THE APPLE LOVER’S COOKBOOK

Washington State is apple capital of the world and apple season is here! And no one understands the versatility and appeal of apples better than Yankee Magazine lifestyle editor Amy Traverso. This virtuoso’s gorgeous apple guide, The Apple Lover's Cookbook (2011) is still great after all these years.  She has been called by some as the ultimate authority on the all-American fruit.

The heart of this cookbook is 100 delicious and easy to follow recipes, from appetizers to desserts and beverages. Traverso also tells the fascinating history of the apple and offers cooking tips, a list of American apple festivals, a guide to apple products, the best method for peeling and coring an apple, even tips for pairing cheeses and hard ciders. In short, this book is a veritable apple encyclopedia.

But what sets the book apart is a gorgeous primer with dozens of different varieties of apple, each accompanied by a full-color photo and notes on each apple’s appearance, taste, texture, best uses, origin, and availability.

Traverso organizes each apple into one of four categories: firm-tart, firm-sweet, tender-tart, and tender-sweet. Each category is best suited to a particular type of dish—a firm-tart apple, for example, is the best choice in richer baked desserts such as apple pie or tarte tatin. Traverso even includes an indispensable, one-page “cheat sheet,” an at-a-glance list of the apple varieties sorted into four columns by category, making it a breeze to pick the right apple for any recipe.

The savory chapters of THE APPLE LOVER’S COOKBOOK hold beautifully imagined creations, like a  creamy apple risotto; and a squash and apple gratin. Traverso also presents dinner party favorites like a pan-seared salmon with cider-glazed onions—a hit with both hosts and guests, as its complex flavor belies a deceptively simple preparation.

Readers with a sweet tooth will be delighted by the later chapters, which include pancakes, donuts, pies, cakes, and puddings—classics infused with a modern twist. These delicacies include spiced apple cupcakes, salted caramel apples with cinnamon graham cracker crumbs, and a green apple sauvignon blanc sorbet. Of course, no apple cookbook would be complete without a winning apple pie recipe, and this one includes no less than six mouth-watering standouts. And, Traverso also makes sure to list the best apple varieties to use to make a pie.

Amy Traverso’s passion for apples truly shines in the beautifully crafted essays that open each chapter. She’s crossed the country to learn as much as possible about this storied fruit, speaking to apple growers, cider makers, and every manner of apple enthusiast in between. She’s visited Wenatchee, Washington—the “Apple Capital of the World”—where more than half of U.S. apples are grown. She’s stopped in at Dixon’s Apple Farm, a hidden fruit oasis in the deserts of New Mexico. She’s even made her way to a preservation orchard in Palermo, Maine, where John Bunker discovers and tends “unusual, historic, and high quality” heirloom apples that would otherwise be lost to history.

Amy Traverso is the senior lifestyle editor of Yankee magazine, and a former food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also appeared in The Boston Globe, Salon.com, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay and Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Her first book, The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, won an IACP cookbook award in the “American” category and was also a finalist for the prestigious Julia Child Award. She edited the award-winning Yankee’s Best New England Recipes and she is currently at work on a follow-up book, Yankee’s Best Lost & Vintage Recipes, to be published by Countryman Press in Spring, 2013. She lives in Brookline, MA.