A Fruitful Year: Ciderhouse Cookbook + A Baby

​It’s been over a year since I started working on my first cookbook, Ciderhouse Cookbook , and a lifetime of learning to make it happen! It’s also been a year since I gave birth to Lucienne Claire, a revelation of inspiration and happiness. The two together became the reason why I wanted to write this book—to make simple recipes that let the seasonal and special flavors of my family’s ciderhouse shine and to celebrate the love one feels when one shares a delicious meal with friends and family. This is also the foundation of the way I cook at Montalvo. The creation of this book is rooted in my youth and my travels through the French countryside. The food, the people from the small towns, the producers of farmstead cheeses, the amazing fermented ciders and the small farm vegetables were the seeds of many recipes developed in my life and here at the Montalvo Arts Center .

​ Fast forward to 2018 and the Ciderhouse Cookbook is finally out! A baby and a book this year—not bad. The book is also a celebration of the artisan products produced by my sister Nicole and her pomologist husband Jonathan, who found a gorgeous 40-acre piece of land in Hadley, Massachusetts where they grow their cider apples. From cider came other products of the apple, including my favorite ingredient, apple cider syrup. Those American staples make up the first part of the book. Chapter one will teach you how to make syrups, vinegars and hard fermented ciders at home. Then with those basics, you can make everything else in the boo–from breakfast, to dessert to after-dinner drinks. It’s fun, easy to read and a beautiful book.

​ The visiting Indian artist Sandhya Bordewekar Gajjar said it best:

“I have been writing on food and related issues for a number of years and have studied numerous recipe and cookery books. What I find so refreshing about the Ciderhouse Cookbook is that it seamlessly brings together historical, geographical, agricultural and personal narratives about apples, apple-farming and apple products from the perspectives of an apple-grower, an apple product-maker and a culinary expert who puts together the apple products into delightful recipes. In India, apples are grown only in the sub-Himalayan regions, and the only way they are eaten are as cut fruit or at the most, made into jams and jellies. So, for me, this book, superbly written, was a truly fascinating eye-opener about how far a good apple can really roll!”

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Join us November 10th 2018 for the launch of Andrea’s first cookbook, Ciderhouse Cookbook !
​Visit Andrea’s website here and be sure to follow her on Instagram to see what’s cooking.
You can purchase tickets for the event on montalvoarts.org .
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