cover image Wild Flavors: One Chef's Transformative Year Cooking from Eva's Farm

Wild Flavors: One Chef's Transformative Year Cooking from Eva's Farm

Didi Emmons. Chelsea Green, $24.95 (298p) ISBN 978-1-60358-518-7

Emmons offers an adventurous approach to flavor in this earthy collection of recipes inspired by organic farmer Eva Sommaripa. The book begins with some "basics" that introduce supplies Eva deems crucial to her cooking endeavors%E2%80%94pressure cookers, certain mixers, strainers, and even a built-from-scratch pizza oven. Sections on salvaging, bartering, and preserving home grown ingredients offer a plethora of ideas and recipes including such treats as a "master recipe" for herb butter and spruce shoots%E2%80%94"Pop a shoot in your mouth," Emmons suggests, "and you will be rewarded with a minty pinelike tartness that is as much fun to play with in the kitchen as lemon, lime, sorrel, or rhubarb." The analysis of many edibles covers their culinary uses, health "virtues," and how to forage for and store them. There are intriguing discourses on sorrel, dill, dandelion greens, and even raw milk. Emmons adds instructive insights on when to add herbs to a dish and an interesting aside on how "funky foods create stronger stomachs." This is a truly wild romp through new flavors and undiscovered herbs and plants. (Oct.)