The Complete Illustrated Book to Herbs: Growing, Health and Beauty, Cooking, Crafts

by Reader's Digest Association

This beautifully illustrated, complete guide to herbs unlocks the secrets of these wonder plants-from planting and harvesting to cooking and storing- including their health benefits. Now you can discover the joy and pleasure of growing your own herbs-for spicing up meals, creating crafts, treating ailments, and more. In this comprehensive and beautifully illustrated herbal guide you'll find information on their history, cultivation, propagation, and harvesting, along with a wealth of great ideas for using herbs everyday in a variety of ways.
This guide unravels the mysteries of these versatile plants, with savvy tips and simple formulas for maximizing their powers. Did you know?
Mint can repel ants, flies, mice, and moths Garlic can seriously lower cholesterol Chives, fennel, tarragon, thyme, oregano, and winter savory are perennials Rosemary was used in the Middle Ages for its tranquilizing effects, and it is still a digestion aid Known for alleviating common ailments, herbs are an ancient natural wonder-herbs are hotter than ever. Extremely informative and fascinating, this book will help you find which herb can treat various complaints. Throughout the guide are instructions for bursting-with-flavor recipes, health-care products, decorative craft ideas, insect repellents, cosmetics, cleaning agents, and much more.

Genres: Gardening, Reference, Nonfiction, Herbs, Horticulture, Health, Cooking

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2009

About the author

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company based in Chappaqua, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest. The company's headquarters are in New York City, where it moved from Pleasantville, New York.

The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but has grown to include a diverse range of magazines, books, music, DVDs and online content.

Reviews

[Jessica Worthington]

This is book is loading with information not only about the herb itself, but it tells you how you could the herb in cooking, medicine, around your home, and in crafts. I have learned a lot with book and cannot wait to start on some of these projects.

[Loz]

A fantastic resource.

[Alicia Bayer]

Not at all complete despite the name. Each herb has a page and photos, along with mostly growing information and basic helpful things about it. It does not go into how to make herbal remedies and actually use the herbs in the majority of the herbs, but rather tells you to buy standardized capsules in a store. One section lists ailments and then tells some remedies you can buy but it is wildly incomplete in remedies that could help and in potential side effects.

There is no mention of most of the most helpful wild herbs you can forage for free, like cleavers, hawthorn, motherwort, mugwort and hundreds of others. There are generic recipes at the end for things like scrubs (where you purchase a ton of things) and cooking recipes for things like soufflés, plus crafts and home ideas.

Great for herb gardeners who want to play around with herbs but not useful for herbal medicine. I should have noticed it was put out by Reader’s Digest and was not the kind of herb book where you use your own herbs for remedies.

[Jayme]

Great book full of herby goodness. Each herb is listed with growing and harvesting tips, uses (traditional, medicinal, etc.), and other odds and ends that are totally interesting. The book also includes several other sections on recipes, beauty products, and crafts that you can use up your herbs with!

Since it's almost Christmas I've been making pommanders (those clove-filled oranges). My mom used to make these with just cloves, but this book suggests putting them in a spice bath while they cure. Now my pommanders are sitting in a delicous bath of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and my house smells soooo good.

[Nikki]

Bought this at my favorite indie bookstore New Year's Day after thumbing through every herb book they had. This one is amazing! Not only is it huge and filled with beautiful photos, but it has great info on how to grow, harvest and use each herb (down to particular pests and diseases to watch for), plus recipes for shampoo, shaving cream, glass cleaner, laundry soap--everything I could want to replace all the chemical products in my house. There aren't, however, any recipes in the medicine section, only uses for individual herbs, so I still plan to purchase Rosemary Gladstar's herbal remedy book (which my bookstore didn't have).

[Ifurita]

This book really rekindled my interest in herb gardening. Not only is it a beautifully illustrated reference, it contains great information on gardening and wonderful ideas. One of my favorite aspects of the book is the number of practical recipes for things like cleaners and soaps. It's going to be hard giving it back to the library!

[Heather]

Wonderful reference book!

[Borisz]

awesome, has everything :) perfect for anyone with a garden at home :D

[Miss M]

Awesome reference book

[Katherina]

Contains quite a bit of information. I have yet to find a herb book that goes into this much detail. A great reference for our expanding garden.

[Sherri]

Very informative book that got me started down the path I want to go for my summer herb garden!

[Lady Ci]

This book is informative and to the point! Great pictures and facts.