Call it a berry amazing cookbook

Berry lovers are in for a treat: Janie Hibler’s latest cookbook, “The Berry Bible,” quenches your curiosity and stimulates your palate with scores of recipes and scientific nuggets.

She covers just about every berry you’ve ever heard of and then some. Take the buffalo berry, one of 38 listings in the book. It was named by explorers taught by Native Americans to eat them with buffalo meat. Don’t expect to find them in a store, even a gourmet shop, but you can buy buffalo berry jelly in western Canada, the book says, and the plant grows in the wild, especially in the Great Plains.

Then there are ohelo berries, one of the few native fruits of Hawaii. Considered sacred, they were tossed into volcanoes by ancient Hawaiians, in offerings to the fire goddess Pele.

Over the two-plus years Hibler spent researching the book, she picked wild blueberries with an Inuit Indian in Tangle Lakes, Alaska; sipped Juneberry lemonade at a farmers market in Saskatoon, in Saskatchewan, Canada; and sampled Ardeche raspberries at Beaumes-de-Venise in the Provence region of France. She came home to Portland, with a wealth of recipes and knowledge she’s poured into the book.

Ever wonder who created the Marionberry? George Waldo in 1956. How to remove berry stains? Stretch the stained fabric over a small bowl and slowly pour boiling water over it from a kettle held at least two feet high. Or how to tell when jam is done? Dip a cool metal spoon into the boiling jam mixture, raise it 12 inches above the pot and out of the steam and turn so the jam runs off the side. If it forms two drops that flow together off the spoon, it’s probably done.

“The Berry Bible,” living up to its name, covers it all, from botany to baking, with information on picking, buying, storing and cooking each variety. It also has color photos of most of the berries in the book, and recipes — 175 in all — that are easy to follow and reliable. Even better, many are a concert of contrasts: sweet sizzled with salty and sour, hot coating cold and smooth mixed with crunchy, creating mouthfuls of surprise and delight.

The Slow-Roasted Pacific Cod With Marionberry Sauce is a melange of salty, sweet and tart. It’s impressive-looking, too, with ivory cod fillets nestled on beds of sauteed fennel and sweet onion, with dark berry sauce swirled around the edge of the plates. The recipe, created by Stu Stein, chef/co-owner of the Peerless Restaurant in Ashland, Ore., calls for fresh Marionberries, other blackberries or frozen berries. Fresh raspberries also work well.

Ditto for the Chilled Blackberry-Lime Soup, created by executive chef Philippe Boulot, managing partner of the Heathman Restaurant in Portland. Fresh raspberries gave an extra tang to the sweet and sour soup, which Hibler serves for summer lunch.

“The Berry Bible” includes many classics, such as blackberry pie and strawberry shortcake, along with unusual concoctions, such as “Frozen Cranberries With Hot Caramel Sauce.” Forget your diet with this one — it’s basically fruit, heavy cream and sugar.

Hibler also encourages cooks to experiment with various berries. The recipes in “The Berry Bible” are not meant to be definitive, she says.

The book is not meant for one season, either. Just about all of the recipes call for fresh or frozen berries, and the book includes instructions for freezing the fruit in peak season. Rinse them, put them on a baking sheet lined with a paper towel, pat dry with another paper towel and freeze so each hardens separately. Then transfer to a self-sealing plastic bag. They’ll be good for about a year — long enough to make it to next season’s plump berry pickings.

Recipes that are good, like this one from the 1963 “McCall’s Cookbook,” live forever. It’s impossible to improve on perfection — it’s tender and exceptionally moist and so tasty the shortcake can be eaten by itself. And, when it’s smothered in sweet, juicy strawberries and whipped cream, it’s beyond words. Use blueberries and strawberries for the Fourth of July. — Janie Hibler

The Perfect Strawberry Shortcake

From “The Berry Bible,” by Janie Hibler

2 pints (4 cups) high-quality fresh strawberries, sliced, a few whole ones reserved for garnish

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 to 4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, to taste

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square pan.

Slice half of the strawberries and sprinkle them with 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar to release the juices. Mash them lightly with a potato masher.

Sift together the flour, the remaining granulated sugar, the baking powder and the salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the butter and milk and mix. It should be lumpy.

Spoon into the pan and spread as evenly as possible with the back of a spoon. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and cut into 6 pieces.

Whip the cream with the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until stiff.

Split a piece of shortcake horizontally and place the bottom, cut side up, on a dessert plate. Ladle on a spoonful of the mashed berries and cover with the top. Put another spoonful of the mashed berries on top and finish with a dollop of whipped cream. Repeat for the other 5 shortcakes.

Serve immediately and savor every morsel.

Yield: 6 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 544 calories, 31 grams fat (19 grams saturated, 51 percent fat calories), 6.9 grams protein, 61.5 grams carbohydrate, 96.9 milligrams cholesterol, 3.7 grams dietary fiber, 375 milligrams sodium.

Chef Philippe Boulot, managing partner of the Heathman Restaurant, created this lovely chilled blackberry soup, which he serves in the heart of berry season. It’s simple to make and has a light, refreshing taste that is both complex and satisfying. It can be made up to 3 days in advance or made without the yogurt and frozen up to 1 month ahead. — Janie Hibler

Chilled Blackberry-Lime Soup

From “The Berry Bible,” by Janie Hibler

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

4 pints fresh Marionberries, other blackberries, or raspberries, rinsed and drained, or frozen Marionberries, thawed with juice (8 cups)

1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt (divided)

Juice of 1 lime, plus 6 small lime wedges (divided)

6 fresh mint sprigs

In a saucepan, make a simple syrup by combining the sugar with 1 cup water; bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the berries into the saucepan, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently to release the juice from the berries.

Remove the pan from the heat and transfer half of the mixture to a blender or food processor. Puree and strain through a fine strainer into a glass or stainless-steel bowl to remove the seeds. Repeat with the remaining half. Chill in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 hours.

Once the soup is chilled, stir in 1 cup yogurt and the lime juice and divide equally among 6 shallow soup bowls. Garnish with a dollop of the remaining 1/2 cup yogurt and a sprig of mint, and serve with a small bowl of lime wedges.

Yield: 6 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 267 calories, 1.7 grams fat (.6 grams saturated, 5 percent fat calories), 4.6 grams protein, 62 grams carbohydrate, 3.7 milligrams cholesterol, 2 grams dietary fiber, 43 milligrams sodium.

This recipe was inspired by Anna Thomas, author of “The Vegetarian Epicure.” I have made and enjoyed her apple crisp recipe for more than 30 years. This is my version with fresh huckleberries from the mountains. — Janie Hibler

Apple-Huckleberry Crisp

From “The Berry Bible,” by Janie Hibler

2 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 -inch-thick slices (about 5 cups)

1 pint (2 cups) fresh huckleberries or wild blueberries, rinsed and drained, or frozen huckleberries or blueberries

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a shallow 3-quart dish (I use a gratin dish) and add the apples and huckleberries. Pour 1/2 cup water over the fruit and smooth the top to make it level.

In a food processor, pulse the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, flour and butter together until they form pea-sized crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture over the fruit and cover with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 20 minutes longer, until the apples are tender and the crust is a dark golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 8 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 282 calories, 12 grams fat, (7.2 grams saturated, 37 percent fat calories), 1.7 grams protein, 44.5 grams carbohydrate, 31 milligrams cholesterol, 2.7 grams dietary fiber, 48 milligrams sodium.