Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market

Ever get chicory confused with curly endive? Can't tell a turnip from a rutabaga? Wonder what's to be done with a pattypan squash? Green (The Bean Bible) offers these answers and more in this little guide to fruits and vegetables. Though the photographs in the color insert are of middling quality and intermittent help (only a non-native English speaker is likely to appreciate and/or need pictures of such basics as green peppers, carrots and corn), the rest of the book is surprisingly handy. For each fruit or vegetable, Green includes alternate names, a general description, its growing season and tips on storage and preparation. Her serving suggestion for arugula, for example, is an easy, flavorful pesto;""flavor affinities"" for the peppery green, she notes, include beets, goat cheese and tomatoes. For anyone who's ever been wowed by the colorful abundance at a farmer's market but has stopped short of buying persimmons, broccoflower or samphire for lack of any idea what to do with them, Green's guidebook will be an excellent resource.