to claim that the Great Famine was God’s way of punishing the Irish for eating a food that bred degeneracy and idleness.Filled with incredible food history and the author’s travels to many of these exotic locales, In the Devil’s Garden also features recipes like the matzo-ball stews outlawed by the Spanish Inquisition and the forbidden “chocolate champagnes” of the Aztecs. This is truly a delectable book that will be consumed by food lovers, culinary historians, amateur anthropologists, and armchair travelers alike. Bon appétit!

In the Kitchen with David: QVC's Resident Foodie Presents Comfort Foods That Take You Home


David Venable - 2012
    And as the beloved host of QVC’s popular program, In the Kitchen with David,® he’s put that passion on mouthwatering display, welcoming some of the greatest names in the food world. But Venable’s own culinary skills—honed in the Carolina kitchens of his mother and grandmothers—are nothing short of remarkable and tantalizing.   Now, in his anticipated debut cookbook, Venable shares 150 delicious recipes of hearty, easy-to-make, comforting dishes. In the Kitchen with David covers everything from appetizers and breads to soups and salads to main courses and sides, as well as his lifelong love of bacon (The Divine Swine!). You’ll get ideas for quick Monday-to-Friday dinners, let-it-cook-all-weekend suppers, savory breakfasts and brunches, cocktail party fun, game-day eats, and family reunion feasts. And of course, no Southern-influenced cookbook is complete without a little something sweet. Venable’s favorites include  Party Starters: White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Dip, Chicken Nachos, Cheddar-Broccoli Poppers with Ranch Dipping Sauce, Cheesy Crab Stuffed MushroomsSupporting Players: Summer Squash Fritters with Garlic Dipping Sauce, Scrumptious Hush Puppies, Mom’s “Browned” Rice, Sweet Potato-Pineapple Casserole Main Events: Breaded Pork Cutlets, Chicken Marsala, Braised Beef Short Ribs, Low Country BoilSweet, Sweet Gratification: Deep Dish Apple Pie, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Banana Pudding Cheesecake, Peach Cobbler   Loaded with gorgeous photographs, helpful “Dishin’ with David” tips, and personal anecdotes, In the Kitchen with David encourages you and your family to gather around the dinner table for great meals and, more important, great memories. After all, the portions are generous; the options are limitless.  Foreword by Paula DeenAdvance praise for In the Kitchen with David  “David Venable’s unbridled love for good, hearty comfort food is absolutely infectious. He knows what delicious food tastes like, and one peek at the recipes in his book had me positively drooling. I haven’t been this excited about a cookbook in a long, long time!”—Ree Drummond, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks   “David definitely knows his way around the kitchen, and he sure gets cooking with some comfort food in this book. And that’s saying something coming from the two of us comfort food lovers!”—Pat and Gina Neely, hosts of Down Home with the Neelys

Second Nature: A Gardener's Education


Michael Pollan - 1991
    A new literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto not just for gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere. "As delicious a meditation on one man's relationships with the Earth as any you are likely to come upon" (The New York Times Book Review), Second Nature captures the rhythms of our everyday engagement with the outdoors in all its glory and exasperation. With chapters ranging from a reconsideration of the Great American Lawn, a dispatch from one man's war with a woodchuck, to an essay about the sexual politics of roses, Pollan has created a passionate and eloquent argument for reconceiving our relationship with nature.

Vegetable Growing Month by Month


John Harrison - 2008
    Share his 30 years' experience of growing vegetables as he takes you through the vegetable year and shows you when you should sow your seeds, dig your plot and harvest your crops.

Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes


Sam Zien - 2008
    And it's not that you can't--it's that you don't. It's that we've been wrecked by cooking shows with their millions of complicated steps and crazy-ass ingredients. Ingredients you can't find, let alone pronounce. That's not how I want to cook. I want to eat well, but I don't want it to take a year. Who's making stuff like 'Truffled Peruvian Mountain Squab with Chilled Framboise Foam' anyway? "So this book is about food that's big in taste and small in effort. Just great-tasting stuff with no fancy techniques and definitely no over-the-top ingredients, as in everything-comes-from-a-regular-supermarket--cool concept, huh? It's just a bunch of recipes you'll easily be able to make and enjoy."--From Sam the Cooking GuyLook inside for great recipes like these:• One Dank Tomato Pie • "Whatever" Spring Rolls • Five-Minute Stir-Fry Noodles • O.F.R.B.P.J.G.O. • Awww Nuts! • BBQ Chicken Pizza • Halloween Chicken Chili • Fridge Fried Rice • Sam's Sticky Sweet BBQ Ribs • Stuffed Burgers • Pesto BBQ Shrimp • Chili Salmon • Motor Home Meatballs • Spicy-ish Sausage Pasta • The Great Potato Cake • Brussels Sprouts You'll Actually Eat • (Fake) Creme Brulee • Chocolate Toffee Matzoh  • Peanut Butter Ice-Cream Cup Things

The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History


Thor Hanson - 2015
     "The genius of Hanson's fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining book stems from the fact that it is not about how all kinds of things grow from seeds; it is about the seeds themselves." -- Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Book Review We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life: supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and pepper drove the Age of Discovery, coffee beans fueled the Enlightenment and cottonseed sparked the Industrial Revolution. Seeds are fundamental objects of beauty, evolutionary wonders, and simple fascinations. Yet, despite their importance, seeds are often seen as commonplace, their extraordinary natural and human histories overlooked. Thanks to this stunning new book, they can be overlooked no more. This is a book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder, spun by an award-winning writer with both the charm of a fireside story-teller and the hard-won expertise of a field biologist. A fascinating scientific adventure, it is essential reading for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.

Dip Into Something Different


Melting Pot Restaurants Inc - 2008
    The Melting Pot dares you to Dip Into Something Different with this collection of recipes from our fondue to yours. The book also contains coupons in the very back which are for discounted eating at the restaurant. The coupons total cover the entire costs of purchasing the book, so you can't loose with this one!

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food


Dan Barber - 2014
    Instead, Barber proposes Americans should move to the 'third plate,' a cuisine rooted in seasonal productivity, natural livestock rhythms, whole-grains, and small portions of free-range meat.