A new edition of a classic early 17th century work – The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy, written by the Italian refugee Giacomo Castelvetro.
When he came ot England he was horrified by our preference for large helpings of meat, masses of sugar and very little greenstuff. The Italians were both good gardeners, and had a famililiarity with many varieties of vegetable and fruit that were as yet little known in England.
Castelvetro takes us through the gardener’s year, listing the fruit and vegetables as they come into season, with simple and elegant ways of preparing them. Practical instructions are interspersed with tender vignettes of his life in his native Modena. He writes of children learning to swim in the canals of the Brenta, strapped to huge dried pumpkins to keep them afloat; Venetian ladies ogling passers-by from behind screens of verdant beanstalks; sultry German wenches jealously hoarding their grape harvest; and his intimate chats with Scandinavian royalty about the best way to graft pear cuttings and discomfort the Pope.
An entry for Spring:
And so I start the year with hops, the first shoots to appear at this time of year. These we never eat raw, but serve as a cooked salad. We wash them in several waters and then cook the desired amount in water with a little salt, when done we take them out and drain very well and serve in a nice clean dish seasoned with salt, plenty of oil, and a little vinegar or lemon juice and some crushed, not powered, pepper. Alternatively, once the hops are cooked, some of us flour them and fry them in oil and serve sprinkled with salt, pepper and bitter orange juice, and very tasty they are”
The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy.
is availble from Amazon.co.uk for £9.12.

A dip into the lives, the wine loves with an associated anecdote from a host of internet wine names. That I think just about sums up Every Wine Tells A Story, a copy of which the author, Tara Devon O’Leary, posted over to me last week. Subtitled “A collection of the most memorable bottles of 2010 as told by 29 international wine experts” it is less about the most expensive bottle opened, the most famous “bound to impress” show-off label and more, as Simon Woods in his section mentions, more “right-place-right-time” wine.
Author and River Cottage foraging guru John Wright explores the culinary delights of the British hedgerows, moors, meadows and woods in the latest River Cottage Handbook, Hedgerow.
Growing up in a small town in New Zealand, Peter Gordon didn’t discover avocados or sushi until he moved to Australia in his late teens. From there he travelled to Asia where a whole new culinary world opened before his eyes.

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