Okanagan baked chicken with peaches, hamburger soup, Mom's lazy cabbage rolls, Nana's cheese biscuits, chocolate zucchini muffins, classic chocolate chip cookies, Daddy is Great chocolate cake, sparkling cherry lemonade and rhubarb slush.
They are just some of the over 100 recipes that catch the eye and tease taste buds in the new Davison Orchards Cookbook: Favourite Recipes from the Farm and Family.
Davison Orchards is the 120-acre farm, located aptly at 3111 Davison Rd. in Vernon, that has been tended by five generations of the Davison family.
What started as some apple trees and vegetable gardens has turned into a huge working farm of fruit trees and vegetable crops as well as a full-on tourist attraction and shopping destination with tractor-pulled farm tours, animals to meet, childrens' play area, produce market, gift shop, Farmhouse Cafe & Bakery with patio and ice cream shop.
The Davison Orchards Cookbook is the inaugural effort of three Davison women -- Tamara, part of the third generation that oversees all the retail and marketing of the family business; Rachel, part of the fourth generation who has cooking videos on YouTube and looks after the farm animals; and Laura Shaw, part of the fourth generation who is the food services team leader.
The result is the cookbook, a hard-cover, glossy and colour 290 pages of family history, traditions and wisdom with over 100 recipes, including old and new family staples, customer favourites from the Farmhouse Cafe & Bakery and even a few surprise hits from some family members who rarely cook.
"Our desire throughout the writing process was to stay true to our roots and to throw open our kitchens for you to step inside and cook alongside us," reads the introduction by the three authors.
"We would be honoured if this book becomes batter-splashed and dog-eared with use as our favourites become your favourites."
As much as possible. the cookbook is a celebration of local produce, after all, Davison Orchard produces astounding amounts for tree fruits and vegetables, thus recipes for apple and plum sauce, apricot jam, bacon and asparagus quiche, savoury tomato pie, autumn harvest soup, pumpkin cake, silky squash soup, chocolate cherry scones, apple cinnamon buns, creamy dill cucumber salad, spaghetti squash lasagna and raspberry pie.
The comfort food from these recipes are touted as perfect for family dinners, dinner parties, potlucks or picnics.
"When I'm planning a meal, I always start by choosing a protein, followed by a starch," said Rachel Davison.
"For example, if I'm making mini turkey cheddar meatloaves (recipe on page 143 of the book), I'll then decide whether we should have potatoes, rice or pasta alongside it."
The meal is then made complete with a salad or side from the chapter dedicated to recipes for the important third component, including roasted butternut squash salad, basil and feta tomatoes, creamy dill cucumber salad, showstopper salad (the showstopper is its topped with crumbled bacon) and stoplight salad (red from the tomatoes, yellow from the corn and green from the green pepper).
The Davison Orchard Cookbook: Favourite Recipes from the Farm and Family is published by TouchWood Editions and is available for $45 at the shops at Davison Orchards, most local bookstores, online at Amazon and Indigo, or from the publisher or the farm at these websites:
https://www.touchwoodeditions.com/book/the-davison-orchards-cookbook/ and https://www.davisonorchards.ca/.
