ST. LOUIS -- The newest cookbook from Eckert’s, the family-owned group of farms in Illinois and Kentucky, isn’t exactly a cookbook.

“The publisher calls it a bookazine, because it is a magazine-book hybrid,” says Angie Eckert.

It is the size and shape of a magazine. It is flexible, like a magazine. And most important, it is at least as focused on the photographs, which can run a full page, as it is on the recipes.

“Our Favorites: Spring & Summer Recipes” is something of a departure for Eckert’s, which is the giant of local U-pick farms. Their previous books, which date back at least to the early 1980s with “Mrs. Eckert’s Old Fashioned Recipes,” were more traditional in concept.

But the idea is the same. This is solid, Midwestern cooking. No frills. Nothing unnecessarily fancy.

It’s a lineup of summer picnic greatest hits, or maybe family reunions: Summer Orzo Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette. Corn O’Brien. Marinated Kabobs. Glazed Strawberry Pie. Blackberry Peach Crisp.

“The recipes are all ingredient forward. The whole point is to taste the freshness of the product, with light seasoning or sauces,” Eckert says.

“I think the best way to introduce that to the reader is through images. Food is so beautiful.”

Eckert is in charge of the farm’s retail operations. She first started working at Eckert’s when she was 14; it was one of her first jobs. Nearly 29 years ago, she married her high school sweetheart, Chris Eckert, who is now the company president. She put this cookbook together with Chris’ sisters, Sarah Lanxon and Jill Tantillo.

“We did a lot of recipe practicing and tweaking, and we also covered a lot of the family recipes,” she says.

The family aspect of the book is clear from the recipe names alone. Juanita’s Speedy Sponge Cake (the secret is beating the eggs for a full five or six minutes) is named for Juanita Eckert, Chris’ great-aunt.

Carole’s Peachy Muffins is named for Jim Eckert’s wife, Carole. Grandma Ruth’s Peach Cake is named for Ruth Eckert, who wrote the original “Mrs. Eckert” cookbooks and pamphlets. And Angie’s Corn Sauté is named for Angie Eckert.

The secret to the corn sauté is to press hard on the cob after you’ve removed the kernels, which extracts a corn-flavored, milk-colored liquid.

“I’ve always liked creamed corn, but this is like healthy creamed corn. It uses most of the corn cob to create the recipe,” she says. “It’s my favorite way to prepare sweet corn.”

For the first time, this Eckert’s cookbook includes a handful of recipes for cocktails, all made with fresh fruit, of course. A blackberry mojito is included, for instance, and a peach smash cocktail and a basil blackberry hard cider cocktail, which explains the reason for the recipes.

In 2022, the Belleville farm added a cider shed to its campus — in part as a way to be more efficient. You can’t sell apples that have fallen, but you can make hard cider out of them, Eckert says. Before the shed was added, all they could do with fallen apples was compost them back into the ground.

Putting the book together was a challenge, because Eckert was busy with the cider shed and Mr. E’s Cider & Donut Shop, which opened at the same time. She and her sisters-in-law went through old books, highlighted their favorites and determined which recipes they make most often.

Sabine Vaughn, who works on the farm’s culinary staff, cooked the actual dishes for Joy McCullough's photographs. The dishes were prepared in six sessions in Angie Eckert’s house, which is on the farm. The dishes and silverware used in the photos are hers, too.

“Luckily, Grandma Ruth went to a lot of estate sales and collected kitchen silver and dishes,” she says.

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