The Apple Cookbook is an homage to pomologists (breeders) and orchardists all over the world. Perhaps particular thanks go to the orchardists who plant, nurture, prune, and — despite the setbacks caused sometimes by heavy frosts at spring bloomtime or unpredictable invasions of insects — manage to produce crops of wonderful apples. I marvel at always finding such a great variety, and I know that new ones are being bred and discovered all the time.
There are so many people who made this book possible that I cannot mention them all — indeed, some of them work behind the scenes at Storey Publishing and are never known to me, but special thanks go to:
Margaret Sutherland, acquisitions editor at Storey Publishing, and key editor who guided my way through this updated edition of The Apple Cookbook, which, when it was first published in 1984, won a Tastemaker Award, now known as the James Beard Foundation Award.
Mike Ashby, the copy editor who pushed me to clarify throughout and make the recipe directions accessible to eighth graders.
Art director Mary Velgos; photographers Leigh Beisch, Stacey Cramp, and Mars Vilaubi; and food stylists Robyn Valarik and Vanessa Seder, whose work added beautiful visual appeal to my recipes. And everyone else at Storey who had a hand in this new edition.
The orchards that allowed Stacey Cramp to photograph their trees and fruit: Sweetser’s Apple Barrel and Orchards, Cumberland, Maine; Randall Orchards, Standish, Maine; Super Chilly Farm, Palermo, Maine; Sandy River Apples, Mercer, Maine; School House Farm, Warren, Maine; and Lost Nation Orchard, Groveton, N.H.
Former Storey president and current Workman CEO Dan Reynolds, who has spearheaded the marketing of Storey books for decades, and Maribeth Casey of international sales, who has handled the foreign translations of several of my cookbooks.
Julia Stewart of Clarity Communications and the spokesperson for the New York Apple Association, who was always there to answer questions about apples and the apple industry.
Wendy Brannen, director, consumer health and public relations of the U.S. Apple Association in Vienna, Virginia, who helped me update production figures and facts.
Dr. Susan Brown, head pomologist at Cornell University’s Department of Horticultural Sciences at the New York State Agricultural Station in Geneva, New York, who steered me through the complicated issue of germplasm and the process of breeding hybrid apples.
And my friends, family, colleagues, and orchardists, who shared recipes and knowledge of apples.