The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora: Recipes and Techniques for Edible Plants from Garden, Field, and Forest

Bringing a nose-to-tail sensibility to the world of plants, chef Bergo shares his root-to-flower expertise in his excellent debut. Here, beets are served with their stems and leaves, unopened sunflowers are treated like artichokes, and nothing is wasted in a whole broccoli frittata. Even milkweed gives its all, and is steamed, dried, and fried. Bergo starts off with tips for harvesting and cooking greens, along with recipes including a wild greens saag, a gazpacho vuido, and sochan with beans and hominy, a Cherokee dish featuring the “most abundant, delicious, leafy green that no one is talking about.” Next, he delves into vegetables and a brief lesson on botany when choosing soup ingredients (“here’s the basic idea: carrots, celery, and onion are three different plants”), then serves up a colorful menu of sides such as braised red cabbage with dark fruit, apples, and dill. Aromatics are given their due, with ideas for wild herbs, flowers, and conifers, while the last section, entitled “Nourishing,” turns the very concept on its head by working nuts, grains, and rice into desserts, such as hickory nut pudding. Advocating that plants are edible in their entirety is one thing, but this delivers the delectable means to prove it. (June)