Healing Herbs and Spices: The Most Popular Herbs And Spices, Their Culinary and Medicinal Uses and Recipes to Use Them In (Healing Foods)

Bought this to help me figure out what spices and herbs I can add to reciepies to make them taste better. Convenient and easy to use

I tend to use the same herbs and spices over and over in my cooking. And I'm also looking for ways to cook in a more healthy manner. So I wanted to get a book that would help me learn more about herbs and spices, their health benefits and how to use them to improve my cooking.I bought Healing Herbs & Spices and got so much more than I bargained for. This is a great book! For every herb or spice the author gives you the history, where it's grown, the parts of the plant that you use, other names for the herb or spice, health benefits, how it's used in cooking and then some great recipes! The health benefits are really interesting.Cinnamon is good for arthritis, celery seed is good for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, fenugreek can help women deal with menopause and can increase male potency. Fenugreek can also help Type II diabetics lower their blood sugar. Did you know onions are an herb? I certainly didn't. I thought it was a regular veggie.Recipes are listed for each herb and spice. The benefit is that if you find a herb or spice that you like or want to try, the recipes are right there for you. Vanilla Bean cookies, Roasted Garlic Soup, Basil Chicken. Cinnamon Maple Squash, Pizzelle Cookies (which I haven't had since I was little), Sour Cream and Chive Garlic Mashed Potatoes are just a few of the recipes I plan to try.Finally Lee Anne Dobbins sounds like she has a passion for gardening and cooking. She writes in a very conversational manner which I like. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone interested in the health benefits of herbs & spices and how to best cook with the herbs and spices you like.

I really liked this book. The author did a good job not only giving the reader information on the various health benefits of using the listed herbs and spices, but also made sure to include some easy to follow recipes including the chosen spice. I thought this book had a fun, conversational tone and was not boring to read. The passages were not so long that I lost interest but did contain a lot of information. I found it original that the author listed the part of the plant or berry that should be used as well as how to prepare it for the maximum benefit.Aside from all of that, I got a free, much needed laugh from one of the passages in this book. When writing of allspice, the author mistakenly put in that it "Aids in digestion as well as RELIVE gas and bloating." Yep, not relieve but relive. So apparently it will help you do it all over again. Normally this kind of mistake would have lowered my star rating, but in this case, it was just too cute of a slip and it added to my overall enjoyment of this product. Seriously, this is a great book and I came away feeling more knowledgeable. Recommended.

I obtained the Kindle version of this book when it was offered for free. After taking one or two afternoons to read it, I realized that this was a book I wanted a printed copy of, and thus ordered the paperback addition for myself also.Initially I did not care for the layout of the e-book, but came to appreciate its manner of presentation. The herbs are laid out in alphabetical order. The plant name, where it is commonly grown in the world, the part of the plant used, how it has been used in history, a potential health use, how it can be used in cooking, and finally a recipe or two using this particular spice.While the Kindle addition has pictures, the book does not and could have been enhanced by a picture(s) of the plant, but that did not distract from the presentation of the material.Learning how each spice might assist in my health took this book from a read it once, and never come back to it, to a I want to read and learn more of the herbs and spices we take for granted and overlook every day.I personally enjoyed this e-book (enough to actually buy the paperback), and it is now a part of my ever expanding cookbook library.

I learned a bit when I read this book. I learned that caraway seeds aren't really seed; that bay leaves are a good source of zing. That's not a typo, not mine anyway. Can't imagine why she wasted her time with curly parsley when flat parsley has all the flavor in it.I'm ashamed to admit my garden has only two herbs: chives and lemon balm. You should never allow chives to go to seed because it will turn them bitter. Lemon balm can help repel mosquitos. You might think you can plant little patches of it in select spots around your patio or pool, but don't you dare. Lemon balm can be invasive, so put it in pots. Now I've told you a little more than the author did, but since I only have two herbs, of course I can learn more about them.But I do wish she had told us if some of this. plants were perennial, or if they were annuals, what zones they would grow in. She did tell us if the herbs and spices were tropical.In the one home economy class I took, the instructor told us to keep rarely used spices in the freezer. Some of the spices in my freezer are more than ten years old. I'll bet they're past their prime.Even with my nitpicking, I loved reading this book. My husband takes cinnamon capsules for his joints. Some of the recipes looked intriguing. It wouldn't take much of a rewrite to make this a 5 star book.

I love the details about the spices before it goes into the recipes. Some of which are healthy, all sound delicious.

I'm trying to learn more ways to improve my health and eating habits. I like having choices for seasoning that benefit me and my family.

I really liked the way this book explains each herb and how to use it. Very well written and informative.

Great book , informative , some nice resapies to .....

not easy reading

Very intersting

Excellent Book .... Would have liked optimum daily amounts to be shown, for inclusion into a healthy diet ....

added to my library of reference and will refer to it as an d when