Fresh Tarts

Margaret Bremmer was an artist and illustrator in Chesterville, Ontario.

No, this is not a book about pies — although there are certainly some luscious pie recipes here: Maple-Walnut Pear Pie, Lo-Cal Blueberry Yogurt Pie, Grandma’s Get-Yourself-a-Husband Pie, to mention a few. The book really is about fresh fruit, and it features everything from the rhubarb in your garden to the ubiquitous but delicious lemon, to the exotic kiwi and passion fruits.

This is the same duo who gave us Nuts About Chocolate. In their introduction they say that this book is their “contribution to today’s entertaining, incorporating the home-made qualities of the fifties, the back-to-basics of the sixties, the ‘healthier-than-thou’ attitude of the seventies, and the chic aesthetics of the eighties.” Along with the 105 recipes are eight sophisticated color photographs by Derik Murray, and a brief section on canning and freezing. The well-conceived typesetting makes the recipes very easy to follow, and there is a good index. Metric measurements are given in brackets.

I must admit to a dislike of recipes named for someone known to the recipe purveyor but whom you and I don’t know from a cookie monster, although I agree that credit should be given where credit is due. But that’s a personal bugbear and does not reflect on the recipes. In fact, Roberta’s Strawberry Crêpes and Barbara Larabie’s Peach Praline Pie sound quite delicious!