“The Herbal Kitchen: 50 Easy-to-Find Herbs and Over 250 Recipes to Bring Lasting Health to You and Your Family” by Kami McBride (Conari Press, $18.95) will be most helpful to people who are already knowledgeable about herbs or perhaps grow their own. Let’s face it, the average person isn’t going to have oatstraw-calendula tea lying around the house, one of the ingredients you need to make a summer smoothie called the Strawberry Crush.

But there’s also plenty of good ideas in this book for the amateur herbalist, including a section on how to make your own herbal honeys. Who wouldn’t love some homemade cinnamon-ginger honey spread on their toast one morning this winter?

McBride provides instructions for making herbal vinegars, and recipes for how to use them. A blueberry vinaigraitte is perfect for blueberry season. McBride’s version contains whole blueberries, lemon verbena, lemon peel, sage and parsley (all fresh), along with apple cider vinegar and honey.

Other interesting ideas in the book include chapters on making herbal pestos (arugula-pumpkin seed pesto, pesto picante), herbal ghees (black pepper-turmeric ghee, paprika ghee) and cordials, including a summer berry cordial to cap off a beautiful summer evening.

 


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