Book Review: The New American Herbal by Stephen Orr

 The New American Herbal is described on the back cover as 'a masterful A-to -Z introduction to the full spectrum of herbal plants." This beautiful book, authored by Stephen Orr, would be a great addition to any gardener, cook or crafter's library.

The New American Herbal is an eye feast of beautiful photographs of foods made with herbs, herbs in the garden and other ways to preserve and use herbs. I thought this book offered sound advice and sage wisdom on growing herbs and using them. Each herb detailed in the book has a side bar listed with the most basic information such as where it is grown, how to grow, how tall it gets and other basics to growing any herb. Herbs include the every day herbs we all know like oregano, parsley and tarragon, as well as those not as well known, such as lungwort, epazote and sweet cicely.

I thought several recipes in the book looked appealing to try. Recipes such as: Baked Stuffed Tomatoes with Oregano, Braised Chicken with Tarragon, and Caraway Orange Biscuits. The back of the book contains a well-organized index.This book also has a Resource List in the back which offers guidance on herbal schools, other herbal books to read, and herbal gardens to visit. It is a nice comprehensive reference book that would be especially helpful to someone new to herbs but there is also plenty of good information for those who already know something about herbs and herbal gardening. I highly recommend it.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. I was not required to write a positive review.