Six Thoughtful New Cookbooks

Elevate your home chef skills with these diverse guides

More than how-to guides, cookbooks tell stories—whether it’s once-lost traditions or modern-day innovations. In these recently published cookbooks, readers can learn secret family recipes, inventive plant-based dishes, clever fermented fare and much more. And, beyond the delicious dishes, each of these creative books tell a unique tale—from a love letter to Detroit, to a thoughtful approach to dining solo—that will simultaneously elevate your kitchen skills. A …

Nomadic Distillery Amass Launches its First Gin

An exploration of LA’s spirit scene has led to a delicious tipple

Unlike most spirit brands, Amass is taking a nomadic approach: opting to travel from city to city, working with preferred distillers on small-batches of premium spirits. The brand’s first release, a gin from Los Angeles, was crafted by Morgan McLachlan, co-founder of The Spirit Guild. McLachlan had a hand in every step of the gin’s production—from choosing its 29 botanicals (which include two different types of mushroom, …

Extra-Healthy, Gene-Edited Spicy Tomatoes Are Coming

Scientists in Brazil are working to reconnect tomatoes with their chili pepper relatives (they separated some 19 million years ago, but maintain much of the same DNA) in order to create a super-healthy, spicy fruit. Rather than a food fad, this research and experimentation is occurring in order to have people eat more capsaicinoids, “the molecules that give red peppers their spicy pizzazz, for their health benefits.” …