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"Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide," by Elizabeth Schneider.
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The following review is by a reader who was given a cookbook from this newspaper. The included recipes were selected and prepared by the reader.

By J. Margaret Milton

When I told my daughter the title of the cookbook I intended to review, "Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables," she burst out laughing and gasped, "Mom, that's perfect for you!" After years of sitting through food adventures at my table, she is well aware of my passion.

Still, I am convinced that what I consider an exciting discovery in the produce department is probably someone else's everyday food. So I eagerly flipped through the book to see what author Elizabeth Schneider would consider unusual enough to include in her book, which she calls an encyclopedic reference.

Pages are filled with descriptions, drawings and historical touches — plus useful details like how to tell when a fruit or vegetable is ripe and what to do with it. I was a bit disappointed to find that I was familiar with a lot of the produce items, yet some vegetables I've long wondered about don't appear at all.

I decided it would be fun to scout out as many unfamiliar-to-me vegetables and fruits mentioned in the book as I could find. I went to five nearby supermarkets and came home with celeriac, chayote, nopales, fennel, pommelo and carambola.

In the spirit of getting acquainted, and perhaps even building some solid friendships with these

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fruits and vegetables, I aimed for a variety of cooking methods: baked, fried, sauteed and raw.

On the menu:

  • Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with nopales.

  • Lunch: Celeriac and potato soup, gratin of chayote, and carambola and avocado salad.

  • Dinner: Baked fish with carambola, chayote stuffed with pork, and a saute of fennel, tomatoes and mushrooms.

  • Dessert: Candied pommelo peel.

    Making all of the food was great fun, but I have to admit that the recipes and I won't be seeing each other again. I followed some of the instructions, but the methods just didn't make sense. I opted to simplify, which produced better, healthier food. For example, I substituted oil for butter, and steamed instead of boiled.

    Even though I found the recipes themselves lacking, I like this book because the next time anyone asks "Have you met any interesting vegetables lately?" I can say, "Yes! Let me introduce you."

    Want to be a critic? We'll give you a new cookbook to review. Contact jthym@bayareanewsgroup.com.

    Cookbook review
  • BOOK: "Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide" (William Morrow, $28, 546 pages), more than 400 recipes.
  • AUTHOR: Elizabeth Schneider is referred to as "America's first vegetable rights activist."
  • REVIEWER: J. Margaret Milton lives, cooks and gardens at the Geezer Farm, Castro Valley.