Maggie Beer

The last time I ate a persimmon, I hated it. Then I starting reading Maggie's Harvest. In Autumn.

I started with the "Autumn" chapter, of course, and when she described herself as a persimmon, I had to find one at the farmers' market. It tasted just like she said it would, and at the next market day there was a persimmon end of season sale, and I bought a whole bag, and made the persimmon bread recipe from her book, and the whole family loved it.

This beautiful book is something to savour through the year, as the season pass - enjoying each chapter with a warm cup of tea, some wine, cheese or cake. It has opened my eyes to seasonal produce, and my palate thanks her for it.… (mais)

A book to buy just for its cover! The recipes are organised by season and within each season by produce of the season. The book is unashamedly quirky, full of Maggie's reminiscences of people and places in between her lush, produce-focussed recipes, and particularly produce from the Barossa Valley. In this book, while there are plenty of tempting recipes, she also ventures into ever more exotic culinary realms with many recipes whose ingredients would be hard to obtain for the average home cook. Also I would have preferred far fewer Barossa valley landscapes and more illustrations of the actual dishes, and it was frustrating to find some of the tastier looking dishes illustrated had no corresponding recipe. I'll always love Maggie though for reviving our interest in quinces, figs, prunes, parsnips, chestnuts and many other delicious and overlooked fruit and vegetables, and there are plenty of those recipes here too.… (mais)