Simply the best book on FRUIT - Jane Grigson! - Rated 
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.
In fact in this book she acknowledges Elizabeth David (ED), 'whose taste in the matter of fruit is unequalled' and other cute references such as in the article about 'pickled cherries', followed by a recipe for 'Cherry Brandy', `ED's Black Fruit Fool' - `a recipe for devotees of prunes and dried fruit and `ED`s Sweet Flan Pastry` - `easy to remember and efficient in practice'.
`It is from a love of fruit that Jane wrote her book, the much awaited companion volume to the enormously popular and successful `Jane Grigson Vegetable Book' . The author deals with both the homely and the less familiar fruits of our orchards with known and recently imported tropical fruits.'
`Jane Grigson's Fruit Book' is a 508 high quality, matt page alphabetical guide to selecting and using fruit, with practically *everything from apple to water melon, including the less popular `medlar` and `sapodilla`.
*'Fruit that is eaten principally as a vegetable - e.g. `the tomato`, came into an earlier book. `Olives' seemed out of the scheme of this book and there was no room to deal properly with `nuts`.`
This invaluable reference includes delicious dishes and useful appendices, entitled:-
Fruit Preserves
Pastry
Biscuits, Bread etc
Creams, Sugars etc:- including useful recipes for `Custard Sauce', `Coeur á la Créme' (soft and hard versions) and Vanilla Ice Cream
Preserving Fruit
`Edward Bunyard's Marriages of Fruit & Wine', which leads on to a section on, mixed fruit recipes
Notes on Quantities
and finishes with a concise index.
Interspersed with useful hints such as one for an `Emergency Cream`, 'without the need of a special machine for turning butter and milk into a form of cream that is acceptable in an emergency' and poetic references, e.g. POMEGRANATE - with the poem `Ronde de la Grenade' by André Gide.
Favourite Recipes:-
Pomegranate Soup
Orange Halva Cake
Redcurrant Water
Lazy Wild Duck with Orange Pineapple Upside-Down Pudding Cake
Old Fashioned Apple Tart
Kiwi Meringue Pudding
Ossi Buchi with Gooseberries
Pheasant Grenadine
Grouse with Wild Raspberries
A useful note:- when preparing fruit, always use stainless steel knives.
one of my favourite books of all times - Rated
Confession time - I don't read cookery books just for the recipes. I read them because food and cookery is important to me, and all sorts of related issues like culture, history and science are involved. I don't really want to know how to feed 4 for £2.50 or 58 interesting things to do with chicken, I want to enjoy the seductive qualities of good writing and delicious food. I read this book again and again til it fell apart. It was for a long time the book I kept by the side of my bed so when I couldn't sleep I could open it and read about oranges or guavas or persimmons. And there are some great recipes too, like orange syrup cake, my family's all time favourite cake. She's a great, intelligent writer, and I really recommend this book.
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