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| Subtitle | Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes) |
| First Written | 2021 |
| Genre | Nonfiction |
| Origin | US |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| ISBN-10 | 0374110328 |
| My Copy | library copy |
| First Read | August 29, 2023 |
The Book of Difficult Fruit
And then in Chapter O, Osage Orange, we’re in Columbia MO!
Noted on August 29, 2023
Anyone who has dined with me has probably heard about (or seen evidence of) my general approach to food selection: I'm trying to balance GOOD with NEW. Like, I will 100% select something from a menu that I'm not familiar with, even if there seem to be a lot of clues that it won't actually be tasty. SO: a book of difficult fruit? A field guide to stuff I don't know? I'm into it.
But this is like 2/3 personal essay, and 1/3 field guide. So while I am not super psyched about your memories of aunt so-and-so with the blackberry vines, I sure as hell want to know what Faceclock fruit is and how/why/where I might eat it. Or Medlars. But Lebo is a great writer, and I enjoyed the essays too, more than I expected to.
Noted on August 29, 2023
[ The whole book thus far had been about the Pacific Northwest and we get to "N, Norton grape", and the chapter is at a Missouri winery I’ve driven by a thousand times (but never been to bc I’ve been told the wine is bad): ]
Norton wines have a reputation for being sweet (code in more sophisticated wine circles for "bad"). In fact, Norton wines are usually dry, but the Missouri wineries that produce them, like Les Bourgeois Vineyard in Rocheport, have a reputation for sweet wines, such as Riverboat Red, a Concord grape blend. This popular sweet wine pays the bills, while Nortons remain a specialty purchase for connoisseurs who know better than to judge a winery by its bestsellers.
Quoted on August 29, 2023