A fascinating meditation on the importance of spices, not just to our palates and dishes, but to our actual physical health. Most of us know that Lavender calms and that Ginger soothes a sore throat, but what about black pepper or garlic? Clare doesn't just explain the benefits of the different spices but also provides recipes and suggestions that allow you to be more mindful of how you look after yourself.

Reader is introduced to a number of different herbs from around the world. images - photographs and illustrations are nicely done. Some great starting point for the herbs. Nicely put together.

The Spice Apothecary is a super book. It is very well written and is easy to read.

I really enjoyed this book as it took you through a brief history of spices and the spice trade before telling you more about 19 common culinary herbs/spices. There were recipes which were easy to follow and sounded very good too. I am going to try a few of them as they look great.

If you want to learn more about spices and herbs then this is a must have book. Beautiful photography as well.

Thanks to Netgalley and Storey Publishing for hte ARC Copy. (My review is my own opinion)

This book is beautiful and informative. The author is a professor of herbalism and knows her subject very well. This is a great guide to 19 common culinary and medicinal herbs and spices. There are also a number or recipes for herb and spice blends and foods using these blends. If you want to use more herbs and spices in your cooking, but are unsure how, this would be a good introductory guide.
I received a complementary copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant if you want to learn a little more about spices (and herbs) and like experimenting in the kitchen.
It's not so much one to read from start to finish but rather to use as an encyclopedia.
I started with the main interest, the recipes, worked my way back to find out more about the individual spices and am still working through the introduction and more general chapters.
The first half is dryer to read, but if you are interested, you will get there.
The recipes are the highlight and if you are looking to expand your knowledge and your cooking, then this is the way to do it! Though some spices may not always be easy to get, I am excited about everything that is to come and yes, there is a very helpful and comprehensive overview of all the spices and their health benefits - what more could you want?

I wasn't sure what to expect from a book about spices. I felt like I already knew by spices, but boy was I wrong. I learned so much from this book, including plant families, the global spice trade, and blending/storing. The information is excellent, but the visuals sold me on this book. There are a lot of great charts and photos. I appreciate that as someone who is a visual -learner. The recipes look great, and I can't wait to try them out.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is an excellent book on spices as medicine! It is a very well written book that includes a global history, a lot of detailed information about each spice and some beautiful pictures. Bevin Clare covers 19 spices (ginger, sage, garlic, cinnamon, calendula, mustard, lavender, cumin, fennel, rosemary, mint, holy basil, black pepper, celery seed, parsley, turmeric, chiles, thyme, and cardamom). The added bonus is she includes recipes for different spice blends and then recipes for food or drink using the blend. I highly recommend this amazing book!

I already own a few other books and guides on herbs, but this one really stood out.
It includes detailed information about common accessible herbs and spices that are easy to find or grow. The book itself is gorgeous, the photos and illustrations are lovely and the various tables provided are not only helpful but pretty as well.

The book is divided in a few chapters.
It starts with history of culinary herbs and spices.
The first part of the book offers some curious information about the history of spices, their families and countries of origin.
One thing that I absolutely love about this part of the book are the tables and the list of parts of the plants from which spices are sourced. It was really interesting to read.

Then we have some safety considerations and spice synergy which I see as important information.
I was happy to read about the combination of spices with similar properties or chemical compounds.
There are some intriguing blends and recipes to try yourself and professional advice on how to create your own apothecary at home using 19 of the most common and affordable herbs and spices. This was probably my favorite part of the book!
Also I enjoyed the Plants around the Globe sections; they were educational and fun to read.

Another thing I love about the book is that the style is simple and clear. The book is very informative as well as fun to read. It doesn't delve too much into details but highlights the most important information. Therefore it feels more like a practical guide which is great for me!
It is definitely a book I would keep on my kitchen counter for reference.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book!

A beautifully illustrated and well organized title, which opens with a general description of the background of spices, followed by an identification of which parts of the plant are used for spices and how the plant families are grouped. This was all very interesting, but what I found particularly interesting was the explanation of how to create your own spice apothecary, how to identify reliable sources, and the storing and organizing of your spice apothecary.

The author identifies 19 spices for everyday use and provides a chart with their recommended daily dose and the uses of each spice for medicinal purposes. She also provides several recipes in which the spices may be used for everyday consumption (e.g., Spicy Wonder Gingerbread).

Although many of the spices covered are available in homes for everyday use, this is not material found in everyday sources. Although written in an easily accessible manner, the book is well organized with a detailed bibliography and index.

The author, Bevin Clare, is not only a herbalist and nutritionist, but also a "Professor and Program Manager of the Master’s of Science in Clinical Herbalism at the Maryland University of Integrative Health." Furthermore, "she holds a MSc in Infectious Disease from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine", and has an alphabet soup of degrees and certifications (italics mine, as copied from her website at https://www.bevinclare.com/).

I found this book immensely readable and look forward to it being published so I may add it to my own collection.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
#SpiceApothecary #NetGalley

Absolutely love this book, the recipes are brilliant and the book is really well laid out with beautiful photographs. It explains all the different spices and which ailments they would be best for. I was amazed that everyday spices could be so helpful and such fun to use so I have found somewhere local that I can buy good quality spices in larger amounts, I am really excited to re stock my cupboard and start cooking with a new found interest. I am so pleased to have been given the opportunity to read this, just disappointed it's not available to buy yet as several family and friends would love to receive this as a Christmas present.

This isn’t a chapter book with plot and characters per say. Instead it is a wealth of knowledge about spices and their (mostly unknown) properties for health. My wife who is into holistic healing, I know she does use spices for some ills and ailments thanks to Dr. Oz.

I found the book interesting, chapter by chapter, each about a part of the world, each listing spice origins, their use and healing properties. Recipes are included, mixtures that will produce the maximum health benefit.

I haven't tried any of these health mixtures/recipes but my wife has already 'aha'ed a few.

I loved this book. Bevin Clare has done a great job of explaining where the spices originate, how they can be used and the health benefits. Recipes are brill too. The photography is outstanding and makes reading the whole book a joy.

I recieved a copy of this book free fin exchange for an honest review from Net galley. A brilliantly informative book, filled with all the information you need to know about spices, including health benefits. Soon to become one of my firm favourites I think.

This book would be a 3-star book for me if not for the gorgeous formatting, photographs and layout provided by Storey Publishing. I honestly am considering buying a copy just to take it apart and frame some of the pages as kitchen art. :) But back to the book....

There are some things I really like about this book. I appreciate that Clare provides daily dosages in teaspoons instead of grams, which makes it easy to figure out how much to incorporate in your daily diet. I also love all the charts, tidbits and general information, and that she profiles herbs and spices that are easy and inexpensive to buy.

That said, there aren't that many herbs and spices actually profiled in this book and they are mostly the most common grocery store ones. I am still waiting for someone to write a book about herbs and spices to forage for cooking and health, as some of the healthiest herbs and spices on the planet are literally growing all around us for free. Examples of wild herbs and spices I would have liked to have seen here that are loaded with medicinal benefits are nettles, elderberries, sumac, wild garlic, rose hips, choke cherries, burdock root, red clover and wood sorrel, just to name a few.

The "spices" (I'd call many of them herbs) covered are: black pepper, mint, ginger, garlic, sage, calendula flowers, cardamom, holy basil, cinnamon, parsley, lavender, chili peppers, rosemary, celery seed, cumin, fennel, mustard seeds, thyme and turmeric. Other spices are mentioned in passing, but these are the ones profiled. After profiling these spices, sections tell you which of these are good for various health purposes like creating calm and helping digestion. The end of the book is recipes, especially for spice blends (some of these are creative, like the "cognitive blend" to add to dishes for mental clarity). Useful charts are sprinkled throughout.

All in all, this is a pretty basic primer. I was surprised that some important information wasn't included, like the necessity of crushing or mincing garlic and letting it sit for a few minutes to release the most important beneficial component, allicin, which is not directly present in garlic but is produced within a few minutes when garlic is cut or crushed. There also wasn't information about contraindications, like not using garlic when using blood thinning medications (garlic is known for its anticoagulation properties) or that it can mildly lower the efficacy of birth control pills, among other contraindications. I didn't notice any contraindications in the whole book, which seemed surprising and ill advised. Cooking with these herbs and spices in normal amounts is not usually a cause for any kind of concern, but it seems wise to at least mention these things, especially for folks who may double down on some spices for their purported health effects.

All that said, this is a fun read and as mentioned, it's just a gorgeous book. Don't expect to solve any dire health emergencies with it, but you are likely to learn a bit and enjoy yourself while reading it and cooking from it.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for the purpose of review.

What a beautiful book to own! The photography and illustrations in this are exceptional. The photographs are very crisp, clear and enticing! What makes this book stand out from similar books is that all the herbs and spices are described not just individually, but suggestions for health giving blends are given with some very appetising recipes. You can also look for what spices to use according to which part of the body is affected. How the spices work is also explained. This is a lovely book to dip into as well as to research specific conditions. The use of the word Apothecary in the title is entirely accurate and is a very useful tome to add to an alternative therapy bookshelf. I did find the layout at times a little broken up in that a chapter will be interrupted by an article about spices used in a specific country for example, but that is down to personal preference. I also would have liked to have been given specific quantities for the recipe for Funke’s Black Soup, and the wrong instructions are given for making Sandeep’s Kitchari- details are given for making an ice cream not a stew.

This book is very well done. I found it to be highly educational and I learned a great deal about how to incorporate herbs and spices for improved health. I think this is an excellent book for those that are serious about specializing herbs spices and aromatherapy into their health routine. I found th sections explaining the proper and safe ways to use these together safely to be very helpful and informative. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy of this book. I received this in exchange for my honest review.



Wow this book was very informative. I have been an essential oil user for the last 5 years. I have dabbled in different herbs usually for teas or cooking. This took spices to a whole new level. I loved that it broke them down showing you how they effect your body and provided many delicious recipes that I am eager to try.

This book is very interesting and informative. It is easy to understand and will become a valuable resource in all households! Thank you for sharing this on Netgalley!

"Spice Apothecary" is a book about how you can use common cooking spices to help improve your health. The author started by talking about the history of spices and where they come from – both what countries they come from and the part of the plant the spice is from. She talked about using spices and details about each spice, including how much a reasonable daily dose would be to get the medicinal effects. Then she talked about common health conditions (heart health, good digestion, etc.) and pointed out which spices would be good for that condition. Finally, she included some spice blends and recipes. I thought she did a good job of explaining the basics of using spices as medicine. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in using common herbs and spices as medicine.

Great book if you want to explore and invent with recipe blends. Find tasty combinations that will make a difference on your dishes. Really liked it.