How big is a medium shark liver; where to find Surinam Cherries in the United States; and the difference between a Bermudian and American pawpaw, are just some of the conundrums tackled in a new Bermuda cookbook that highlights the uniqueness of Bermuda cuisine and culture.

The cookbook, ?Bermuda Thyme? is published by the Bermuda Junior Service League (BJSL), a women?s volunteer organisation dedicated to improving the local community.

?Island Thyme? has 256 pages with more than 200 easy to follow recipes and colour photos of Bermuda cooking, traditions and celebrations.

Its predecessor, ?Bermuda Cookery? sold a quarter of a million copies over a period of three decades. BJSL used the funds from the first book to run the in St. George?s for twenty years, and build a playground and a rape crisis centre, among other projects.

BJSL marketing and public relations chairperson Deborah Narraway said that although ?Island Thyme? is bigger, more elegant, and more expensive, it is not meant to replace ?Bermuda Cookery? which will continue to be sold.

?They appeal to two different markets,? said Mrs. Narraway. ?The original cookbook sells for between $6 and $8. The new cookbook is $37.95. There is only one recipe that was a repeat. That was for Surinam cherries that grow in Bermuda.?

?Island Thyme? features recipes, beautiful photographs, a section on Bermuda holiday traditions, and a section from local restaurants.

?There are ten local restaurants that paid to be in the book,? said Mrs. Narraway. ?The largest chapter is all recipes from members of the BJSL.?

Mrs. Narraway said she was a new member of the BJSL when the new cookbook project began.

?They were looking at redoing the cookbook for almost eight years,? she said. ?It just took the right group of women to get together and have the time commitment. We have been doing this for two years now. There was a lot of hard work involved. Every picture was shot on location in full day photo shoots.

?None of us had any clue how to set up food for photography. It was a big learning experience. The photographers were very patient.?

Photographers included Antoine Hunt and Ann Spurling. The BJSL also used stock photography from local photographers Bruno Zupp, Amanda Temple and Roland Skinner.

Most of the people who contributed recipes were only amateur chefs, therefore the recipes are meant to be fairly simple with six ingredients and three steps in the method.

Mrs. Narraway contributed at least two of the recipes including one for chocolate truffles and another for pawpaw fritters.

?Between myself and my husband I would say I cook a lot at home,? said Mrs. Narraway. ?I am more of a baker. The nice thing is, these are simple recipes and tried and tested.?

After members submitted recipes, a committee went through them to check for duplications. Mrs. Narraway said there were surprisingly few repeat entries. Then the recipes were tested extensively.

?We tried a lot of food,? Mrs. Narraway said. ?There was one salmon mousse that didn?t work out. In many cases the recipes were someone?s favourite, but then to have someone else make it is another thing. A lot of the recipes needed adjusting.

?They had to be written in a way that someone else could follow. All of the recipes were hand-me-downs. There is a disclaimer in the front of the book that some of the recipes may not be original.

?It was specified that they couldn?t come off the Internet or straight out of another cookbook. Most of them are a variation of something that somebody else has given them. We tried to include recipes using all local ingredients.?

The recipes range from everyday cooking to traditional Bermudian food including cassava pie, Johnny bread, pawpaw fritters and shark hash.

The recipe for shark hash brought the most questions from members doing the testing,? said Mrs. Narraway. ?This is known to be a local dish, but not many people make it themselves.

?When a recipe calls for a medium shark liver, what does that mean? When you are putting together a cookbook you have to consider that tourists will be buying it. When they go back to the United States where do they find these ingredients? We had to speak to a lot of local fishermen and ask how big was a medium shark. That probably took the most work to understand the recipe.?

Mrs. Narraway said you can get shark liver from any fishmonger or butcher, even in the United States, but if a recipe called for localised ingredients, a substitute was offered.

For example, it would be very difficult for someone to buy Surinam cherries from any grocery store even in Bermuda.

There were other cultural issues to be worked out and explained to the reader unfamiliar with Bermudian culture.

?In the tabs of the book, down the sides of the pages we explain what a Bermuda pawpaw is,? she said. ?That is the same as an American papaya.

?If you ask for a pawpaw in the United States you get this big brown banana shaped fruit. In the United States it is actually two different fruits.

?In the sidebar we also explain things like Surinam cherries, loquats and baygrapes.?

?Island Thyme? is on the shelves, ready for Christmas. Already, the book promises to do just as well as its big sister, ?Bermuda Cookery?. So far, at least 3,000 copies of ?Island Thyme? have sold earning $100,000 in sales. ?Part of the proceeds will go back to reprint the second edition,? Mrs. Narraway said. ?The rest of it will go straight to charity.?

The charity makes donations to other charities on an annual basis. BJSL members decide in April which charities they will help.

?In the past couple of years we have done more of giving money to individuals or other charities,? she said. ?We get requests from the hearing impaired.

?For some people, their hearing aids are about 15 years old and technology has changed. We give money to children who need glasses and can?t afford them.?

In addition to the cookbooks, the BJSL also raises money through the sale of playing cards and Christmas cards.

?Island Thyme? was printed in the United States by a special cookbook publisher. ?The main advantage was their expertise with cookbooks and with recipes,? she said. ?They took all of our recipes, looked at them, formatted them all the same.

?They found holes in them that we never would have found here. Some things are difficult to pick up unless you have been reading recipes for your entire life.

?It actually meets American criteria for publishing. That way we can compete with not only all of the other Junior Service League?s but also cookbooks out there.?

The new cookbook is available in the United States through a special American distribution arm, and there is an 1-800 number to call so that it can be shipped directly to customers in the United States, more cheaply.

The Department of Tourism have also purchased some of the books as giveaways to help promote the Island.

Mrs. Narraway, a marketing consultant by profession, brought her special expertise to bear on the making of the book.

?I think everybody on the committee had different areas of expertise,? she said. ?There were some people who were better cooks than others. I have certainly helped out on the marketing end of it.

?I was the one who flew to Nashville, Tennessee to deliver the materials and take the publisher through our book. Then myself and Don Dunstan flew up in August to see the final proofing.

?Everybody kicked in. We have a stay-at-home mom who is doing all of our accounting. That used to be her field of work. That was where she could put in her hours.?

Mrs. Narraway said she felt an immediate connection to the women of the BJSL when she joined two years ago. ?I have always been looking at joining a charity, or finding a way to give back,? she said.

?The League being a group of women, I felt an immediate connection to. ?My mother, Susan Titterton, was a past president. One of the nicer things about the League, out of all the projects they do, there is something that you can fit into.

?You don?t have to be putting in more hours than you really want to commit to. You can be as involved, or sit by the way side and stick labels on our mailings from home and get your hours that way. There is something in it for everybody.?

Any women interested in joining the BJSL should call club president Louise Gibbons at 292-4060.

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