The World Encyclopedia of Spices

Exotic, aromatic and exciting, spices have a colourful and extraordinary history - they are a pungent and often priceless prize that has been sought and fought over for thousands of years. Enthusiasm for spicy food is a worldwide phenomenon and today spices play a huge part in almost every cuisine with ever more interesting and unusual spices becoming available. This beautiful cookbook provides a fully comprehensive, practical kitchen reference, with useful information on all the common and less well-known spices. The introductory section includes straightforward step-by-step instructions on preparation techniques, and information on equipment. It then features an informative full-colour catalogue of 50 spices and aromatic ingredients, with each shown in all it's various forms - whole, ground, dried or fresh - and includes facts about it's history, origins, and medicinal and culinary uses. In addition, there are illustrated recipes for over 35 spice blends, from Apple Pie Spice to Kashmiri Masala. The second part of the book includes over 100 classic and contemporary recipes from all over the world using both spices and spice mixtures, ranging from Middle-Eastern Lamb Tagine to Caribbean Christmas Cake - each with full-colour step-by-step instructions. A section on using spices in the home provides illustrated instructions on how to make scented gifts and decorations, and features recipes for aromatic cooking oils and vinegars and a variety of drinks. The World Encyclopedia of Spices gives a fascinating insight into the world of spices - it reveals their historical importance and the development of informative text and glorious photographs, it is both an intriguing and authoritative guide to spices and an inspirational recipe book - the only book on identifying, preparing, using and cooking with spices that you will ever need.