November Featured Book Excerpt

The Herbal Kitchen by Kami McBride, published in 2010 by Conari Press. Softcover; 254 pages. $18.95.

The Herbal Kitchen is a down-to-earth guide to fully utilizing "the natural pharmacy in your kitchen cupboard." McBride's conversational tone abides throughout the book's 13 chapters, welcoming herbal neophytes and experts alike. The Herbal Kitchen includes a materia medica of 50 kitchen herbs and spices that provides properties, gardening tips, and uses for each. Beyond that, chapters are organized by types of food and drink, such as herbal honeys, smoothies, oils, and pestos. Most of the recipes are preceded by short, informational, and often personal introductions from McBride—an herbalist and wellness educator—tipping the reader off to which teas "chase off a cold" and which drinks are delicious frozen as popsicles.

The excerpt for The Herbal Kitchen, available here, includes the book's table of contents, introduction, foreword by renowned herbalist and author Rosemary Gladstar, and Chapter 1, "Kitchen Medicine and Culinary Culture."

The book may be purchased on the Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari website.