Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends 4 Seasons Cookbook is a well written and beautifully photographed seasonal cookbook by Wanda E. Brunstetter. Due out 1st May 2022 from Barbour Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in spiral bound paperback format.
Over the last decade, with transportation and delivery costs on the rise, there's been a sensible trend toward sourcing local foods and other supplies and eating more seasonally. Additionally, locally sourced food is likely more nutritionally sound and with the possibility of varieties of fruit and vegetables which don't transport well but are delicious and outside the usual selection at the big-box stores.
All of the cookbooks by the author conjure images of Amish country, farmer's markets, locally grown produce and healthy ingredients. This one is an ode to eating seasonally. Recipes are grouped by season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, with a bonus chapter which includes year-round recipes.
Recipes are credited with their contributors and whomever does the curating has done a good job with selecting appealing ones. Recipe ingredients are basic and will be familiar and readily available to anyone. The book also includes kitchen tips and tricks for convenience and good results. Ingredients are given in a bullet list, with measurements in imperial (American) units - no metric measures. The recipes are written in a very chatty informal style which is cozy and appealing.
Most of these are very much like the sort of recipes which are handed down in families across generations. I have a collection of my own family recipes which I treasure, still hand written on old index cards.
The recipes, tips, and instructions are interspersed with relevant verses from the bible. It's an Amish themed cookbook, so expressions of faith and family are expected and in this case, didn't feel proselytizing at all. One thing I really liked is that there's a full index as well as an *ingredient* index. Readers can look up "maple syrup" and find all the recipes which contain it as an ingredient easily and quickly.
Four and a half stars. This is a nice homestyle cookbook.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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