The Berry BibleThe Berry Bible

Sweet, juicy, and delicious, berries -- everyone's favorite fruit -- can be found wild, grown in your own backyard, or purchased fresh or frozen year-round. But there's more to berries than glorious summer desserts. Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, berries are exceptionally good for you, too. In The Berry Bible, author Janie Hibler gets to the heart of these summer fruits, from their health benefits to their genus to how they are best put to use in the kitchen. An award-winning cookbook author and authority on the foods of the Pacific Northwest, Hibler offers 175 recipes, along with 68 full-color identification photographs and an A-to-Z encyclopedia that details well-known varieties such as blueberries and blackberries and lesser-known cultivars such as manzanitas and Juneberries. Hibler traveled the globe in her quest for berry lore, facts, and recipes, visiting the Canadian prairie to search out Saskatoon berries; Alaska, to pick wild blueberries with the Indians; and Europe, to peruse the markets for the best strawberries. Her delightful history of 41 berries, and personal annotations on how to use and store them, inspire you to try her Brioche French Toast with Sauteed Berries or tender Marionberry Biscuits, while cooling yourself on a hot summer day with her Strawberry Mojito and refreshing berry lemonades. Hibler offers everything berry, from first course to last. Start your meal with Chilled Blackberry-Lime Soup, move on to Sauteed Chicken Breast with Blueberry Port, and end on a lovely Boysenberry-Loganberry Cobbler or Peak-of-the-Season Blueberry Pie. In between, there's a chapter on how to wash berries, freeze them, measure them accurately, substitute them in recipes, and remove their stains, plus a primer on the magnificent creams -- whipped, creme fraiche, clotted, and Double Devon. There is also a chapter on berry preserves, jams, pickles, syrups, and toppings. The time is ripe to pick up The Berry Bible.