Herbs enhance and enliven meals. Herbs are the leaves of fresh or dried plants. Spices are the aromatic parts: buds, fruit, berries, roots or bark. Most spices thrive in tropical regions, while herbs can be grown in your own garden or indoors in a sunny place. Some herbs can also produce spices.

If you think of the Coriander/Cilantro plant, cilantro is the herb and the seeds are known as coriander. This is why this book is so helpful as it explains the plants in detail. I didn't realize the root was also used in Thai curries. A recipe for Guacamole is included on the same two-page spread.

Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz is an authority on herbs and spices and international cuisine. She created this sourcebook in order to guide the reader to information on more than 200 herbs, spices, essences, edible flowers and leaves, aromatics, vinegars, oils, teas, coffees and just about every seasoning a modern cook needs to produce flavorful foods.

With 750 spectacular full-color photographs and 185 recipes you will learn how to create characteristic flavors that define cuisines of the world.

The Contents Include:

Growing and Harvesting Herbs
Drying and Preserving herbs
Edible Gifts

Kitchen Herbs: Chives, Dill, Angelica, Chervil, Tarragon, Borage, Tansy, Coriander/Cilantro, Lemongrass, Fennel, Hyssop, Bay, Lovage, Lemon Balm, Mint, Bee Balm, Sweet Cicely, Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Burnet, Rosemary, Sorrel, Sage, Savory, Thyme and Lemon Verbena.

Kitchen Spices: Galangal, Celery Seed, Annatto, Sassafras, Mustard, Chili, Paprika, Ajowan, Caraway, Spice Mixtures, Cassia, Cinnamon, Saffron, Cumin, Turmeric, Curry Powerders, Cardamom, cloves, Asafoetida, Star Anise, Juniper, Mace & Nutmeg, Nigella, Poppy Seeds, Allspice, Anise, Pepper, Sumac, Sesame Seeds,. Salt, Tamarind, Fenugreek, Vanilla and Ginger.

Flavors of the World: An absolutely amazing section on the traditional ingredients used in cultural cuisine all over the globe.

Vegetable and Fruit Flavorings
Extracts, Essences & Sweeteners
Edible Leaves & Flowers
Oils, Vinegars & Dairy Products
Sauces, Preserves & Condiments
Coffee, Tea & Spiced Drinks

Some of the recipes you might enjoy: Chiles Rellenos, Fruit Salad with Cardamom, Moroccan Preserved Lemons, Gingerbread Cookies, Rose Petal Ice Cream, Beet Salad with Walnut Oil Dressing and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

Did I mention how amazing this book is? If you love to cook, this is a must-have resource for your cookbook collection. It is also just pure fun to read!

Gorgeous Photography and oh, so wonderfully organized!

Books I know you will love is you enjoy this one:

The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld
How to Cook by Delia Smith
The Herbal Drugstore by Linda B. White, M.D.
Cooking A to Z by Jane Horn
Webster's New World Dictionary of Culinary Arts by Steven Labensky
The Quotable Cook by Kate Rowinski

If you had this book, you'd know that Agar-Agar is a seaweed and Zahtar is a blend of sumac, roasted sesame seeds, and ground thyme. Encylopedia indeed! I purchased this book to learn about herbs and spices so that I could cook flavorful while cutting salt, fat, mayo, and other bad things in my diet. If you only get one one kitchen reference on this subject, make it this one. I started giving this book as a gift to friends and family and now they're giving it as a gift as well. It's divided into the following sections:

-Introduction
-Kitchen Herbs
-Kitchen Spices
-Flavors of the World (Characteristics of the world's cuisines)
-Vegetable and Fruit Flavorings
-Extracts, Essences, and Sweeteners
-Edible Leaves and Flowers
-Oils, Vinegars, and Dairy Products
-Sauces, Preserves, and Condiments
-Coffee, Tea, and Spiced Drinks

'Nough said. Buy this book, you can't beat the price and you'll love the content! Check out the sample pages for a glimpse of what you're in for.

I brought this book home with me after a trip to England 8 years ago. Now that it is available in North America I can recommend it for anyone wanting to figure out what really grows in an herb garden. I was looking for a book to explain all the herbs I previously had only read about on the menus I was eating from. Full pages are devoted to most of the world's common herbs & spices. The digrams are exceptional for Food ID and each item includes an example recipe, handling, prep, and storage techniques. The more I have learned about cooking, the more details I have found hidden in the pictures and text. It even rivals my best coffee table books!

I love to cook, and entertain my clients quite frequently with interesting and unique recipes. Therefore, I am always looking for fantastic new recipes, but don't always know exactly what a certain ingredient might be. This book explains a lot about ingredients you might not use often, but may be necessary for that great recipe. The descriptions are succinct and easily understood, and I now take the book with me while shopping for an "exotic" (meaning, I may never have used it before -- it may be commonplace to some other cook) ingredient. The pictures really help you know what you're looking for and how to know if it's fresh, etc. Required text for anyone who loves to cook with flair!

I have used this reference again and again from looking up curious spices to distinguishing chile peppers. A must for every cooks "display" as it intrigues even those who are not interested in cooking at all! We love the photographs and presentation!

terrific photgraphs and summaries...easy to use..extremely informativ

I received this book as a gift from my Sister-in-law, a Nisei herself. After about 10 years, she got a copy for herself and her mother, because she realized that she had never seen a better book on Japanese cooking. Her comment was that it had all the food that her family really fixed growing up, but that the recipes were in English measurements (i.e. cups, teaspoons, etc.), which made following the recipes much more convenient to actually use. Before, she and her mother used to laboriously convert the Japanese measurements to English ones, which was a pain. Besides trying all kinds of noodle recipes, I have used this book to make really good vinegared-rice sushi, which is always a huge hit at parties; everyone is just ga-ga; the presentation is just beautiful, truly artistic. The food is also very low fat and healthy, lots of fish. I think if I fed my family this cuisine for one month, we'd lose some serious weight. Japanese cooking is not really as difficult as you might think. There is a relatively simple cast of ingredients and untensils, most of which can be easily obtained at a Japanese grocery store in any good-sized US city. Also, it's quite possible to order Japanese specialty products on the Internet, for e.g at ethnicgrocer.com

Excellent book. It is easy to read with just enough narrative from the author. A must-have to add to your Mexican cookbook collection. It makes for great reading; I just received it so haven't tried any recipes yet, but have many bookmarked to try.

The spice of life is a simply amazing book. The history of some of the spices mentioned in the book is superbly explained. It first caught my attention on a tv series some 20 years back and has since then left an enourmous impact in my kithchen. There is not once that when a topic comes about cooking that I do not mention the amazing chicken cooked in forty cloves of garlic or the other wonderful authentic recipes.The authors have done great justice to the book and could not have given it a better name than "The spice of life".

Enjoyed this book mostly due to the photographs. It does have alot of simple and easy, yet elegant recipes for jams and jellies that will be consumed by the average family. The label and gift wrapping ideas add a unique twist to the every day kitchen gift.

The photographs in Clearly Delicious are clearly inspired. The cover is just a temptation into visual pleasures. The age-old craft of preserving the flavors of summer is displayed in picture after picture. Glistening bottles filled with jams, fruit dripping in syrup or seduced in alcohol, luxurious oils & vinegars, spicy treats, fruit cordials, syrups,. fruit curds and many more treats await.

Some of the recipes included are:

Pear and Damson Plum Jam
Brandied Carrot Jam
Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam
Cranberry and Apple Jelly
Peach Butter
Lemon Curd
Tipsy Apricots
Raisins in Genever with Juniper Berries
Pineapple and Lime Syrup
Mixed Vegetable Pickles
Spiced Oranges
Dark Mango Chutney
Fiery Chili Oil
Rosemary Oil
Mushrooms in Oil
Goat Cheese with Herbs in Oil
Spiced Blackberry Vinegar

The "Herbs and Spices" chapter was a very pleasant surprise. Have you ever wanted to make your own Garam Masala, Pickling Spice, Quatre Epices, Five Spice Powder, Herbes De Provence, Bouquet Garni, Seasoning Salt or Barbecue Blend? Well, here are the recipes!

The last chapter is, well.....just intriguing. I have never thought of painting one of those decorated bottles. It looks so fun. If you love "craft" projects...there are quite a few. To decorate the jars, they have some very creative ideas and some that are more traditional. Presentation ideas gives ideas of how you can make mini-gift baskets.

A handy index leads you quickly to your favorite recipe. The step-by-step instructions stress the value of careful preparation so you can be assured of delicious results ever time.

One of the most beautiful "cookbooks" I have yet to see! This is a completely illustrated guide to some of the most delicious recipes I have ever found all in one book!

If you make one "preserve" recipe in your life...make it "Lemon Curd." It will seduce you into trying more recipes or you just might make that one recipe again, and again, and again! You will need to head to the kitchen shop and also pick up a "zester." An interesting little tool to remove the "zest/yellow peel from lemons"" or you can use your grater. I found many places online that sell bottles or most grocery stores do have the cutest bottles with colorful lids or do a search online for "canning jars."

I started canning jams as a food science experiment with a now out of print Harrod's book. Clearly Delicious (hardback) added recipes for preserves, marmalades, and flavored vinegars to try. The jam and marmalade recipes do not use commercial pectin, and seem more challenging than those found in the indispensible Ball Blue book, but turn out to be easy with clearly written and well-illustrated directions. Clearly Delicious is useful after a berry picking expedition, a trip to the farmers market, or mid-winter. I have made the wonderful lemon marmalade in December as a last minute addition to Christmas gifts and by repeated requests. The lemon marmalade is also good stirred into tea, in thumbprint cookies, as a cake filling, and for fast Chinese lemon chicken.

There is a separate section on packaging food for gift giving. In the hardcover edition, the food is shown in a variety of jars and bottles. This is ok if the food is to be refrigerated, and the author and publisher do note that the the food was photographed just after packaging and the jars shown are not all suitable for longterm storage. Longterm storage directions are included with standard canning jars, so this is not a concern.

An extremely extensive cookbook in pocket book form that is terrific. The "Joy of Cooking" for mexican food. Only drawback is the lack of pictures - but then it is a pocket book... Have to buy one for my sister-in-law who wanted to keep the copy she borrowed in perpetuity. She will get her own copy for her birthday

Excellent recipes from all over Mexico. Easy to follow directions and explanations .

In the book she describes how she not speaking any Spanish married a UN diplomat and moved was transferred with her husband to Mexico city and how she learned to love the food and the people and explored Mexico both from cultural and regional food basis. The recipes represent the best from all the states in Mexico.

If only had one Mexican cookbook this would be the one to have. I've had my copy since the late 60's and it's almost worn out. If you buy the book take a look at one of my favorite recipes. It's Mancha Manteles de cerdo or in English Pork tablecloth stainer. It's on page 190 of my copy but the newer edition may have a different page number

Please reprint I need a new one! My book is falling apart because it is used so much! Every recipe I have tried has been a success. Try the stuffed turkey the next time you cook one, what a filling

This pocket-size book offers a concise and wide variety of traditional Caribbean food and drink recipes. Ms. Ortiz has certainly done her research. If you like this book, you will love the recently released "A Taste of the Caribbean" by Angela Spenceley. Features cooking tips, information and nutritional count of countless exotic fruits, vegetables and spices, and charming blurbs deciphering local island lingo. This book is a must for any good cookbook library.

When I bought this book I was searching for receipes from Puerto Rico. Being Puerto Rican and having been raised in the United States, I learned to love all the native dishes that my mother would fix for us. As a new military bride I soon discovered that even though I knew how to cook some of the staples i.e. arroz con gandules, carne guisada, etc., there was a lot I didn't know. My mother was not much help because she never measured anything, just threw it together and it was delicious and she was not nearby so I could observe and learn. I remember yearning for mom's delicious "sancocho criollo" and not knowing how to cook it. I went searching for receipes and came upon this wonderful book. It is full of great receipes and resources as to where to find ingredients throughout the USA and Canada. I have received numerous compliments for my "Empanada de Pollo". I have also learned to cook and enjoy foods from other islands such as "Pulpeta" from Cuba and "Flying Fish Pie" from Barbados.

The cooking of Latin American is extremely diverse. Argentina is a large pastoral country and meals are meat based. The Argentines use a range of sauces many highly flavored to complement mea dishes and barbecues. When I have been to Argentina one is struck by how restaurants have huge displays of cooking meat in their windows and vegetables are hard to find.

Mexico on the other hand is a country which has a tradition of subsistence based Agriculture. The cuisine is based on the use of corn meal made into a range of breads such that are then flavored by vegetables cheese and smaller amounts of meat.

Other Latin American Countries have similarly divergent cuisine's. Rather than have the book broken up into the food from various regions the authors use a conventional structure of breaking up the book into soups, salads meat dishes and the like. Each country will then contribute various dishes.

The preparation and flavour types used in the cooking are exotic and outside the tradition of English and American Cooking. That makes the recipes interesting to try and experiment with. All of the recipes are easy to follow and make. The degree of preparation for each dish is also much less complex than say Indian or South East Asian Cooking so that it is a simple book to use.

Worth a look.

Lots of wonderful authentic latin recipies. They have all been very intersting and delightful so far. Some of the dishes can be a little complicated to prepare though.

_The Book of Latin American Cooking_ is one of my favorite cookbooks. It's full of unique ideas and combinations that you just can't find elsewhere. For example, I was surprised to see how much a pureed corn sauce tasted like it contained dairy.
I would never have thought of making a soup with pureed avocados! A lot of the recipes sound odd but are delicious. A few, admittedly, are just odd.

I was having a look here to see if there might be a hardback edition. My current copy needs to be replaced!