Every spring, thousands of self-described "'maniacs" gather for a series of multi-day garden events for the largest tomato seedling sale in the nation: Tomatomania! CEOs and soccer moms, grandmothers and hipsters, hardcore gardeners and eager first-timers—folks from every walk of life unite to celebrate this energetic rite of spring and their shared love of tomatoes. In this practical and fun guide, Tomatomania! owner Scott Daigre provides a peek into his Ojai, California, tomato patch and details a "reality gardening" approach to growing the world's favorite summer treat. Tomatomania! walks readers through every step of the tomato gardening process, from the earliest planning stages to those final satisfying kitchen table moments of the season. Including 20 simple yet unique recipes and numerous kitchen tips to get the most out of your tomato harvest, this comprehensive guide to growing and cooking with tomatoes will turn you, too, into a proud 'maniac!

From the Americas to Australasia, from northern Europe to southern Africa, the tomato tickles the world's taste buds. Americans along devour more than twelve million tons annually of this peculiar fruit, variously considered poisonous, curative, and aphrodisiacal. In this first concerted study of the tomato in America, Andrew F. Smith separates myth from historical fact, beginning with the Salem, New Jersey, man who, in 1820, allegedly attracted spectators from hundreds of miles to watch him eat a tomato on the courthouse steps (the legend says they expected to see him die a painful death). Later, hucksters such as Dr. John Cook Bennett and the Amazing Archibald Miles peddled the tomato's purported medicinal benefits. The competition was so fierce that the Tomato Pill War broke out in 1838. The Tomato in America traces the early cultivation of the tomato, its infiltration of American cooking practices, the early manufacture of preserved tomatoes and ketchup (soon hailed as "the national condiment of the United States"), and the "great tomato mania" of the 1820s and 1830s. The book also includes tomato recipes from the pre-Civil War period, covering everything from sauces, soups, and main dishes to desserts and sweets. Now available for the first time in paperback, The Tomato in America provides a piquant and entertaining look at a versatile and storied figure in culinary history.

“Eye-popping proof that water-wise gardens are bold, beautiful and brilliantly hued.” —San Diego Home and Garden Dry weather defines the southwest, and it's getting dryer. As water becomes more precious, our gardens suffer. If we want to keep gardening, we must revolutionize our plant choices and garden practices. Hot Color, Dry Garden provides a joyful, color-filled way to exuberantly garden in low-water conditions. Garden expert Nan Sterman highlights inspiring examples of brilliant gardens filled with water-smart plants. You'll find information about designing for color using plants, architecture, and accessories, along with a plant directory that features drought-tolerant plants that dazzle.

A heartfelt middle grade adventure about one girl's search for sunken treasure, friendship, and her place in the world. Thirteen-year-old Blue Broen is on the hunt for a legendary ship of gold, lost centuries ago when her ancestors sailed to New York. Blue knows her overprotective parents won't approve of her mission to find their family's long-lost fortune, so she keeps it a secret from everyone except her constant companion, Otis, an 80-pound diabetic alert dog. But it's hard to keep things quiet with rival treasure hunters on the loose, and with Blue's reputation as the local poster child for a type 1 diabetes fundraiser. Blue's quest gets even harder when she's forced to befriend Jules, the brainy but bratty daughter of a vacationing movie star who arrives on the scene and won't leave Blue alone. While Blue initially resents getting stuck with this spoiled seventh grade stranger, Jules soon proves Blue's not the only one who knows about secrets -- and adventure. Will Blue unravel a three hundred year-old family mystery, learn to stand up for herself, and find the missing treasure? Or is she destined to be nothing more than "diabetes girl" forever?

This modern German-Californian cookbook from longtime Los Angeles chef and restaurateur Hans R ckenwagner features sections on bread-making (yes, pretzel bread ), holiday treats, and bar snacks, along with the most popular recipes from his several Los Angeles restaurants, including 3 Square Cafe on famed Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Cafe R ckenwagner in Brentwood. Hans R ckenwagner's background spans thirty years of cooking in Germany, Switzerland, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In the 1980s, he won international fame for his fine-dining restaurant in Santa Monica, R ckenwagner; today, he owns several LA-area bakery/cafes and a large wholesale bakery. Hans is known for his individuality, innovative dishes, and his craftsmanship in designing and building his restaurants (he is also a master woodworker). This is his second cookbook. Jenn Garbee is a food reporter and editor who has written for the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Cooking Light, Saveur, and more. An expert recipe tester and developer, Jenn has a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu and has worked in professional kitchens across Los Angeles. She is also the author of Secret Suppers and the co-author of the 2015 St. Martin's Press book, Tomatomania Wolfgang Gussmack has been Hans's chef de cuisine since 2012. A native of Graz, Austria, Wolfgang started his culinary career cooking sp tzle for his family's restaurant and gasthaus. This experience earned him a spot in Austria's only two-star Michelin restaurant and subsequently led him to renowned kitchens in Italy and France before he came to Los Angeles. Photographer Staci Valentine is based in Los Angeles; her other cookbooks include The Perfect Peach.

This book critically examines the environmental hazards posed by global warming with regard to future food security, which will depend on a combination of stresses, both biotic and abiotic, imposed by climate change; variability of weather within a growing season; and the development of cultivars that are more sensitive to different ambient conditions. Furthermore, the ability to develop effective adaptive strategies which allow these cultivars to express their genetic potential under changing climate conditions will be essential. In turn, the book investigates those plant species which are very closely related to field crops and have the potential to contribute beneficial traits for crop improvement, e.g. resistance to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses, enriching the gene pool, and ultimately leading to enhanced plant yield, known as “Crop Wild Relatives” (CWRs). CWRs hold tremendous potential to sustain and enhance global food security, contributing to human well-being. Accordingly, their development, characterization and conservation in crop breeding programs have assumed great practical importance./div Professor Kodoth Prabhakaran Nair is an internationally acclaimed agricultural scientist, with over three decades of experience in Europe, Africa and Asia, holding some of the most prestigious academic positions, including the National Chair of the Science Foundation, The Royal Society, Belgium. A Senior Fellow of the world renowned Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation of The Federal Republic of Germany, he is best known, globally, for having developed a revolutionary soil management technique, known as "The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept", which, while questioning the scientific fallacies of the highly soil extractive farming, euphemistically known as the "green revolution", has opened up an alternative path for sensible and scientific soil management

"You can't always have Christine Moore around to explain her perfect blood orange tarts, but Little Flower may be close enough."—Jonathan Gold, Pulitzer Prize–winning food writer One of California's most acclaimed bakers is sharing her very best recipes, all adapted and carefully tested for the home cook. Extensively photographed and rich with Christine Moore's down-home warmth and wisdom, it inspires home cooks to make her rustically beautiful, always delicious cookies, cakes, pastries, savory baked goods, breads, rolls, bars, puddings, and so much more. Little Flower Baking is beautifully packaged in a hardcover book with embossing, ribbon, and quality paper. And every recipe has its own gorgeous photo—a rarity in cookbooks, and a great boon for the home baker. Christine Moore is the owner of the Little Flower Candy Co. and the chef/owner of Little Flower café and Lincoln restaurant, both in Pasadena, California. A pastry chef who trained in Paris and Los Angeles, Moore is also author of Little Flower: Recipes from the Cafe, which was one of Food52's 16 Best Cookbooks of 2012 and won praise from Jonathan Gold, David Lebovitz, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. She sells her candy nationwide and has developed a passionate following for her simple, exceptionally flavorful baked goods and café food at both restaurants. Collaborating on the recipes is Little Flower's pastry chef, Cecilia Leung. Acclaimed food photographer Staci Valentine is the book's photographer.