Spice Apothecary
Blending and Using Common Spices for Everyday Health
If you are in tune with using food as medicine, Spice Apothecary will earn a prized place on your shelves. In it, Bevin Clare summarizes the healing properties that are inherent to various plants and traditional remedies within many different cultures. A more detailed exploration of the health-boosting qualities of some common spices follows, with simple recipes to easily incorporate them into your daily diet.
Organized and approachable, this is an enthusiastic introduction to herbalism. Its chapters review the healthful compounds of plant families, showing how phytochemicals interact with each other and within human cells. Zippy illustrations, charts, and luminous, well-labeled color photographs document spice varieties, and there’s important information for obtaining the right kind of spices, along with storage data and daily culinary dosages.
Nineteen essential spices that are recommended for apothecary work are detailed. Home cooks will likely have most in their spice cabinet already; others, like Calendula and Holy Basil, are less on culinary radars. Clare highlights each spice’s effects on human anatomy and physiology, making it clear how to use them in everyday blends, teas, and delicious dishes from soups to ice cream, tailored to your specific health needs. Got aching joints? Try the Heart Synergy Fudge, which is packed with cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, and cayenne. Cold coming on? A warming cup of Hot Ginger Lemonade will help to boost your immunity.
Clinical studies about the healing properties of these essential spices are listed in the bibliography, while sidebars relay the traditional uses of spices in Nigeria, India, Crete, and Zanzibar to zest things up.
With the focus on readily available and affordable spices and recipes, Spice Apothecary makes it easy to explore new ways of preventing and combating illness. As Clare notes, “We have an opportunity to fill our lives (and plates) with spices and find pleasure in their delicious medicine.”
Reviewed by
Rachel Jagareski
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
