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Produce:
Fruits and Vegetables

If you need some ideas on how to use seasonal produce, check out the "Seasonal Cooking" Section on Epicurious!

See also: Grains, Legumes, and Nuts, Farmers' Markets, Kitchen Garden

Selected Books

Culinary Institute of America
Vegetables: Recipes and techniques from the world's premier culinary college
TX801.V42555 2007x
This complete collection features more than 150 recipes for soups, appetizers, salads, entrees, side dishes, and also includes a chapter devoted to sauces and relishes made from vegetables or perfect to serve with vegetables.
 
The Best Vegetable Recipes: A Best Recipe Classic
q TX801.B4284 2007x
By the editors of Cook's illustrated (America's Test Kitchen)
The folks at Cook's Illustrated spent thousands of hours testing countless cooking techniques to find out which methods worked best for each of 350 different recipes for 53 vegetables.
 
Chesman, Andrea
Recipes from the Root Cellar: 250 Fresh Ways to Enjoy Winter Vegetables
TX715.C52456 2010
Traditionally root cellars were used to store long keepers such as winter squash, beets, potatoes, cabbages, rutabaga, salsify and other root vegetables. Root cellars permit one to eat locally in the winter when nothing is growing in Pittsburgh.
 
Estabrook, Barry
Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
In Tomatoland, which is based on his James Beard Award-winning article, "The Price of Tomatoes," investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry. Read more at NPR.
 
Grigson, Jane
Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book
TX837.G6746 2007
This new reprint of a classic by British food writer Jane Grigson (1928-1990) covers all sorts of vegetables, tropical (avocado and chayote) as well as English standards (parsnip - pasternak in Russian).
 
Kafka, Barbara
Vegetable Love
TX801.K33 2005
With more than 600 pages of information and recipes, this volume should cover all the vegetables that you grow in your garden, from tomatoes and potatoes to more esoteric vegetables like nopales, malokhei, and fava beans. Grouped by related vegetables, this book should appeal to the botanist in you.
 
Kitchen, Leanne
The Produce Bible: essential ingredient information and more than 200 recipes for fruits, vegetables, herbs & nuts
TX801.K5475 2007x
First published in Australia, this book includes produce familiar to Americans, others familiar to the English, and a few popular tropical fruits and vegetables.
 
Madison, Deborah
Seasonal Fruit Desserts: From Orchard, Farm, and Market
TX811.M23 2010
As an expert on local produce, Madison shows us the best fruit pairings for any season and where to find them. She offers 175 easy recipes.
 
Peterson, James
Vegetables
TX801.P49 1998
This book covers the common vegetables and the not so common, like beet greens, collard greens, fennel, fiddlehead ferns, jerusalem artichokes, mustard greens, okra, rutabagas, salsify, sorrel...
 
Schreiber, Cory and and Julie Richardson; photography by Sara Remington.
Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More
TX773.S333 2009
In Rustic Fruit Desserts, James Beard Award-winning chef Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson, owner of Baker & Spice bakery in Portland, Oregon, share their repertoire of classic fruit desserts, including crumbles, crisps, Betty's, buckles, and pies that showcases the freshest in-season fruit available.
 
Wells, Patricia
Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
TX801.W42 2007
Patricia Wells, an expert in Provençal cooking, has a new cookbook out using vegetables from the garden at center stage.
 
 

Browse the Catalog

For additional books, browse the library catalog under these subjects:

Sometimes you can do a subject search for the specific vegetable or fruit with "cooking" and get results:

Up  Return to the top

 

Web Sites

Directories

  • Epicurious
    If you need a good recipe for a fruit or vegetable, run a search on Epicurious for the specific fruit or vegetable.
    • Farm to Table
      Includes a Peak-Season Ingredient Map with a state-by-state guide to what's at farmers' markets with each crop linked to recipes. Also contains Latin American and Caribbean Fruit and Vegetable Basics, Asian Fruit and Vegetable Basics, Herb Basics, and a Visual Guide to Salad Greens.
  • Fruits and Veggies Matter
    The CDC says we need to eat more fruits and vegetables to stay healthy. The National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance is trying to get Americans to do just that but without success. "The average American eats 1.13 servings of vegetables and .68 servings of fruit a day. Only about 7 percent of Americans eat at least five servings of produce a day, which is the minimum recommended by the CDC." (Formerly 5-A-Day)
  • New York Times: Recipes for Health
    In this column by Martha Rose Shulman, you can look for recipes by ingredient name (specific fruit, grain, vegetable, etc.).
  • Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program
    Pennsylvania's top ten vegetable crops are sweet corn, snap beans, pumpkins, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, cantaloupes, squash, peas and cucumbers.
  • Saveur Magazine: Spring Produce Guide
    Recipes for wonderful things you'll find in early spring at the Farmers Markets, like Garlic Scapes, Fiddlehead Ferns, Ramps, Rhubarb and peas! The also have produce guides for summer, fall and winter.
  • Think Vegetables
    thinkvegetables.co.uk provides information on the main vegetables available in the UK [United Kingdom] including nutritional information and recipes.
 

Specific Vegetables and Fruits

  • African Vegetables
    Redbud farm in West Virginia grows leafy vegetables, root crops, and hot peppers for the West African population of Washington DC.
  • Eden Foundation
    There are 250,000 known plant species in the world, but only 20 of them provide 90% of our food. The Eden Foundations mission is to find those treasures and bring them to people who really need them.
  • Apples
  • Avocados
    • Avocado Central
      Recipes from the Hass Avocado Board. You can even find the Hass Avocado “Chile” Dog from Chile!
    • Avocados: California Avocado Commission
      The California Avocado Commission is your resource for Genuine California Avocados and the California Avocado industry. Look for avocado recipes and specialties, avocado health benefits as well as avocado industry information for media, growers, foodservice and merchandising.
  • Blueberries
    • Blueberry Council
      This is the website of the North American Highbush Blueberry Council with health news about the benefits of blueberries, frequently asked questions, links to blueberry recipes, blueberry festivals, and places where you can pick your own blueberries.
  • Cherries
    • Choose Cherries
      The Cherry Marketing Institute is a national research and promotion organization that represents U.S. tart cherry growers. Sour cherries grow great in Pittsburgh and this website will give you ideas about how to use them.
    • Preserve the Harvest: Cherries
      Instructions for freezing, canning, drying, making jam from the Utah State University Extension Service.
  • Citrus: Florida Department of Citrus
    More than 100 new citrus recipes.
  • Figs: California Fig Advisory Board
    Ideas, recipes, nutritional information for dried figs.
  • Frieda's Specialty Produce
    Site includes recipes for specialty fruits and vegetables from a marketer of over 500 items including exotic fruit, specialty vegetables, dried fruits and nuts, mushrooms, squash, and a wide variety of Asian and Latin foods.
  • Honey Locator
    There are more than 300 distinct types of honey, each originating from different floral sources across the United States. Learn about them and find sources for them from this site by the National Honey Board.
  • Kiwi: CalHarvest Fruit Cookbook
    Specializing in Kiwi recipes
  • Kumquat Growers, Inc.
    Learn about this small sour citrus fruit and get recipes for using it.
  • Mangos
  • Onions: National Onion Association
    Learn about onions from the producers. Includes recipes.
  • PawPaws
    • Ohio Pawpaw Festival
      An annual festival in September to celebrate this fruit, related to the tropical cherimoya and guanabana, in Albany, Ohio.
    • Pawpaw Information Website
      This Kentucky State University website covers many topics including: Pawpaw FAQ, Description of fruit, Pawpaw recipes, Nutritional information, Guide to growing, Cultivars, Where to buy.
  • Pears
    • USA Pears
      This site from the Pear Bureau Northwest (Washington and Oregon) offers information about pear varieties and pear nutrition as well as recipes.
    • New York Times Topics: Pears
      Articles and recipes from the New York Times as well as a Pears Navigator: A list of resources from The New York Times and from around the Web about pears as selected by researchers and editors of The Times.
  • Potatoes
    • Potatoes: Goodness Unearthed
      Recipes and nutritional information from the United States Potato Board.
    • Idaho Potato Commission
      Click on "Recipes" to see recipes arranged by category.
    • The International Potato Center (CIP)
      This is an agricultural center outside of Lima, Peru, dedicated to preserving different strains of the potato, as well as sweet potatoes and other root crops of the Andes.
      • New Light on a Hidden Treasure
        A summary of the International Year of the Potato (2008) and its importance as a local food crop because it is NOT a globally traded commodity that is subject to the vagaries of the international market.
  • Raisins
  • The Rhubarb Compendium
    Check here for everything you wanted to know about rhubarb including recipes.
  • Squash
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Walnuts: California Walnut Commission
    Information about walnuts, health and nutrition, recipes, news and events as well as information for growers and processors.
 

Pittsburgh Region