Great book for any newbie looking to get into simple holistic healing. The author brakes everything down so you can learn what formula is great in what food to help you. I loved the recipes in the back. The images in this book are spectacular, totally coffee table worthy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because as I age, I am getting more interested in becoming a healthier version of myself. Learning how to use spices for their various healing properties is a part of that. We all have to eat, right? Why not add some natural healing to your meal and possibly enjoy it even more in the process? Ever since my first holistic healing class back in college, I have been interested in learning of more natural ways to become healthy. I want to learn how to stop whatever is causing an illness, not just how to cover it up with medicine or end up having to undergo surgery. I loved the way the book was formatted and I loved the many photographs that were included. Spice Apothecary provided not only some history of the 19 spices that are included but recipes for various spice blends were also included. I was amazed to learn that some of the spices I already enjoy are so healthy but there are also some I have never even tried that I will be giving a shot to. The blends are listed together, along with a chart of how to make more or less than what is being used as an example...anything you have ever wanted to know about spice blends is probably in this book. :)

An interesting, informative book that gave a lot of ideas on how to use spices. I loved the wonderful illustrations and will surely try some of the ideas.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I enjoyed everything about this book — the artwork, the history of spices, their uses, and even the few recipes! Now I’m anxious to try new ones in my cooking! I will definitely be referencing this book in the future!

Very nice book! I love cooking with spices and I love trying spices from around the world. This book explains about the most common spices and how we can use them to give flavor to our food, or as medicinal support and the benefits of spices. The pictures are very nice, the book is colorful, clear and well organized. There is a few recipes in the book. Everybody should have this book! I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Spice Apothecary is as you would imagine, a book dedicated to the use of culinary spices and herbs use for medicinal or health purposes. It is a beautiful little book that provides as a basic and general guide for those who would like to enhance their health by altering their diet with the use of several readily available spices and herbs. It is not elaborate at all but serves best as an introduction for those not yet all that familiar with their way around the kitchen or with some idea of how to use various spices for healing purposes. It's limited in scope as far as the amount of spices discussed as well as the extent of their potential uses. With that said, there is a good handful of knowledge imparted to get anyone on their way to easily preparing dishes with one's health in mind.

Included in the book are several charts cutting to the chase for pairing specific spices to general health concerns as well as helpful measurement conversion charts. There are also a few recipes so you can make your own spice blends and a few dishes that use many of these spices. Not enough for this book to be considered a cookbook, but enough to get you started in your very own kitchen.

My copy was an Adobe Digital Media copy and did not at all lend well to this particular kind of book. The type was very difficult to read and a couple of the charts were impossible to use properly because they covered two pages. However, there were a lot of gorgeous color illustrations that it's clear that this would make for a beautiful addition to anyone's kitchen or even a coffee table. Definitely opt for a print copy. Would make for a wonderful little hostess or housewarming gift for those who like to play around in the kitchen.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of the eBook for a fair and honest review.

While the main focus of this book states it's for the medicinal properties of spices, there's a lot here for anyone interested in food, especially in the variety of spices and spice combos. There is info on spices, where they come from, what other spices and plants they are related to, etc.

I didn't do any research on the validity of the health boosting claims and anyone with health concerns should do their research. Even if the health benefits don't really work, the spice mixtures and recipes look delicious!

I have always been interested in spices and natural remedies, for use both in and outside of the kitchen. This book certainly delivers, as it offers a lot of scientific information on the use and efficacy of popular superfoods like turmeric, while also giving you ideas on how to incorporate the herb into your diet, skincare, and daily life.

This is a beautiful book with such good information - I learned so much more about spices than I ever thought I would. The book touches on different locations where spices are sourced, health benefits of different spices, tips on using them in your cooking, an also includes recipes. It has some awesome tables that are easy to refer to, for example, one shows what the spices are used for medicinally as well as the proper dosages. I'm really looking forward to incorporating the information I've learned from the book to help reach my health goals and also become a better cook. Highly recommended for anyone interested in benefits of spices or who wants to learn how to better utilize them.

Spices add heaps of flavor to our food, but their medicinal properties are underestimated and commonly overlooked. "Spice Apothecary" is an extremely well researched journey into the abundance of health benefits of fresh, dried and powdered spices from all around the world, many of which we can find in our gardens and supermarkets.

I was genuinely shocked to learn about how easy (and tasty!) it would be for me to improve my health, given how spices "inhibit the growth of undesirable bacteria and other pathogens. More importantly, spices offer a phytochemical diversity that contributes to the prevention, and even reversal, of a variety of common diseases (p. 19). For example, for my digestive issues I simply need to add more black pepper, ginger, cinnamon and mint to my diet - and to make that easier, we get easy recipes for drinks, dishes and even handy spice blends. The author presents this information is an exceptionally simple and digestible way (ha! get it?), making use of well-organized text, tables and charts.

Maybe even more importantly, this book is just beautifully illustrated with both drawings and photographs. I would genuinely love to decorate my kitchen wall with some of these pictures,

Unfortunately, however,some of the spices described are completely new to me, and since I'm a fairly experience cook (at home), I assume they will be quite difficult to find unless I venture into specialized stores. I would have loved to learn about a number of common American garden herbs instead, since this is the book's intended audience. Nonetheless, there were only few examples of this and the majority of the covered spices are readily available.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Spice Apothecary is a great starter book for people looking to learn more about the 19 herbs and spices used for medicinal effects. Throughout the book is some brilliant photography and small recipes for poultice and teas, with bigger more advanced recipes and blends at the back.

I wasn't as thrilled with this book as I thought I would be. While the design and cover are beautifully done, I didn't love the overall experience. Maybe I'm not enough of a foodie to enjoy this book.

The images that are used in this book are so colorful and inviting that it almost begs the reader to taste them. I enjoyed the way that this book was laid out. It provided multiple ways to use and cross reference the material depending on what the reader was looking for.

The first section focuses on 19 spices that the author feels are essential to health. It breaks down how much of each you should eat per day and what the spice helps with. The next section focuses on illness and conditions and which spices can be used to help. The final sections are dedicated to spice blends and what they can be used to treat. Each spice blend is followed by recipes that use the blend to make it less overwhelming.

This is a great book for people who are starting to look to diet as a part of integrative medicine. The focus on only 19 spices and corresponding recipes are a great way to start adapting to this new diet.

The first thing I noticed about this book were the colorful pictures. There was some surprising information in the families of spices. It talks a bit about how spices can be different depending on how you use them. Also, there was some technical stuff that I’m probably going to re-read at some point. The book talks about several common spices and how to use them in recipes and medicinally. It also speaks of ailments and points to herbs that would specifically help a certain ailment. The last chapter gives some recipes that are easy. I’m especially interested in the Peppery Synergy Blend… Right now, I’m off to plant my herb garden so I can utilize this book.

What an amazing book. I love spices and had the majority of the special 19 quoted for wellness. I was reading about Dukkah the other day and found the recipe here for it, made it and used it straight away. Delightful is all I can say about the beautiful aromatic smell and taste. I have a weakened immune system and found that particular chapter very helpful. The book starts by describing the herbs, defining the dosages and then specifies by sections what it is best used for. There are useful insert parts on different countries and what/how they use spices that are specific to them.
The recipes are so exciting and different that they all deserve making just because I wanted to smell the concoctions. ignoring where they were good for.. So far I have only made a few but once this book comes onto general sale I will be buying it so that it will be in constant daily use.
The information on the family groups was fascinating and the colour pictures added extra detail..
I just love this book and am so pleased that I have been given the opportunity to review it.
Not sure that it will help my health as I fear that once I get a hard copy I am just going to cook and eat to an extreme just because I love using spices and this is such a great set of recipes.

I am so sorry, I could not get this book downloaded to either of my devices. I know it is a great book and I would love to be able to review it. I really enjoy spices and I am always trying to find different ways to use them. I hope I will be able go read this book sometime.
Blessings ibjoy1953

I have a working knowledge of some herbs and spices and their uses so I was keen to learn more. This is a really comprehensive book with some great information. I read it in ebook format, but feel this would be better used in hardcopy and some stuff would be easier to find and reference in that format.
Great book, really enlightening.

Excellent stories, recipes and pictures. Great guide to increasing your wellness. Increased my awareness of a lot of natural herbs and spices to add to daily life.

Spice Apothecary is certainly a very interesting book on how to use spices as a health boost for the body, especially at a time when our food is full of junk and our reliance on over the shelf medicines is quite prevalent.

The book is divided into five main chapters and an introduction:
- medicine of spices
- understanding the plants they come from
- how they work
- creating your own apothecary
- uses to support health goals
- recipes.

Whilst for each of the 19 herbs and spices it recommends a dosage amount, unfortunately in the long description you have to dig deep into the text to find out what it's good for, e.g.. diabetes, indigestion, bloating. Personally I would have preferred to have this somewhere more obvious or the table that lists the aliments/health concerns to be a lot earlier on in the book. However, further on in the book it does list the herbs and spices that are good for the following:
- bolster immune protection & defense
- Skin, bones & joints
- calm & focus
- strengthen digestion
- kidney health
- healthy heart
- respiratory health

Also included are blend mixes that can be used in recipes, such as cinnamon apple oat bake or a comfy compote. The recipes appear easy to follow but the measurements are in cups and ounces (imperial) rather than grams (metric), though there is a conversion table at the rear.

There is colour photography in the book, which gives you a good look at some of the herbs and spices, the blend mixes and some of the recipes. Dotted throughout the book there are people who explain the spice use from their area of the world.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

An approachable guide to using spices as a medicinal part of your diet. Clare is a professional herbalist and nutritionist, and she obviously knows her stuff. She includes 19 recommended herbs and spices for regular use, depending on your health needs, and has origin, usage, where to find them, and other information for each.

There's also a chapter of recipes, with her own spice blends (green goddess, everyday on everything, etc.) and suggested dishes for each. The cinnamony reminds-me-of-pie blend looks particularly delicious. Lots of photographs and illustrations. This will definitely be a popular volume at my library.