Customer Reviews

Healing Tonics: 101 Concoctions to Increase Energy, Boost Immunity, Enhance Memory, Ease Digestion, and Support Daily Health and Wellness

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here is a wonderful book of recipes that are not only delicious but provide a natural boost to your immune system and overall good health. The book highlights such fantastic herbalists as Rosemary Gladstar, Christopher Hobbs and Amanda McQuade-Crawford to name but a few. Each herbalist is asked to describe his or her favorite recipes for healing and supporting a healthy body. With names like Amanda's Herbal Iron Elixir and Balsamic Blast, there is a multitude of choices available for every taste and need. Not only do the recipes cover the healing aspect of herbs in foods, they also include recipes for healing herbs in teas and tinctures. A precise and easy to follow chapter on how to make tincture, teas and cordials makes this a book that can be used by the beginner as well as someone familiar with using medicinal herbs. Another chapter is devoted solely to the herbs in the book, including their common and botanical Latin names, the parts used, the general taste and the herb's affinity for particular body systems. This chapter is especially important for you to familiarize yourself with an herb's properties before using. Finally, there is a wonderful resource section that includes contact information for herbs and natural products, bulk herbs, educational resources and much more. This is a good indication of a book's serious intent and solid background of subject material. There are three chicken soup recipes that include organic, free range chickens and one that includes oysters and two more that include butter and honey. Other than that, all of the recipes are vegan and there are 101 recipes in the book to choose from!

I am really rather pleased with what was an impulse buy. It's a small book but has a number of fascinating tonic mixtures in tea, tincture and cordial form (with even one mix for topical application). The tonics are for all sorts of requirements: men's problems, womens' life phases, digestive problems, stress relief, vitality boosters, circulatory tonics, etc. The receipes from experienced herbalists appear to be extremely good and I am looking forward to some experimentation using them. The only reason I haven't given it a full 5 stars was that I think the small materia medica at the rear could have been even better if contraindications were more fully covered but it does show those that are inappropriate for pregnant people and give a few contraindications to consider. A interesting book for those interested in herbalism.

It was so nice to have so many tonics to choose from. The best of the best herbalist sharing their favorites! Easy to read, and scan, just what concoction you want to try. Yummy!

"Healing Tonics: 101 Concoctions..." I've had this book for a good while (has a 2000 date), happened across it the other day and fell in love with Jeanine Pollak's descriptions of making herbals teas, infusions, decoctions, tinctures, cordials and elixirs.

She defines and describes essential kitchen utensils and supplies in the first few pages. What hooked me was the strong suggestion of using a glass teapot so the herbalist can see the colors and textures of the flowers and herbs in the pot as they are infusing or brewing.

Ms Pollak began her herbalist career at age 18 when she took a tour through an herb garden during a retreat in northern California. She promptly returned to her college apartment and began in earnest.

When I first flipped through the book and saw the types of ingredients, I was dismayed. Where does one obtain hawthorn berries, wild oats, lenden blossoms, gotu kola leaves, arame seaweed, nettle leaves, burdock root--OK, you get the picture. Easy (sort of..): Just turn to the back for resources information. I'm sure a plethora of websites also exist.

Here are some provocative titles and descriptions:
1. Garden of Eden Elixir made of figs, rose petals, star anise pods, cinnamon stick, vanilla bean. Savor this drink during a full moon, serve in a decorative glass (this is where those old antique stores come in), and in the presence of good company.
2. Instant Kiss Euphoria Honey--honey, oil of rose geranium, oil of lemon verbena. Enjoy on warm, buttered sourdough bread or scones. Use in mint tea. "It's been known to cause kissing."

That old groundhog saw his shadow, but spring will come eventually. Great, I can get ready for planting some herbs. Healing tonics won't be far behind.

It was so nice to have so many tonics to choose from. The best of the best herbalist sharing their favorites! Easy to read, and scan, just what concoction you want to try. Yummy!

I would have given this book 3 stars for the tips the author gives, but everything else is just 2 stars or less. A book titled "Healing Tonics" gives you the impression that it's all about healing drinks containing herbs, fresh fruit & vegetables. Unfortunately some recipes contain meat (chicken, oysters) and some other products that I don't believe contribute to a healthful life in any way (butter, etc). Although those items were not in the author's recipes, they were in recipes from her contributors (other herbalists). If I had looked through the book in a bookstore first, I wouldn't have purchased it.

I have had my eye on this book for a while but thought it looked a little fluffy from the cover. To my surprise, it contains wonderful detailed information on various herbs, teas, tinctures, and a wealth of other tips that I was not expecting. I am thrilled with the book and intend to purchase her other two as well. The book is well-formatted, easy to read, and I was able to quickly locate the exact remedy I was looking for. I appreciate that she includes other well known herbalists; it adds significant credibility to the information.

As for the reviewer who was concerned about the recipes which include animal products, it is worth noting that fresh, raw, organic ingredients (such as real butter) do contain essential nutrients which are not found anywhere else in nature. For more information, I recommend the books Nourishing Traditions and Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon.

I will be purchasing more of these sweet little books and giving them away as presents!