50 Best Plants on the Planet

50 BEST

PLANTS ON

THE PLANET

The Most Nutrient-Dense Fruits and
Vegetables, in 150 Delicious Recipes

Cathy Thomas

Foreword by
Cheryl Forberg, RD

Photographs by
Angie Cao

Text copyright ©
2013
by Melissa's /World Variety Produce, Inc.

Photographs copyright ©
2013
by
ANGIE CAO
.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN
978-1-4521-0284-9
(hc)

ISBN
978-1-4521-0283-2
(pbk)

ISBN
978-1-4521-2769-9
(ebook)

Designed by
CELERY DESIGN COLLABORATIVE

Typesetting by
HELEN LEE

Prop styling by
CHRISTINE WOLHEIM

Food styling by
FANNY PAN

The photographer wishes to thank her excellent stylists,
CHRISTINE
&
FANNY
, as well as
CATHRYN LOVECRAFT
,
TREVOR ADAMS
, and
KIZZY VATCHARAKOMONPHAN
.

Alouette is a registered trademark of Léon Hatot SA; Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes is a registered trademark of Melissa's/World Variety Produce, Inc.; Grand Marnier is a registered trademark of Societe des Produits Marinier Lapostolle SA; Japonica is a registered trademark of Wehah Farm, Inc. DBA Lundberg Family Farms; Microplane is a registered trademark of Grace Manufacturing Inc.; Sriracha is a registered trademark of V. Thai Food Product Co., Ltd.; Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc.; Wehani is a registered trademark of Wehah Farm, Inc. DBA Lundberg Family Farms.

CHRONICLE BOOKS LLC

680
Second Street

San Francisco, California
94107

www.chroniclebooks.com

How lucky I am to have had such a great team cheering me on. Books like this happen with the help and generosity of many people.

Enormous thanks go to Sharon and Joe Hernandez, owners of Melissa's/World Variety Produce, for giving me the opportunity to write this book. These produce pioneers founded the company in
1984
. Their family-run business has become the nation's largest distributor of specialty and organic fruits and vegetables. The Melissa's brand is named after Sharon and Joe's daughter, Melissa, who—along with her husband, Aaron—takes an active role in the company.

Food writers from coast to coast rely on the information garnered from produce guru Robert Schueller, Melissa's director of public relations. He is a walking encyclopedia of produce knowledge. His talent and enthusiasm are greatly appreciated. Thanks go to Debra Cohen, Melissa's director of special projects, for her steadfast fact checking.

I am extremely grateful to nutrition experts Cheryl Forberg, RD, and David Feder, RD. Cheryl, a former nutritionist for NBC's
The Biggest Loser
, wrote the book's foreword and painstakingly did the nutritional analyses of the recipes. David Feder, a food writer and nutrition scientist, contributed the nutritional information related to each topic.

Heartfelt thanks to chef Ida Rodriguez, executive chef of Melissa's corporate kitchen, along with her very talented team, chef/kitchen director Tom Fraker and chef Raquel Perez. Chef Tom and Chef Raquel tested each and every recipe in the book.

Special thanks to editorial director Bill LeBlond and associate editor Sarah Billingsley; designer Alice Chau; photographer Angie Cao; and the rest of the editing, production, marketing, and publicity team at Chronicle Books.

Finally, of course, I would like to thank my children and my husband, Phil McCullough, for their patience and love, as well as culinarian Tillie Clements, who cooked up my first newspaper food-writing gig. Thank you to Françoise Thomas, who gave me my initial lessons in French cuisine and perseverance.

Infinite gratitude to my late parents, Harriett and Loren Young, who kept our family table filled with fresh fruits and vegetables seven days a week.

—
CATHY THOMAS