Books and Favorite Herbal Resources

At the March 25 herb study, a friend asked what was a good reference on using herbs in cooking. This began an enthusiastic discussion, too much to cover at the end of a single meeting. Recommendations included starting with an all-purpose cookbook like Joy of Cooking or Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. The HSA website, an excellent source, has articles and thumbnails on very many herbs and an extensive recipe index.

Then members recommended more detailed books, including for

Culinaries: The Herbfarm Cookbook (Jerry Traunfeld)

The Mediterranean Herb Cookbook (Georgeanne Brennan)

Jekka’s Herb Cookbook (Jekka McVicar)

Herbs & Spices the Cook’s Reference (Jill Norman)

The Vegetarian Flavor Bible (Karen Page) (Kari found this more helpful with herb pairings than the Flavor Bible)

The Culinary Herbal: Growing and Preserving 97 Flavorful Herbs (Susan Belsinger)

Kari reminds us to include our own wonderful Susan Belsinger and her array of books, articles and teachings on culinary herbs.

Personal favorites as general entry-level herbal books include:

New Encyclopedia of Herbs & Their Uses (Deni Bown)

Encyclopedia of Herbs (Tucker and DeBaggio)

We might as well include some classics regarding Medicinals:

Herbs of Choice (Varro Tyler)

The Herbal Handbook (David Hoffmann)

Green Pharmacy (James Duke)

Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health (prior name was Family Herbal) (Rosemary Gladstar) I am familiar with Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: a Beginner's Guide, which is also very good.

Herbal Renaissance (Steven Foster)

Peterson's Field Guide to Medicinal Plants (Duke and Foster)

Most anything by those authors as well as Richo Cech is good.

Betsy finds Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing (James F. Balch, MD and Phyllis A. Balch) a better starting book than Hoffman.

—Adapted from a Potomac Potpourri article by Mary Schwegler