|
| How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table | 
 enlarge | Author: Russ Parsons
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $6.33
You Save: $8.62 (58%)
New (28) Used (11) from $5.54
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 43906
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0547053800
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.35
EAN: 9780547053806
ASIN: 0547053800
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: brand new and unmarked shipped with tracking
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"Eat locally, eat seasonally." A simple slogan that is backed up by science and by taste. The farther away from the market something is grown, the longer it must spend getting to us, and what eventually arrives will be less than satisfying. Although we can enjoy a bounty of produce year-round -- apples in June, tomatoes in December, peaches in January -- most of it is lacking in flavor. In order to select wisely, we need to know more. Where and how was the head of lettuce grown? When was it picked and how was it stored? How do you tell if a melon is really ripe? Which corn is sweeter, white or yellow?
Russ Parsons provides the answers to these questions and many others in this indispensable guide to common fruits and vegetables, from asparagus to zucchini. He offers valuable tips on selecting, storing, and preparing produce, along with one hundred delicious recipes. Parsons delivers an entertaining and informative reading experience that is guaranteed to help put better food on the table.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Finally, a reference tool for picking produce! June 18, 2007
45 out of 46 found this review helpful
This book serves both as an encyclopedic reference work, and as an informative, engaging read. The author admits that not ALL fruits and veggies are included, however it seems that all of the important ones are, particularly those that we need help with selecting. There is an unbelievable amount of basic information about picking fruits and vegetables, previously unavailable in collected form! Add in the historical research on farming, the updated perspective on farming trends and issues, and you have the ultimate shopper's guide, best kept in the glove compartment (after reading, of course) so that it's always there with you when you're going to market. "How to pick a Peach" should be required reading for every cook in America.
How to Pick a (generic) Peach June 5, 2007
34 out of 65 found this review helpful
I had high expectations in this book hoping to find a modern-day Edward A. Bunyard expounding on the virtues of the varieties of fruit available to us today. However, this book is no Anatomy of Dessert. Admittedly, I haven't read it from cover to cover; I immediately turned to the chapter on strawberries and found no commentary or comparison of cultivars Camarosa, Chandler, Quinalt, etc. or the more fragile, flavorsome specialties some farmers are offering in farmers markets - Seascape, Sequoia and Mara des Bois. There are excellent lessons on how to pick fresh fruit, how to identify and recognize overripe or past-it's-peak fruit and how the different fruits should be handled to preserve the full flavor but for a discussion of the newest pluots, supersweet peaches, exotic citrus and other fruit one must read David Karp or the California Rare Fruit Growers color magazine Fruit Gardener.
 Same Old July 22, 2007
17 out of 29 found this review helpful
It seems every nose-in-the-air chef thinks hes some sort of genius for "descovering" the concept of fresh and local produce . This is an entire book crying over how its "not like the old days".
Seriously save your money and buy "A Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market" for like $10 by Aliza Green.. at least you'll stop the kvetching about what ISNT in the stores and learn how to shop for what is...
With Juice Running Down Your Arms and Mouth Watering Taste August 22, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've heard that the juice of a really good peach will run down your arms all the way to your elbows. One acturally did make it almost to my elbows the other day. Not the kind of peaches you most often find in a supermarket, with only one peach in many having any juice or flavor.
The question is, "How do you select and store fresh fruits and vegies to insure the mzxium excllence in taste and texture?" The answers are found in Russ Parsons' well written book, "How To Pick a Peach." He classisfies each fruit and vegetable by season and not only tells you how to pick the best ones, but also how to store and prepare them. Russ also gives you several simple receipies for using each fruit and vegetable.
Some fragile vegies such as peas, corn and green beans should be eaten right after they are purchased. Some vegies, such as potatoes, onions, tomatoes and winter squash should never be refrigerated. When refrigerated the starch in potatoes turns to sugar and they lose flavor. This was new to me.
He gives an intersting short history of each fruit and vegie. He also gives a history of industrial farming and the cost of compromise when big farmers take over the production of our porduce, which I really enjoyed. Now that I have read "How To Pick a Peach" it will make a valuable referance tool.
 Good, but not quite what I expected July 22, 2007
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
An interesting read for cooks curuious about fresh fruit & vegtables. Book is a bit disorganized in it approach. Somewhat arranged by season, somewhat by vegetable type. Refreshingly, the recipes are quite simple. Is evident that the author has a lot of knowledge but could have used some helpe with getting it on paper. Overall- recommended.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
