Customer Reviews

Tropical Herbs & Spices (Periplus Tropical Nature Guide)

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This book provides a pictoral introduction to tropical herbs and spices. It provides the name in the various cusines in which it is feature e.g. name is Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Tagalog etc. It provides some information regarding it's cultivation, preparation and use.

A representative list of the items covered is: annatto, asam gelugor, basil, bilimbi, Indian borage, candlenut, cardamon, cassia, Chinese celery, chili, Chinese key, Chinese chives, cloves, sawtooth coriander, coriander, cumin, curry leaf, fennel, fenugreek ....

The book only contains 4 recipes - a chutney, curry powder, a sambal, and a tandoori spice mix. You need to go to regional cookbooks to find recipies to use the herbs and spices shown here.

Nonetheless, it is interesting to see the herbs and spices whole. Perhaps, not essential to the kitchen but it does add fun.

This book describes 45 tropical herbs and spices. It gives the botanical name of each herb or spice and, usually, four local names.

Typically, there's a page for each herb or spice, featuring a thumbnail close-up and a still life, both in rich, glossy color. And there are three or four paragraphs describing each entry. The result is very engaging.