Customer Reviews

The Farmers' Market Guide to Fruit: Selecting, Preparing & Cooking

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It seems odd to give such a poor review to such a gorgeous book, but The Farmers' Market Guide to Fruit, really isn't much of a guide--more like a large hardcover pamphlet. The book is divided into sections, each devoted to one fruit, and there are lots and lots of beautiful pictures of fresh apples, cherries, berries, pears etc.

But there is very little information on selecting, preparing or cooking the fruits. Advice on selection of cherries for example, tells the reader to avoid moldy cherries. For preparation there are a few basic recipes for each type of fruit, none of which are pictured. We are frequently told that a given recipe is "beautiful," but the picture beside the recipe is only of the fresh whole fruit. Many recipes in this book do not specify the variety of fruit called for, so if a salad recipe calls for pears, the reader is not told which type would work best. Nutritional information is also lacking. Each fruit has a nutrition section but the reader learns very little. A typical entry might be "good source of antioxidents," or "good source of vitamin C." Many fruits are described as being relatively "low in nutition" with no information on fiber. The rubarb section actually suggests that rubarb is very good for you, "if you can tolerate it without sugar." Who can eat rubarb without sugar?

The guide does have beautiful pictures of fresh fruit though, which is why it gets the second star.