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| Good cooking is part of life well lived. This scene (above) is at Waldo Farm. |
A new cookbook, Local Delectables: Seasonal Recipes from the Pioneer Valley, was written by a May 2005 graduate of Hampshire College, Andrea Davis, as part of her senior thesis. Designed to lay flat for the convenience of the cook, it was published locally by Collective Copies.
The 112 recipes are arranged seasonally, limited to local crops or to crops that could be grown locally according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “hardiness” zone 5. Conspicuously absent are a number of common spices and flavors that are not suitable for the Pioneer Valley’s growth season, including black pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, and tropical plants. Davis learned to substitute flavors creatively; lacking vanilla, she whipped up a pound cake using dried lavender.
More about how this treasury of ideas came into being at this link, http://www.hampshire.edu/news/8282.htm
