The Spice and Herb Bible

I bought this book a couple of weeks ago. I've been interested in using herbs and spices for years without really having any background knowledge as to their usage, I always took a fairly intuitive approach which was either a hit or miss. However, I got to a stage where I wanted a better grounding to help me to explore the various flavours that one could add to the dish. This book as been wonderful to help me educate myself and to understand better where flavours come from and how an adjustment to the spices used one can travel across whole continents. Spices are somewhat exotic and there are paragraphs that tell little stories of their origins and their journey's across the globe. This book really is a 'bible' for anyone who wants a description of each herb or spice, their usage, a recipe perhaps and a little bit of background knowledge. It covers everything and its such a joy to read.

I am starting use my own herb and spice mixes in cooking, but know nothing of which goes with what. This book is like a bible, give the following details: - where they come from - what they go with - how they can be used in cooking - what they're called in other parts of the world - and recipes that use them - well place colourful images that aid recognition The contents page makes it very easy to find particular herbs or spices. They also tell you what spice mixes contain so you can make them yourself, and how they're used. For the price you pay you get a sizeable book (it is quite heavy) that both you or someone you know who enjoys cooking will love.

Excellent quality & content.

Really lovely book just what I wanted

This was one of the first cool books I brought. I wanted to make my own spice mixes for briskets, tacos etc. This was brilliant it has lots of recipes to make blends for some really tasty food. It is a good building block book. It also has lots of information around most spices and really helps you learn more about spices and herbs. A must buy.

I've bought this for my brother who has just moved into a flat with his girlfriend and taken over the kitchen with his spice collection! He loves cooking and herbs, so this was perfect for him:D I am very happy with the book, it is huge and beautifully laid out. There are 2 or 3 recipes for each spice and a lovely clear summary of each one. Perfect! And worth the £15 (I had been doubtful).

This book is huge, look at the pictures. It is a comprehensive guide to herbs and spices. It tells you about each spice and herb, the common name, botanical name, the different varieties, how to use it, what it compliments, recipes they are used in and finally it tells you how to mix different herbs and spices and the amount of t/spoons or cups to put in and how much it makes I thought I was buying a small 100 page book of the most common recipes to mix the most common spices and herb mixes, no no no, this thing is an encyclopaedia!!!! Eve Royo I need to know and more, you can’t go wrong with this book.

If you enjoy cooking and are curious about spices this is the book for you! From the history to where they come from, the different names, and some fantastic recepies. This is a book to have in our kitchen collection, very readable and so so informative.

Like the recipe suggestions

This books is amazing. It is colourful, well organized and easy to navigate quickly or simply enjoyable to flip through. The pictures are gorgeous too. The herb profiles are detailed with great pictures and anecdotes from the authors as well as the history of the plant. You get tips on how to process your own herb, how to determine freshness of commercial herbs, traditional uses and spice mixes it is used in and other flavours it compliments, recipes that use the herb (and look delicious!), as well as the best dishes to try the flavour on. And then they have an entire section devoted to developing your own herb and spice mixes with a huge selection of spice/herb mix recipes to get you going (they have over 10 curry recipes!!). They have even colour coded their recipe titles so green tiles indicate spice mixes and orange titles are full recipes usually using a spice/herb mix. An overall great purchase for new or experienced cooks. I'm much pleased with the book and am already adjusting how I process certain herbs based on its suggestions.

Malgrado l'ingombro (quasi ottocento pagine) questo catalogo si fa apprezzare soprattutto per l'impostazione grafica razionale e accattivante e per la leggibilità, cosa che lo rende pratico sia per una rapida consultazione in cucina, sia per approfondimenti e ricerca di curiosità e aneddoti (l'autore, australiano, viene da una famiglia pioniera nel commercio delle spezie). Ogni scheda riporta nome botanico, varietà, nomi comuni in altre lingue (europee, asiatiche, arabo, ecc.), usi tradizionali, una tavola di accoppiamenti con altre spezie, una storia del commercio, morfologia coltivazione e sviluppo, trasformazione e processi, dove acquistarla e come conservarla al meglio, pesi e misure, e (quasi sempre) alcune ricette. Tra più esaustivi in commercio, si trova oggi alla sua terza edizione (rimpolpata).

I'm glad that I bought two copies, 'though am now in a quandary about the gift recipient for the second copy. I plan to buy at least two more because this will make a great gift. It's a useful reference for cooks and bakers, especially for us enthusiastic amateur chefs. The authors make good use of colored photographs and add recipes that I'm eager to try. They take care to explain why a small addition to spice mixtures can make or break the balance of flavors. I have wanted something like this for many years and am so delighted to have scoured Amazon's cookbook section long enough to find this treasure.

Great book. Great experience.