Spice Apothecary: Blending and Using Common Spices for Everyday Health

What a delightful book! This book makes staying healthy with “kitchen medicine” in the form of spices accessible for everyone. Although many spices are mentioned in the book, Bevin Clare focuses primarily on nineteen herbs that are easily acquired for the North American reader’s kitchen. This is a great addition to my library on using food and spices in my everyday diet to support my health.Chapter 1 provides an on review of spices: where various spices come from globally, what part of the plant a spice comes from, and what plant families common spices belong to. Chapter 2 gives an overview of how spices work medicinally in the body, types of research, and safety issues. Chapter 3 guides the reader in creating a “spice apothecary” with everything from how to buy and store spices to daily use and amounts of spices to use, followed by an overview of each of the nineteen spices that are the focus of this book, including which spice blends and other recipes in the book where the spice is used. Chapter 4 covers how to use spices to support the health of the body—immunity, digestion, heart health, and more. Here she mentions various scientific studies that show how spices positively affect health. Chapter 5 is where you find the spice blends and other recipes she has created. My mouth was watering just to read through these. I can’t wait to try the Spicy Wonder Gingerbread, the Geeen Goodness Dressing, and the Heart Healthy Hummus, and I know the Hot Ginger Lemonade is going to be a cold weather staple in my house. In addition to these chapters, the author shows her interest in global travel and various cultures by including short articles on spices of India, Greece, Nigeria, and Zanzibar, along with recipes from guest spice specialists for several of these countries.Finally, the overall organization, the informative tables throughout the book, and the beautiful photography all contribute to make this a delightful book to enjoy.

What a delightful little surprise. I have an extensive library of herbal and medicinal books that I use for reference and teaching material. this is one that I will definitely recommend to my clients and students. Medicine should start in the kitchen and this is a great aid in that direction.

Great addition to my spice themed kitchen!

Very helpful

As a professional herbalist, I have ... well, let's just say I have a possibly excessive quantity of herbal books on my shelves. After receiving an advance copy of this one, it immediately went onto my short list of texts to recommend to clients and students.While teas, tinctures and capsules can be useful ways to ingest herbs, many people would prefer to get their herbs via the diet. However, it can be hard to know exactly how much you should be adding to get a medicinal effect, and many recipes don't call for quantities that we'd reasonably expect to make a difference. One of the most useful features of this book is the chart on p. 80-81, which lists the quantities of 19 common herbs and spices you'd need to use daily to get a therapeutic dose. For example, did you know that there are 1.7 grams of turmeric in 1/2 tsp of the powdered spice? Using this guide, it's easy to figure out how much you'll need to ingest daily to move toward your health goals.Spice Apothecary starts out by providing some basic information about finding and using high-quality products, and also provides an overview of which herbs and spices to incorporate if you're hoping to support particular health goals (e.g. spices to support skin, bones, & joints; spices to support a healthy heart). The last section is a selection of recipes and other ideas for incorporating more spices into your daily life. I'm working my way through the recipes, and all are delicious so far.While this isn't the most important thing in the world, it's also worth mentioning that this book is visually gorgeous. The photos and other graphics are simple, colorful and helpful for the beginner who's looking to make sure the spices they're working with are high-quality.In summary: adding spices to your food can make a significant difference in your health; this concise text has everything you'll need to get started, including sources for high-quality spices, how much you should be using, and recipe ideas.

As a foodie and an RN who appreciates complementary approaches to health, this book fascinated me! The author writes so clearly and passionately about using spices for medicinal purposes, whether you take them straight or incorporate them into food. She espouses both ways, but the end part of the book gives culinary blends and simple recipes to use them. The book starts with a look at the history of spices, including the spice trade. I loved the world map graphic with spices used to shape the continents! What a profound way to visually depict what comes from where. She looks into the medicinal uses of herbs and spices and gives a deep dive into what she considers to be 19 of the essential ones, each section including a daily dose, more information about the plant and its uses, and the blends and recipes where it is used in the recipe section at the back of the book. She also looks at particular ailments and ways to support different parts and systems of the body (like heart, kidneys, and digestion). Frankly, all of this makes fascinating reading, and she has great visuals to go along with all of it. But I particularly loved the recipe section, both of the blends and the recipes that incorporate them. This is truly a practical way of how to incorporate medicinal herbs and spices into your life. She offers multiple blends, from simple to complex, and the easy recipes that go with them look both tasty and doable. If you have an interest in cooking with spices and herbs or with looking at your culinary spice collection from a medicinal viewpoint, you may find this book as insightful and fun as I did.I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

I'm not surprised but... It's OK