Book Review: Prairie Fruit Cookbook!

I'm in love, love, love with Getty Stewart's new book 'Prairie Fruit Cookbook'!   First, I love supporting things that are local and, second, gardening/cooking books that are specific to our tough climate are a boon.  It's very hard, for instance, to find info on saskatoons in most commercial books; I've often 'faked' out recipes for blueberries, which I figured was the closest sort of berry!  This book has great info for gardeners, bakers, cooks and canners - something for everybody!

Getty Stewart is the founder of Fruit Share Manitoba, a great project working to harvest unused urban fruit and share it with volunteers and community groups like Food Banks and soup kitchens.  Homeowners donate their fruit, volunteers harvest and then all sorts of good things are made and consumed!  What a brilliant idea!  The fruit share concept is in different towns and cities including Vancouver and Edmonton.  I think every town and city to organize a program like this!  In Manitoba, Winnipeg and Steinbeck currently have Fruit Shares, if you're in Brandon and interested please get in touch!

The book opens with some info on Fruit Share and sharing the harvest.  It then has a great chapter on different ways to preserve the harvest for eating local all winter, with good info on canning, freezing and dehydrating.  Then, there are nine chapters on fruit that grows well on the Canadian Prairies, including apples and crabapples, grapes, pears, plums and apricots, cherries, raspberries, rhubarb, saskatoons and strawberries!  Each chapter starts with gardening info on each fruit, then storing, preserving and then cooking and baking info.  The recipes are awesome!  How about Maple Apple Crisp, Grape Granita, Pear Brie and Ham Panini, Sage Caramelized Onion and Plum Pizza, Cherry Martini, Raspberry Jelly Roll, Rhubarb Fool, Saskatoon Salsa Salad or Chocolate Covered Strawberries?  Over 150 recipes, from beverages to main courses!

If you'd like a copy of the book, you can currently order online directly from Getty, using PayPal or credit cards.  I'm really pleased to say that Aagaard Farms is going to be a Brandon distributor this summer, and we'll have copies with us at the Global Market Brandon!  It's also available in Winnipeg at St Mary's Garden Centre, Sage Garden Herbs and Rand McNally.  Highly recommend this book and we really encourage you to make good use of all the lovely fruit growing in your neighborhood!