Any dessert that involves fruit is a good dessert, but a cobbler is something special. Cobblers are the epitome of simple, homey fruit desserts, the type of recipe that even the least competent baker can put together because there is no crust to roll out and no special preparation of the fruit needed in the vast majority of cobbler recipes. Cobblers is a brand new book that starts with the easy, well-known classic cobblers and evolves them into the sort of desserts you'd expect to find at a four star restaurant, everything from Apple to Apricot and Lavender cobblers are covered, all with the same basic method. The book also offers some unique variations on what seems like a standard dish, with a dark chocolate cobbler, and even some savory cobbler recipes that a laden with veggies.

Rhubarb is a stalk vegetable that is usually eaten as a fruit. In appearance, rhubarb very closely resembles celery and ranges in color from a light pinkish green to a deep, brilliant fuchsia. The plant is actually a member of the buckwheat family and only the stalks are edible, since the leaves contain a fairly high amount of oxalic acid, a compound which can be lethal (though you would have to eat quite a bit to reach that dose). In small amounts, oxalic acid inhibits calcium absorption and can detract from the nutritional value of foods.

The vegetables are native to Asia, but gained popularity, especially in England, during the 17th century and have been cultivated ever since. Nutritionally, rhubarb is very low in calories and is a reasonably good source of fiber and vitamins C and K. It has a high calcium content, but very little of it, if any, can be used by the body as the oxalic acid will counteract efforts to absorb it.

Going back generations, people in areas where dewberries grow, especially in Texas, have headed out to harvest them annually, just as their parents and grandparents did. They don’t do this to make a profit from selling the berries, though. They do it because nothing beats the smell of a fresh dewberry cobbler coming out of the oven. There is even a dewberry festival, which took place this past weekend in Cameron, Texas. If you can’t pick your own, the farmer’s market is a better place to look for them than the supermarket, but once you get some, try making a cobbler, or just serve with fresh, whipped cream.