[Sca-cooks] Guides to produce was Seljuk/Rumi/Sufi Cuisine

[Johnna Holloway]

Where to begin? As a librarian, I am happy to report that there are  
books on the topic. There are grocery or produce guides like: Field  
Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every  
Fruit and Vegetable at the Market.  Sometimes even a gardening guide  
like The Edible Asian Garden will help.
Many of these offer "look inside" so you can see what they offer by  
using Amazon. Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Food Plants  
can be purchased for as little as $6.50. Vegetables from Amaranth to  
Zucchini: The Essential Reference: 500 Recipes, 275 Photographs by  
Elizabeth Schneider is an encyclopedic volume. Your library may have it.
It's too big to take to take shopping but it's a good source.

There are also really good ethnic or international guides to produce  
like Cook's Guide To Asian Vegetables or Handy Pocket Guide To Asian  
Vegetables. The same goes for Latin American or Mexican ingredients.
There are also specialty books on just gourds, melons, squashes, etc.  
Again the gardening guides may help as well as the cookbooks.

A good produce manager may be able to help identify and provide more  
details. Back when I was able to drive and shop extensively I was on a  
first name basis with two or three produce managers at different  
stores. (I was after specialty citrus items and things like quince at  
the time.)

There's always
the take a photo with the cellphone. Then use the web to identify the  
produce in question.

Johnnae


On Apr 28, 2010, at 11:09 PM, Terri Morgan wrote:
> I second that! I am completely baffled when I'm in the produce  
> section of
> the store - I've avoided all gourds and squashes most of my life  
> (until
> recently) and now, while I'm trying out different types*, I'd really  
> love to
> experiment with edible gourds - but I don't even know what to look  
> for. We
> have a good, large, produce department at an oriental/Latin American/ 
> South
> Pacific grocery store nearby but I only recognise about half of what  
> they
> have there. any kind of pointer would help.
>
> Hrothny