Tiny dried beans with the grand name of Cherokee Trail of Tears, melons with a fanciful moniker like Moon and Stars. Parsnips, raised underground in Wisconsin, with the tropical scent of coconut. Green tomatoes that taste ripe and wonderful. They're all heirloom vegetables--old-time varieties that nature alone has produced, untouched by genetic scientists and modern technology. In A Celebration of Heirloom Vegetables they're showcased brilliantly. Author Roger Yespen observed scores of these living antiques as they grew in his garden and has painted a picture, in words and watercolors, of each of them in all their glorious color and form. Nearly fifty full-color, full-size illustrations make it clear that these varieties have survived on the strength of their personality--distinctive flavor, scent, and texture--and their looks, from strange and exotic and even ugly to startlingly beautiful. Heirloom gardening and cooking is a wonderful way to rediscover the diversity and richness of our grandparents' favorites and put them back on our table.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
Tiny dry beans with the grand name of Cherokee Trail of Tears. Melons fancifully called Moon and Stars. Humble parsnips, raised underground in Wisconsin, that take on the tropical scent of coconut.
They're all heirloom vegetables--old-time varieties that nature alone has produced, untouched by genetic scientists and modern technology. And in A Celebration of Heirloom Vegetables, hundreds of them are showcased brilliantly. Author Roger Yepsen observed these much-loved living antiques as they grew in his garden, and has painted a picture, in words and watercolors, of each of them in all their glorious color and form. More than 50 full-color illustrations make it abundantly clear that these varieties have survived on the strength of their distinctive flavor, scent, texture, and looks--from strange, mysterious, exotic, and even ugly to startingly beautiful. There's a Swiss chard that sprouts forth in a crayon box of colors, a lustrous purple kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes shaped like tiny golden pears, string beans streaked with magenta, and many other old gems too glorious to hide behind a row of corn! Most are easy to grow, whether in beds or just by sticking seeds in a big flower pot. They can even be tucked in flower beds to take advantage of their good looks.
Descriptions of each variety offer gardening, shopping, and cooking tips, and seed-saving instructions. Sixty simple, healthful recipes--many of them heirlooms themselves--allow the vegetables' individual personalities to shine.
Heirloom gardening is a delight to the eye as well as a wonderful way to bring a bit of our grandparents' living legacy to our table today.
From the Back Cover
A friendly guide to more than 200 classic heirloom varieties:Tips on growing, harvesting, and saving seeds Dozens of healthful, innovative recipes Profiles of such traditional favorites as Speckled Blue Tepary beans and Russian Banana potatoes Ethnic favorites, from northern Italian chicories and Southwestern peppers, to French salad greens and East European tomatoes Mail-order seed sources Help in tracking down varieties from backyard gardens around the world
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More About the Author
I work as a freelancer writer, editor, and illustrator out of an old stone farmhouse in Berks County, Pennsylvania. I love to write, like very much to edit, and have a difficult relationship with watercolor. For a look at my projects, please check out www.rogeryepsen.com, from which autographed copies are available.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning artwork and great recipes!,
By
This review is from: A Celebration of Heirloom Vegetables: Growing and Cooking Old-Time Varieties (Hardcover)
This is a beautiful book worth purchasing for the watercolor paintings alone. The book is organized by vegetable type, and several heirloom varieties are described in each section. Interesting, simple, mostly vegetarian recipes are provided, as well as historical and cultural information. This makes a great gift book!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely Book,
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This review is from: A Celebration of Heirloom Vegetables: Growing and Cooking Old-Time Varieties (Hardcover)
This book took me back in time. It reminded me of a time when books were beautifully illustrated and meant to be treasured keepsakes. I think the recipes will be useful and the comments on vegetables timely, but I confess, my favorite part is the lovely watercolors.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Misinformation,
By Flower Power "regal lady" (Macomb, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Celebration of Heirloom Vegetables: Growing and Cooking Old-Time Varieties (Hardcover)
The author of this book has beautifully illustrated and described 25 different species of heirloom vegetables. In addition to providing a brief description of each cultivar, or variety, he also provides information about saving your own seeds. Recipes are an integral part of each chapter, as well. The colloquial tone of the book makes it sound simplistic to the knowledgable reader, but probably makes it more accessible to others.
The unfortunate part, and the reason I give it four instead of five stars, is his rant against hybrid vegetables in the introduction. The author uses a decidely biased, opinionated tone in describing hybrid seed production, as if somehow, vegetable breeders and seed companies have devised some devilish system for removing the control of seed production from the hands of the underdog citizen. His description of the hybridizing process is one of the worst I have ever heard or read. Not for its accuracy, but due to the ill-intent implied in it. I am sorry when I see and hear otherwise well-educated people jump on a bandwagon against agriculture and the tremendous advances that have been made in agricultural science and technology, not only to "feed the world", but also to help farmers make a decent living doing so. It is a credit to such advances that in America today, somewhat less than 5% of the population needs to be directly involved in growing almost all the food the rest of us eat. None of these advances takes away from the desire of home gardeners to grow their own produce, or to desire qualities in their vegetables that differ from those needed by someone who has to ship their produce over long distances. Clearly, there is a need for vegetable cultivars that are flavorful, beautiful, and resistant to pests, diseases, heat, cold, humidity, and drought. Unfortunately, most heirloom varieties cannot meet more than the first two of these criteria. And what good is that, when your plants die before flowering or fruiting? Only a focused breeding program for those traits is likely to elicit the desired outcome. The author's ink and time would have been better spent exploring such a possibility rather than "raging against the machine". I give the book four stars for the positive aspects of it, and suggest that the novice reader ignore the introductory comments about hybrids.
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