“In essence,” she writes, “these recipes are invitations. The book pairs narratives with recipes that are often accompanied by stories of their own, almost a book within a book, activities to try, challenges to take on like she did. If I were writing an encyclopedia, the facts would be the story. “Delight,” she writes, in her chapter about the inedible Osage orange, “isn’t a story. Humor, heartbreak and huckleberries –all “struggle and sweetness.” Italian plums, pain and intrigue. B is for blackberry, both the native, trailing and the invasive brambles. … Imagine a blackberry briar, forbidding and sweet, and follow me in.”Ī is for aronia, a most sour berry. Some are an acquired taste some can’t even be acquired. Some can be medicine or poison, depending on the size of the dose. Some are impossible to domesticate or tough to prepare. She notes: “Each fruit in this book is difficult in its own way. Her ideas and descriptions of fruits and their flavors, family secrets, lost loves and home tempt and tantalize long after the last chapter. Her writing –breathtakingly beautiful, brave and complex – sparkles and lingers. Kate Lebo deftly weaves them all together, making for a brilliant, richly layered and absolutely delicious book. The 26 lyrical essays in this exceptional compendium of lesser-known or forgotten fruits, one for each letter, explore culinary, cosmetic, cultural, natural, medicinal and the author’s own often deeply personal history.
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