Harrowsmith Country Life (Oct-Nov, 2008)

If you go into the woods tonight... Take a stroll through the Cowichan Valley with Bill Jones and he might just show you his secret stash of delicious wild mushrooms

by Tom Cruickshank

"It's amazing what you can find to eat on the forest floor, especially in the lush woods that cover much of balmy Vancouver Island. On a stroll along the Trans-Canada Trail, which follows an ols rilway bed just behind his house in the Cowichan Valley, chef Bill Jones can point to any number of esrtwhile unremarkable plants that are actually quite edible and some that have medicinal properties. In the spring, there are salmonberry shoots (which turn to berries in early summer), not to mention the sweet syrup that can be made from the sap of the Big Leaf Maple tree. Later in the year, there are Nootka rose hips, which can be worked into cakes and sauces, the clustered fruit of the Oregon Grape shrub, not to mention the salal plant, whose fruit has been likened to huckleberries and whose stems are a mainstay in the floral industry because their leaves remain fresh, supple and green long after they are cut.

But of all the edibles that can be foraged from the forest, nothing generates as much excitement as the annual crop of mushrooms."

Salmon Book Hits the Shelves - Whitecap Books and Bill Jones are pleased to the announce the publication of Salmon: The Cookbook.

Edited by Bill, the book is a compilation of more than 120 recipes from some of Canada's best chefs and authors.

The list of contributors includes: Bill Jones (ten recipes, six created just for the book)

Karen Barnaby

Jamie Kennedy

Anna Olsen

Erik Akis and many others

Recipes include methods for smoking and curing salmon, barbecuing, baking, poaching, steaming and just about anything you can possible think of doing with a salmon. They include outstanding recipes such as Salmon Pastrami, Smoked Sockeye Salmon Cheesecake, Salmon Baked in Red Wine with Mushrooms and Bacon, First Nations-style Salmon with Honey & Seaweed Crust, Cedar Planked Salmon with Honey and Mustard and Pan-steamed Salmon with Curried Spinach & Chickpeas. The informative introduction details the history, lore and appeal of wild salmon and showcases the fish as the perfect Canadian food - versatile, healthy, delicious and adaptable to a world of cooking techniques and flavours.

The book is widely available in better book stores starting this week. Salmon: The Cookbook, edited by Bill Jones photography by Andrei Fedorov foodstyling by Bill Jones ISBN 1-55285-645-3 First Nations-style Salmon with honey & seaweed crust - Bill Jones Cedar Planked Salmon with Honey and Mustard - dee Hobsbawn-Smith Media Contact: Alicia Schlag Publicist Whitecap Books 351 Lynn Avenue North Vancouver, BC V7J 2C4 tel. (604) 980-9852 ext. 234 fax (604) 980-8197 www.whitecap.ca