2008-08-21 If they're forgotten, this is a great reminder

Christopher Stock's book is such a nice, anti-market forces type of book. Stocks has gone all over Britain to research the stories of heritage fruit and veg varieties - the kind that taste really good but maybe don't look quite as uniform, neat and tidy. There's the right amount of history - from the French spy Frézier to Charlotte Knight, cherry breeder - and he's not pretending to have solved every puzzle - the Bascombe Mystery remains just that.

Each variety is treated in a section that's just the right length - about a page or so. The first section alone, Apples, made me want to go to an Apple day and actually try some of the fragrant fruit he enthuses about - the Cornish Gilliflower, the Crawley Beauty. There's lots of practical info in there too - Dumelow's seedling has better flavour and texture than a Bramley for mincemeat and baking, for example. Good lists of suppliers and historic veg gardens to visit, too.

i don't know whether I will ever read it all the way through, but it's such a treat for a bathroom - ten minutes in the bath with this utterly relaxing book and you feel the woes and stresses of everyday life sink away as you ponder the Long Green Ridge Cucumber and other marvels of yesteryear.

My only, only complaint would be that the two sections of colour photos seemed like a bit of a waste of time. The black and white engravings which pepper the text are much more evocative.

My favourite bit: finding out that the radish was "rated so far above other foods" in Ancient Greece that "in the Temple of Apollo a radish modelled in gold was dedicated as a votive offering."