Berries: The Complete Guide to Cooking with Power-Packed Berries

by Stephanie Pedersen

Berries are outrageously delicious, convenient, and a potent health food that can help alleviate conditions as wide-ranging as heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and cancer. Now, berries of all kinds, in a host of forms (dried, freeze-dried, frozen, and fresh), have found a place among mainstream foodies and home cooks who want an easy, tasty way to add fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, and healing phytonutrients to their diets. Here, you’ll find a complete guide to these powerfruits, with information on buying and storage, an overview of their nutritional benefits, 75 tempting recipes for “berry” delicious smoothies, appetizers, snacks, and meals, as well as beauty goods, and sidebars with interesting facts and trivia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cooking, Cookbooks

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

Stephanie Pedersen is a superfood author, food educator, corporate speaker and multi-media host.

Reviews

[Paula Shreckhise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very comprehensive book on berries. All about kinds, nutritional value, recipes , history!
The only thing I found lacking was full color identification photos of eachkind of berry. There were glossy photos of some in the recipe section and muted photos of others but they were not labeled.
I was looking for more of an identification guide. And the visual differences between berries.
The information was useful and the recipes look very good and easy and healthy.
Pretty good - all in all.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a nice opening section on the value, history, and varieties of berries. It falls short in my view on two fronts. Almost every recipe contains coconut oil, which has barring reviews for your health but should probably not be an ingredient in almost every recipe in a book on berries. Second, if you were to eat any of the dishes in here you would rarely actually eat very many berries. A 12 serving dish with half a cups of berries does not constitute a actual serving of berries.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Berries is a book with a very surprising selection of recipes. When first browsing, I was continually stopping to check closely at the wide array of breakfasts, dinners, sauces, and side dishes. Combinations I had never though to put together kept intriguing with their variety. After making several, I have to say that they actually work, as well. Tips, variations, background and nutritional information are also included.

The book breaks down as follows: Chapter 1: Getting friendly with berries; Chapter 2: All about the berries; Chapter 3: Drink your berries; Chapter 4: Berries for breakfast; Chapter 5: berries for lunch; Chapter 6: Berry snacks; Chapter 7: Berries for dinner; Chapter 8: Berries for dessert; Chapter 9: Berry condiments; Chapter 10: Frequently asked questions; Resources, Index.

Now, keep in mind that this is from a holistic nutritionist and not a chef or medical doctor. So there is plenty of information throughout the recipes about the health benefits of the ingredients. Not just the berries but other ingredients such as quinoa and kale. Each of the recipes have a definitive health focus and not just an excuse to throw berries into everything. Indeed, a chunk of the book is background information on all the berries (nutrition profile, calories, vitamins, fiber, etc.).

Recipes are diverse: granola cookies, berry breakfast quinoa, red currant cocoa stew, cucumber and gooseberry soup, goji strawberry vinaigrette dressing, pulled pork surprise wrap, strawberry and almond fruit roll ups, slow cooker berry-bean sloppy joes, chicken with berry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes with berries, blueberry breakfast cookies, berry slump, berry granita, and more.

Each recipes starts out with serving size, has a small introduction, ingredients in italics, and then short numbered step directions. There are very few images - just a couple of the 75 recipes in the book. So there is a bit of guesswork about how to serve some of the items. And I was more successful in some of the recipes than in others. Fortunately, the directions are fairly easy to follow and don't typically have too many ingredients.

It's rare to come across a cookbook with this many new and modern recipes - but with Berries there really is an intriguing selection. More photographs would have elevated the book but as is, there are some very original recipes in here. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Penmouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berries: The Complete Guide to Cooking with Power-Packed Berries by Stephanie Pedersen is a fun book to read about berries of all kinds. I loved her Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at the end of her book. The author's FAQ is in a Q & A format where you can quickly learn about berries. Some of the questions include what makes a berry; who grows the most strawberries; or how to prevent birds from eating your home-grown berries.

The chapters you'll find in Berries: The Complete Guide to Cooking with Power-Packed Berries include:

Getting Friendly with Berries
All About the Berries
Drink Your Berries
Berries for Breakfast
Berries for Lunch
Berry Snacks
Berries for Dinner
Berries for Dessert
Berry Condiments
Frequently Asked Questions
Resources

Some of the recipes you'll find include:

Sparkling Berry Cooler
Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Bread
Red Currant Cocoa Stew
DIY Cranberry Raw Food Bars
Goji Berry Soup
Blueberry Fluff

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from Edelweiss.