Fruit: Recipes for Lunch, Brunch, Desserts And More (Hardcover)

~ Brian Glover (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Healthy, delicious, and infinitely varied, fruit is the world's favorite food. As this irresistible book makes clear, it is the ideal choice at any time of the day, and it can be used in so many ways: in salsas to spice up meat and fish dishes; in soups and appetizers, and of course, in desserts. Start the day with some delicious treats such as Blackberry Buttermilk Pancakes with Apple Butter. See how using fruit in Appetizers, Soups, and Salads can take them to new heights. Ideas for Entrees include Duck with Spiced Plums and Chicken Tagine with Quinces and Preserved Lemons. For Dessert try Summer Fruit Salad with Kaffir Lime Sorbet or Exotic Fruit Scrunch. Finally, Preserves are an excellent way to use all types of fruit. Red Berry Jelly and Apple Chutney are among the delicious homemade treats. Savor the delights of this healthy, delicious, and varied food with over 50 recipes, from soups and salads to pancakes and pies. In his fascinating introduction on Fruit Basics, Brian Glover takes you on a guided tour of all types, from berries and currants to orchard and exotic varieties. Invaluable advice on how to choose, store, and prepare fruit.

About the Author

Brian Glover writes about food for Homes & Gardens, BBC Good Food, Cooking Light, Delicious, and other magazines. He has won several awards including a Glenfiddich. For Ryland Peters & Small, he has also written Cooking with Lemons & Limes.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Ryland Peters & Small; 1ST edition (March 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845971043
• ISBN-13: 978-1845971045
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,948,431 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice collection of recipes. Buy it cheap!, July 11, 2006

By	B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

`Fruit Recipes for Lunch, Brunch, Desserts, and More', with an introduction by Brian Glover, appears to be a book originally published by a United Kingdom publishing house similar to Conde Nast in the United States which publishes cookbooks derived from material in `Gourmet' or `Bon Appetit'. There is no one person credited as the author, but the author of the introductory essay, Brian Glover is credited with being a major UK culinary writer, transplanted from his career as a librarian.

The main thing this book has going for it is the fact that there are very few good books written exclusively about recipes for fruit. The best one I have seen so far is `Chez Panisse Fruit'. There are certainly far fewer such books than for vegetables; however, there are some very good books dedicated to Berries (see `The Berry Bible' by Janie Hibler'). The book has that very glossy air about it so common with books destined to take the expressway to the bargain book table. And, if you happen to find the book offered at a steep discount, I suggest you snap it up right away.

Books on fruit recipes other than in pies or smoothies are a boon, since virtually every fruit known to man is healthier for you than virtually every common `snack food', but how can we stomach five servings a day by simply eating raw fruit.

The second thing going for this book is the fact that many of the recipes appear immediately attractive to me AND they are very easy to prepare. This is true because most fruit is used raw or cooked oh so quickly in a quick poach, except for preserves, which are a whole different story. In fact, it takes even less time to cook fruit than it does most vegetables.

Understandably, almost all the dishes, especially the entrees, are not composed exclusively of fruit. They are typically paired with a protein such as fish, chicken, duck, lamb, or pork. As such, this is a nice tutorial on which fruits go well with which proteins, such as the well known pork and apple combo.

There are a few things about the book which are not ideal for American readers or readers in general. As the book was written and edited by a gang of Brits, many of the names of fruit varieties, especially apples, pears, and berries, are unfamiliar to their American cousins. To the good, all measurements are in the very familiar cups, ounces, and spoons units.

The one thing which bothered me most about the book is that it was organized by type of dish rather than by species of fruit, as we find in the Chez Panisse volume. This is because so many fruits, especially berries and melons, are so much better in season than out of local season, so one is much more inclined to search out strawberry recipes in June and peach recipes in August and orange recipes in December than to look for a fruit brunch or entrée. Another good reason for organizing everything by species is the fact that it puts everything on one fruit, strawberries, for example, together in one place. In this book, information about strawberries, including its selection, care, and preservation is spread out across three or four different chapters.

Overall, I still really like this book as something which is easy to read from front to back, in spite of the slightly overripe prose. Sentences emulating an almost overripe peach are great in Shakespearean comedy, but tend to distract in a factual book. If for no other reason, I would recommend this book as a way of opening up your curiosity about fruits you may have passed over in the past, such as dates, figs, and pomegranates (Unfortunately, the book gives no clever and efficient way of harvesting pomegranate seeds from it's tightly wrapped package).

Very nice browsing book when you have simply run out of ideas for new easy dishes for all times of the day.