Very good book!
Rating:
4 / 5
That's a great book! Full of information on every aspect of the 'Burning Way' of peppers. A lot about planting & growing them, a lot of recipes... Cultural history and diffusion all over the world is also great! Only one thing: a full list of peppers and how to recognize them is missing... only the most important varieties are described!
Not as comprehensive as I would have liked.....
Rating:
3 / 5
Basically, THE WHOLE CHILE PEPPER BOOK, by DeWitt and Gerlach includes a history of the chile (how it left the New World and conquered the Old World) four colorful pages of photos of various chile peppers, and lots and lots of exotic recipes. I bought this book thinking it would include much more detail on raising peppers in the garden than Rosilind Creasy's book THE EDIBLE PEPPER GARDEN, but for my purposes it is not as useful. I don't really need more recipes, I need a book that shows me photos of various peppers and explains their basic uses.I fould the book more or less interesting - a narrative that explains how the pepper moved from area to area and how the locals in varous areas incorporated the new vegetable into their native cuisines, often developing pepper children who differed from their American ancestor. For example, while Africa had an affair with Paprika, Southeast Asia incorporated peppers into everything from curry to sate. So, according to DeWitt and Gerlach, the American pepper is the ancestor of those hot foreign dishes you eat in Thai, Chinese, and other ethnic restaurants. I am puzzled as to why anyone would publish a book about something as colorful as the pepper and include so few color photos, however, the book includes many black and white photos and illustrations, along with plenty of text. If you like reading about peppers, this is the book for you.
A wealth of pepper information and recipes
Rating:
5 / 5
This book has everything for the pepper-lover. Not only some tasty and unique recipes, but also history, interesting pepper facts, and information about cultures throughout the world that enjoy peppers. Plus, many of the recipes are not blazing-hot. Even includes recipes from Africa and Asia for a change of pace. The "Field Guide to Chiles" (with some color photos) is also very interesting. Think of this as the Food Network meets the Discovery Channel.
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