Butter Beans to Blackberries: Recipes from the Southern Garden

A captivating paean to dishes made with vegetables and fruits harvested from Kentucky to Florida, from Maryland to Texas, the latest by Lundy (Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes and Honest Fried Chicken) is packed with more than 150 recipes and a string of colorful yarns that recall her three-year, 13-state effort to seek out Southern culinary customs. Yankees will encounter a roster of unfamiliar ingredients--shoepeg corn, poke, calamondin--and Southerners will be reminded of food that has comforted generations of ancestors. Recipes are as homey as Hoppin' John and its lesser-known relative, Limpin' Susan Edisto, which counts okra among its components, and as interpretive as Middle Eastern Ratty-Too (the family favorite ratatouille) and New South Moussaka, made with broiled eggplant slices but without b chamel sauce. Lundy asserts that Skillet Corn (creamed) is preferable to corn on the cob and explains how to ""milk"" the fresh cob to collect all the juice for that side dish; True Grits require old-fashioned, stone-ground white corn grits. Although bacon drippings are a feature in Real Cornbread and Fried Green Tomatoes with Cream Gravy, Lundy doesn't go overboard with fats. This warming fare will induce a homesickness for the South--even in those who don't whistle ""Dixie."" (May)