Customer Reviews

The Spice and Herb Bible

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One of the great mysteries in life is how some people seem to have the natural ability to combine food ingredients to make the most delicious meals you've ever tasted. It's the same food that everyone else prepares, so what's the difference? Could it be those who excel at cooking and preparing meals have mastered the art of flavor by educating themselves better about what spices and herbs can do to the foods they make?

In my opinion, that's EXACTLY what they have done and now you can learn the art of doing this too with "The Spice and Herb Bible."

Written by Ian "Herbie" Hemphill, an Australian man with over four decades of working in the spice and herb business, this hefty and colorful 608-page book is the most comprehensive book of information you will find on bookstore shelves today about virtually any spice and herb in the entire world. Who better to tell you about these ingredients to spice up your low-carb like than Herbie?! The man is a living legend in the industry and stands ready to share his wealth of wisdom with others.

Herbie has traveled all over the world to identify and introduce the most unique and exotic herbs and spices you'll ever put inside your mouth. He knows his stuff too serving his customers at his wildly popular Herbie's Spices store in Sydney, Australia.

"The Spice and Herb Bible" includes three different sections that you can jump back and forth from to locate the information you need:

First, you will be educated about "The World of Spices" with a historical and educational journey to an entirely different culture of this incredible industry. You'll learn about the difference between spices and herbs, how they are made, and where they are turned into the secret ingredients of some of your favorite foods.

Second, the education continues in the "Spice Notes" section with an alphabetical listing of over 100 spices. You'll be provided with invaluable information about each, including the origin, other common names for the spice, the official botanical name, which family of spice it comes from, and what the spice is called in other languages (this was pretty neat!). Page after page of information with gorgeous full-color photos of the spices and herbs themselves will keep you captivated for hours and hours.

Third, if you feel the gumption to mix and match spices yourself, then Herbie shows you how in "The Art of Combining Spices" section. Because Herbie knows you'll get the itch to start cooking and experimenting with this newfound knowledge, he provides nearly 60 pages of delicious recipes using both common and rare spices and herbs for your enjoyment courtesy of his daughter Kate who created them. They are magnificent!

I had the privilege of trying a few of Herbie's spices for myself and was quite impressed. The Lemon Myrtle Leaf Ground complemented chicken very well for a pleasantly tangy flavor while the Australian Forest Berry Herb provided a hint of sweetness to what would otherwise be a rather drab meal. Both the Exotic Moroccan Blend of Ras El Hanout and the Chermoula Moroccan Rub were perfect ingredients for adding some zip to just about any Mexican dish you are serving.

Get yourself a copy of "The Spice and Herb Bible" and never settle for dull and drab meals ever again. Spice up your life with some flavorful herbs!

What a marvelous book Ian Hemphill has created. If you have any interest in spices - which is to say, if you have any interest in cooking, this is a must. There are some recipes by his wife, Kate Hemphill, but this is primarily a practical reference from a second-generation spice merchant and obvious expert. The volume starts with interesting history that applies a pragmatic eye. For example, he dismisses the notion that people used spices in the dark ages to mask tainted foods because anyone who could have afforded the then-astronomical prices of the spices would likely have had money for something fresh. Instead, he attributes the growth of spices to improve bland food and, interestingly, to help moderate the strong gamy taste of many meats and poultry at the time, which might explain the concept of covering over a taste or aroma.

Of course there are sections on growing and using spices, and I found interesting the section on the spices and herbs that specific cuisines use. An approach I hadn't seen before is using relational weights - for example, in Indonesian cooking if you used cloves, turmeric, and coriander seed, they would likely be in a ration of 1 to 5 to 8. My first impression was that there were supposed to be proportions of spice blends, but that didn't make sense when you had, say, 15 different ingredients and you know that the cuisine in question doesn't use all of them every time. And there are recipes for specific spice blends at the end of the book. No, this chapter was to give you a feel for how the given cuisine uses and combines spices - very good to know.

What really grabbed me, though, were the entries for individual spices and herbs. Each includes the following: origin and history, processing, buying and storage, use, other names for the item, names in other languages, suggested quantities for a given type of dish, and what other spices and herbs that work well with it.

You do need to keep in mind that the book is from Australia, because some terminology might throw you. For example, there was a recipe for a savory biscuit. I was thinking the flaky type you bake, and then I suddenly remembered that in Australia and the UK, biscuit can mean a cookie or cracker. You will also find a few spices that aren't readily found in this part of the world. That said, at $24.95, this is a bargain.

An incredible resource including great photos, descriptions, orgin, history, processing, buying, storage, use and recipes...a cooks companion in the kitchen which I can not live without. Thank you

I love this book! It is a great reference for herbs and spices and would be a valuable addition to any foodie, culinary enthusiast, herbalist, or kitchen alchemist's collection. The recipes provided for each spice are lovely and the book's organization is easy to use and logically presented. You can't go wrong with this amazing book.

Amazing how the "spice" has dominated the world while we take it for granted keeping spices in our cabinets that do not even have a zip code on them. The book covers not only the history of "spice" but how it ruled the world, where it comes from, how to use it and a few simple recipes to try as well. Such a wonderful book I even purchased it for a friend. If you like to "invent" meals, this is the book for you.

GReat, book very helpful, just what I had been searching for. I even sent one as a gift.

A comprehensive guide about all natural ingredients that add flavor to food - it helps adventurous chefs sort out their seasonings. Simply put, the Hemphills know their herbs and spices and this book provides a wonderful resource for both the novice and the experienced cook. Along with full-color photographs, you'll find historical information as well as tips on buying, storage and usage.

This book has a lot of spices in it, and some useful features. I love the the alternate names for spices in different languages. That's nice. But I rarely use it, otherwise. Much of the info seems pretty haphazardly assembled and largely untested, to be honest. Not bad, just not as handy and fascinating as i'd imagined it would be.

I searched for just the right book for my son-in-law for his new cooking interest. Even though the book was printed awhile ago it has great ideas. Spices and Herbs never go out of style and he was thrilled that the book gave good history and description of the spices.

If you are one of those who loves cooking or you cook with passion, this book is a must in your kitchen. Filled with beautiful colour illustrations, this book gives a comprehensive guide to using herbs and spices to spice up your cooking. The extensive research and a variety of different names in different languages (I was very impressed to find the local name of ginger in Malay language, a language not widely spoken) just show how dedicated and passionate the author(s) is about what is written in this book. For the reader, you know you are getting quality facts that will help to enhance your cooking and satistfy your taste buds.