The Complete Book of Spices: A Practical Guide to Spices and Aromatic Seeds

An excellent resource from which to begin and to conquer your spices. Don't expect to get it perfect the first time. Compare at least three books to discern what everyone agrees on and go from there. I live in a wasteland of good sources- no, make that any sources- of ethnic foods- so when in need, do it yourself!

This was the perfect spice book because it gives lots of information about spices - especially for the cook.

A great reference and interesting read! Very well done with beautiful pictures and very well organized!

This book is well written with a lot of information. There are many recipes and the information collected about the history of the spice trade is nice. I was a little let down for the fact that there is not a list for many spices. Good read and many recipes.

This is a little too detailed for my needs but it was well worth me buying it. It is also a nice looking book for your coffee table. I enjoyed flipping through it and picking up tidbits of information but I found it difficult to read through and through.

Great book for anyone who wants to learn more about spices and how to select, and store and use them. A MUST for any real cook!

informative but looking for something else. I feel spices have more quest outside the regions of India, China.. etc I wanted to know about some other countries too plus the nutritional/ medicinal side of the spice. But overall it is a good book. and you might be looking for something that grabs your taste buds in a different approach.

Every spice was pictured in color and concisely address as to taste, use, and storage. Loved it and know it will help me to expand my ability to combine spices in my cooking. It will also give me confidence to try dishes of other countries.

just what I wanted, the information in the book is just what I needed and some extra's that were very helpful.

I purchased this to replace a copy I received decades ago it seems that was damaged. I love the illustrations and pictures of the different spices. I also love the recipes it gives you from cooking to creating spice mixtures like curries and pickling. The seller shipped it quickly and was very upfront about the condition. I consider this book one of my go to's for coming up with new ideas in to try out in the kitchen.

Love the book loads of information great pictures recipies and more love it love it love it 5 star for sure

Everytime I open this book, my mind races with recipe ideas.

This is a beautifully illustrated book dealing mostly with Asian Spices, formulated by Burns Phillip, an Australian spice wholesaler. Containing a good background text about the spice trade, it then covers a wide range of Asian and Arab spices with great photos and information. I was looking for a book that would cover my Mom's spice rack contents and provide Taste Theory. This is not that book, which may be impossible to write, I have come to think. While it has great entries for onions and garlic, as well as some other familiar spices; such European staples as oregano, basil, sage, rosemary, marjory are sadly missing, While it has a couple of nice pages about chiles, and peppers, it fails to inform the reader that milk and milk products are the answer to excessively sharp peppers, if needed. These problems caused me to think about what I was looking for. I decided that taste is a very subjective matter, and that one would have to write one's own book about this subject. This book would be a "must" for the adventurous cook venturing into the unknown waters of Arab and Asian cooking. Many of the ingredients for the recipes it contains would not be found outside the U.K. or Asia, I think, and this limits the readership this book could garner, so I have to limit the book to a "4+". Keeping the format it has and expanding the scope of the entries to include the European spice rack would make this book an International Best Seller and reference. My comments should be tempered, however, in that perhaps "herbs" were intentionally not included in the scope of this book by the author.