"Good Housekeeping" Herb Book - Hardcover

Jane Eastoe has been a journalist for 20 years and a garden designer and horticulturist for ten years. The mother of two young children, she lives in a village in Kent and is a keen practitioner of organic gardening. Her interest, initially in culinary herbs, developed as a practical response to the diverse demands of day to day family life.

From the Good Housekeeping Institute comes this attractive book on those ever-popular culinary plants - herbs. From its instigation in 1924, Good Housekeeping has been synonymous with tried and tested recipes and housekeeping and it is on these foundations that the book, written by Jane Eastoe, has been produced. Illustrated with the charming photographs of garden photographer Carol Sharp, it is an attractive presentation of culinary herbs: their cultivation, harvest and assets. Starting with a brief history of herbs it swiftly moves on to growing the plants: propagating them, cultivating them and harvesting them. Attractive plans are included to inspire your own herb garden, be it for culinary, medicinal or fragrant purposes. A herb directory of 65 different plants is accompanied by recipes for soups, salads, pizzas and jellies, all tested by the GHI kitchens, enabling the cook to produce perfect results first time. For each plant a detailed description and history is accompanied by tips on cultivation, culinary use, medicinal use and home and beauty uses if applicable. Special notes are made of those herbs suitable for infusions and decoctions accompanied by instructions on how to make them. Herb oils, vinegars, syrups and preserves as well as floral oils, compresses and poultices are detailed clearly and simply. All in all an ideal book for cooks with a penchant for herbs, encouraging them to get out in the garden and grow their own. So stop buying them off the shelf and grow your own - they are so easily pleased you will wonder why you never did it before. - Lucy Watson