Herbarium

by Caz Hildebrand

An extremely stylish illustrated encyclopedia of herbs designed to enrich our understanding of all their uses, from cooking to medicine―an ideal gift and a must-have for your own kitchen Herbs are all about living well, from enriching a meal to treating an illness. Sacred, almost mystical qualities have often been associated with their long history of curative and ritualistic practices. Today, as a wider variety becomes more accessible, and their properties receive more attention, we can benefit from a fuller understanding of the power of herbs. Herbarium explores the histories, associations, and uses of 100 herbs, as well as providing ideas for how each herb can be used to improve both food and well-being. Each entry features a specially commissioned illustration with texts that include the botanical name, place of origin, varieties, and areas where the herb is most commonly grown. The essence of each herb is explored in a brief history peppered with interesting anecdotes, complemented by suggestions of classic combinations and helpful tips for gardeners. A reference section includes advice on how to grow and keep herbs, herb-food pairings, and using herbs for health and beauty treatments. A contemporary reboot of the traditional herbarium, this book will expand readers’ knowledge, improve culinary skills, and enhance their appreciation of the incredible world of tastes offered by herbs. 100 illustrations in color

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Gardening, Food, Nature, Horticulture, Cooking

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2016

Reviews

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book to browse, got my from the library, but it’s the sort of book you want to own and return to. I think it would be fun to collect a sample of each plant to go alongside its entry page. Imagine the perfume!

[Bianca Oortwijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Op zoek naar een leerzaam (niet megagroot) koffietafelboek in strak design?

'Herbarium' is prachtig vormgegeven, boordevol veelzijdige informatie over (wilde)kruiden waaronder: medische eigenschappen, culinaire en andere
praktische toepassingen, poëtische citaten, of verwijzingen naar folklore, mythologie of andere literatuur.

Ideaal om iets in op te zoeken, maar ook om een x-aantal lemma's door te lezen (1 per spread).

Met achterin aparte overzichten van:

Passende kruiden per symptoom, symboliek van kruiden, welzijns- en cosmetische kruiden, smaken, cocktailkruiden, geautomatiseerd water, kruidenmengsel, conserveringsmethoden, schaduw- en zonminnende kruiden en kruiden om op pot te kweken ; een register van volksmondnamen en een literatuurlijst.

Het enige verwarrende is dat je traditiegetrouw verwacht dat een 'herbarium' ruimte biedt aan geplukte, gedroogde exemplaren. De illustraties -vaak vertaald naar kleurrijke grafische patronen- zijn echter zo mooi en bladvullend dat je dat idee toch al snel laat varen.

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit was echt een prachtig boek om te lezen. Veel informatie over verschillende planten/kruiden en waarvoor ze worden/werden gebruikt, maar ook over recepten, over kweken, en nog veel meer. Er zijn ook een aantal referenties naar hedendaagse dingen waar een plant/kruid werd gebruikt (zoals Breaking Bad).
Alleen jammer van de illustraties. Ik vond de cover nog mooi, maar helaas stellen de illustraties zelf in het boek erg teleur. Vaak herken je niet de plant in wat er als illustratie staat. Dus ik trek 1 ster van het totaal af vanwege dat.

[Juli Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful and moderately useful volume for plant lovers.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The text of this is a fun herb book, and one I think I would like to own.

However, there are a number of issues that make it a poor choice for the average person looking to find out about herbs. First of all the visual design (and boy, is it visually designed) is problematic: tiny text (with lots of white space) facing pages that are block-print interpretations of the idea of the herb in question. Perhaps the idea was more to create the deck of cards that the author also published. It's visually hard to read in favor of looking cool.

There's lots of fun and interesting information about the 100 herbs (individuals and multiple cultivars), with grow, eat, try, and heal sidebars for most. However some really basic safety warnings (don't take St. Johnswort with SSRIs, take bay leaves out of a dish before consuming) are omitted, and others (like why we don't consume rue) are soft-pedaled.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good for a reference book. It went into the history of herbs, how to grow them, how to use them in food, and purported health benefits of each. As far as "reference" books like this go. It is one of the more useful. I do not eat herbs often but this gave me a list of some to seek out and I have purchased the spice equivalent of this which I do anticipate will get much more use from me. Also, the graphic art for each spice was very well done (even if some didn't make a lot of sense)

[Becki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really gorgeous design and I enjoyed reading it, although no good to actually identify the plants in real life. Always fun to alarm your husband by reading about Monkshood (aka Wolfsbane) in bed though!

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems like a fine book. Obviously double check and do further research into different herbs and whether it is safe/right for you. That said, I thought it was a good book, but it doesn't have real photos of the herbs it's talking about.

[Porge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated and a really useful compendium for those who prefer natural remedies, foraging and anything but drugs and man-mades. I have one my shelf, give as a gift + found one in a charity shop which I've used to make framed pictures.

[iris the dead flower · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a gorgeous book i learned so many things and had genuine laugh out loud moments which i did not expect from this book???? glad to say i picked this up solely because of the gorgeous cover, it was 100% worth it. i wanna stomp on some hypericum asap!!!

[Siddhartha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful book. Would have rated 5 had it contained photographs as well. Well researched, outstandingly presented and very informative.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous read on 100 herbs to grow, cook and heal with!

[Flavie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mon livre de chevet. Magnifique <3

[Margaret Lettuce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved the wide variety of herbs! The simplistic yet elegant illustrations in the book are also very nice!

[Jes · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely and informative, even inspiring

[Rachelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun review of all sorts of herbs, their history, origin, and uses. Gardener's would love this read!

[A. Reiter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was worried it was too trendy; too minimalist, but it’s actually pretty thorough and now I want it in my library.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, appropriate for beginners. My only criticism that beside the beautiful illustrations there weren’t photographs of the herbs.

[Nadine ⭒ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the stories for each herb as well as the breakdown of how they are beneficial medicinally and how to use them with food.
Wish it had more realistic pictures or drawings though

[Emma Palacios · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the book and will continue to reference but a lot of the pictures hurt my eyes lol. They were stunning though.

[Ambur Taft · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book with beautiful illustrations along with simple descriptions and awesome tips....one to own and give as a gift.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herbs! Grow! Cook! Heal! This lovely looking book is full of herbal knowledge. Each of these one hundred herbs gets a page devoted to them and the opposite page is a decorative modernist type art representation for that herb. Each herb has a short description of facts, and along the side of the page: tips on growing the herb in your house or garden, foods to pair the herb with, interesting ideas on how to try them, and any healing properties the herb offers. I learned a lot from this book, being an herb amateur. I was especially surprised to find out that bergamot is the bee-balm in my mother's garden... I learned many interesting things just from the bergamot page! The only thing I can complain about is not including a real-life picture of the plants on each page. It would have helped with identifying them.

[Cheri Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book with tons of information. This is a hard cover book that would look great on a table. Thank you.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cooking reference+art book; one of the best things on my shelf.

[Caren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully designed.
Interesting, but not much new info for me.

[Orla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous and unusual take on the herbal form.