Berries

by Roger Yepsen

Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and more—captured in watercolor and accompanied by descriptions and recipes

Berries are edible jewels, distillations of sunlight, soil, and floral perfumes. Some offer ambrosial sweetness; others are as assertive as herbs and spices. Roger Yepsen knows his berries, and in this collection he presents these delightful fruits to the reader, including neglected varieties that have nearly disappeared from the American diet and garden. In this book he offers advice on finding and identifying berries, growing your own, and preserving them for year-round enjoyment. Berries includes nearly 100 recipes, such  

Blueberry BuckleBlack Currant CrepesRaspberry SoupElderberry Wine  Reading this book is like discovering a wild raspberry in the woods—a sweet surprise and oh, so satisfying.  

Genres: Gardening

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 19, 2006

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got to try one of his recipes a few summers ago...it was something with boysenberry and ricotta, perhaps? Anyway, beautiful illustrations and text again.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Berries are edible jewels, distillations of sunlight, soil, and floral perfumes. Some offer ambrosial sweetness; others are as assertive as herbs and spices. Yet many of us rarely encounter berries outside of a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich or raspberry-scented seltzer. Berries reintroduces us to these delightful fruits, including neglected varieties that have nearly disappeared from the American diet and garden. Roger Yepsen offers advice on finding wild berries, growing your own, and preserving them for year-round enjoyment. Sixty delicate watercolors depict berries from black currants and wild strawberries to the exotic salmonberry and Achilles Red gooseberry. And while it's hard to improve on the fresh item, Berries includes almost a hundred recip0es: blueberry buckle, raspberry soup, elderberry wine, and black currant crepes. This elegant guidebook will inspire cooks, gardeners, foragers -- and anyone with a sweet tooth -- to get more involved with the wonderful world of berries."
~~front flap

Anyone who knows me at all well knows I'm mad about blackberries, so this book in my library is no surprise. A very charming, comprehensive treatment of berries. Did you know there are white currants? I certainly didn't! And there's a recipe for fool, although not the form of fool served at Sardine Lake Lodge, which makes delightful gooseberry fool.

If you like berries at all, you'll treasure and enjoy this book.

[Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this a few weeks ago. I think this was a case of missed expectations - I was hoping for lots of watercolors and history/growing info about the berry varieties. Instead, it was mostly a cookbook! Which is cool! But wasn't really what I was looking for. Although it did get me excited about fruit season this summer :)

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roger Yepsin is a watercolour artist, a storyteller (he writes children's books), a food historian, a home grower of berries and a cook. He draws upon all of these talents to produce a lovely book about American berries -- their history, cultivation, purchase, preservation, and use in the kitchen. The book is beautifully illustrated by paintings of the various fruits, reminiscent of the British horticulturists who traveled the Empire and brought back renderings of what they found. Each chapter includes recipes which show off the best attributes of each particular berry. In addition to ample chapters of all of the more familiar berries, Yepsen includes information on currants, elderberries, lingonberries and mulberries. The work concludes the chapter on juniper berries with a recipe for bathtub gin.