The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes)

"Perhaps you, like me, have been having a tough time reading nonfiction when reality feels so bleak. But the one such book that’s held my attention has been The Book of Difficult Fruit, an inventive book that combines memoir, essays and recipes to such a compelling effect that I couldn’t put it down. Structured as a set of 26 essays about different fruits – one for every letter of the alphabet – Kate Lebo examines each, picked for its “difficulty,” such as astringency (aronia, as well as quince), rareness (thimbleberries) or pungence (durian). She relates each to her own experience of cooking and consuming them, and gives readers recipes to prepare even the most demanding fruits. Taken as a whole, this collection of essays is much more than the sum of its parts; rather, it’s a celebration of the natural world and our relationship to the food it produces."