A Celebration of Herbs: Recipes from the Huntington Herb Garden

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Summary: Fresh Herbs or Dried, these growers are great cooks!
Review: A Celebration of Herbs is a cookbook that pairs herbs with the right foods in the most tantalizing ways. Compiled by long-time herb enthusiast Shirley Kerins from recipes submitted by the staff of the world-famous Huntington Gardens, this high-quality book enriches our souls as well as our palates by offering us interesting and pertinent information on the herbs we are cooking with.

Especially helpful for beginning herb users is the chapter on "Learning to Use Herbs in Cooking." In this chapter, Ms. Kerins has outlined her "Eight-Step Program for Learning to Cook With Herbs" that is sure to make cooking with herbs a snap!

Growing tips abound and one would expect no less, since Ms. Kerins was the curator of the Huntington Herb Gardens for over 20 years. The traditional recipe categories are there, of course, but they are generously salted with helpful tidbits and historical information as one would expect from someone who has lovingly tended herbs for so many years. 

A real treat is the reproduction of 24 color drawings from Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal, published in 1737. One of the 60 known copies of this two-volume gem is housed in the Huntington's rare book room. 

This book is sure to become a classic worthy of the world class traditions of the Huntington.

Rating:
Summary: A Cookbook With a Difference - Learn to use Herbs
Review: Anyone interested in herbs and their uses for cooking will find "A Celebration of Herbs" a welcome addition to their personal library. The book opens with a short history of the Huntington Herb Garden. A section follows this on learning how to use herbs when cooking and includes a specific eight-step program. In addition to specific recipes, part of the point of the book is to teach the reader how to use herbs to enhance their own recipes.

Some of the divisions in the book include herb butters, sauces, pestos, salsas, marinades, appetizers, salads, salad dressings, soups, breads, pasta, pizza, vegetables, side dishes, main courses, desserts, jams, jellies, and beverages. Near the end is a table of herb names, descriptions, cultivation notes, culinary uses and comments that is extremely helpful when looking for something specific. The last piece of the book contains information on herb sources. For those interested in using various herbs to spice up, add zest, or otherwise improve their recipes this is an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: A Cookbook With a Difference - Learn to use Herbs
Review: Anyone interested in herbs and their uses for cooking will find "A Celebration of Herbs" a welcome addition to their personal library. The book opens with a short history of the Huntington Herb Garden. A section follows this on learning how to use herbs when cooking and includes a specific eight-step program. In addition to specific recipes, part of the point of the book is to teach the reader how to use herbs to enhance their own recipes.

Some of the divisions in the book include herb butters, sauces, pestos, salsas, marinades, appetizers, salads, salad dressings, soups, breads, pasta, pizza, vegetables, side dishes, main courses, desserts, jams, jellies, and beverages. Near the end is a table of herb names, descriptions, cultivation notes, culinary uses and comments that is extremely helpful when looking for something specific. The last piece of the book contains information on herb sources. For those interested in using various herbs to spice up, add zest, or otherwise improve their recipes this is an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: A Cookbook With a Difference - Learn to use Herbs
Review: Anyone interested in herbs and their uses for cooking will find "A Celebration of Herbs" a welcome addition to their personal library. The book opens with a short history of the Huntington Herb Garden. A section follows this on learning how to use herbs when cooking and includes a specific eight-step program. In addition to specific recipes, part of the point of the book is to teach the reader how to use herbs to enhance their own recipes.

Some of the divisions in the book include herb butters, sauces, pestos, salsas, marinades, appetizers, salads, salad dressings, soups, breads, pasta, pizza, vegetables, side dishes, main courses, desserts, jams, jellies, and beverages. Near the end is a table of herb names, descriptions, cultivation notes, culinary uses and comments that is extremely helpful when looking for something specific. The last piece of the book contains information on herb sources. For those interested in using various herbs to spice up, add zest, or otherwise improve their recipes this is an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Elegant, unique, and enthusiastically recommended
Review: Featuring more than 200 recipes, A Celebration Of Herbs: Recipes From The Huntington Herb Garden is the culinary collaboration of Huntington Library volunteers, staff, and scholars under the skillful editorship of herb expert Shirley Kerins and Peggy Park Bernal. Featuring a full range of dishes from appetizers, salads, side dishes, soups and breads, to entrees, preserves, desserts, and beverages, A Celebration Of Herbs is enhanced with excerpts and illustrations drawn from the Huntington Library's collection of rare herbals and botanical books from the 15th to the 18th century. A Celebration Of Herbs is an elegant, unique, and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, professional, and community library Cookbook Collections.

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Summary: Marvelous
Review: Ms. Kerins is a well known herbalist. Her book is informative, with easy herbal recipes & marvelous historical herbal prints.
For those interested in useing herbs, knowing where to purchase reputable seeds & plants this book is a winner !

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Summary: OUR SAGE ADVICE: BUY. EAT UP. COOK. EAT UP AGAIN.
Review: So much more than a cook's tool, this treasury is a welcome delight --- a well conceived, beautifully illustrated resoruce that's part cookbook, part history book. We thought we knew all there was to know about herbs: rosemary, dill, sage and sometimes tarragon. What we learned will serve us well, especially in those things we serve up in the kitchen. Released by the folks at the Huntington Library and Art Gallery in California, the book includes information on growing herbs, mail sources on where to buy fresh and dried herbs, and, of course, recipes --- brpken down by type, such as appetizers, main courses, jams and jellies, breads, beverages --- that will send you zooming to the nearest [store]. The stunning color illustrations are from Elizabeth Blackwell's 1737 book, "A Curious Herbal," a gem that's housed in the Huntington's rare book department. A celebration, indeed!

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Summary: Gorgeous herb cookbook
Review: The last thing I needed was another cookbook (I have a whole bookshelf full!), but this one was just too beautiful to resist. And in its own way, this book is different from any other herb cookbook I've seen before. Just as you'd expect, there are extensive notes about how to grow herbs and use them in cooking. But rather than showing photos of herbs, this beautiful coffee-table-type book has reprints of colorful botanical illustrations from the 18th century. The recipes are of course very tempting, from yummy herbed cream cheese dips to more elaborate dishes like salmon in basil cream or rack of lamb rubbed with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. I was skeptical about the apple rosemary tarte tatin recipe, but it turned out to be wonderful. Highly recommended as a cookbook, especially if you enjoy reading about herbs.