...Wilma Paterson has selected fifty common wild plants and trees, traces man's assosiation with them over the centuries, and gives recipes for delicious drinks which can be made from them. Some of the recipes are old, others are modrn; all are in regular use by the author herself. She describes how to select and gather the plants, how to dry them, and gives general hints on wine and beer-making and storage.
Wilma Paterson was born in Dundee. She studied piano at th Royal Scottish Academy of Music, and composition with the distinguished Italian composer Dallapiccola in Florence. She has composed mainly chamber music, but recent commissions include works for orchestra for the Cheltenham Festival and for the BBC.
Wilma's special enthusiasm for wild plants and herbs and the drinks that can be made from them stems from the time when she lived in Italy in a small village in the marble mountains, and she now pursues this interest during her visits to the island of Skye where she has a remote croft with an old-fashioned herb garden. The rest of her time is spent in Glasgow in a large Victorian house with bees in the front garden. Apart from brewing and bottling, Wilma loves cooking all types of food. She is married to composer and poet John Purser and they have two children. (Kansilehti)