Super herbs for health and healing by Michael Van Straten - Happy Juicer review
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For thousands of years man has used herbs for their medicinal
properties and flavours. Indeed over two thousand years ago it was the
Greek physician Hippocrates who suggested to his patients that food by
their medicine. Super Herbs clearly defines the benefits and potential
of the herbal pharmacy. Whilst not aimed specifically at juicing this
book provides a wealth of knowledge about herbs and their uses - this
knowledge can put to great use by including herbs in your juice recipes.
The structure of Super Herbs has been devised in a similar format to
Super Juice (also by Michael Van Straten).
Some pages are brightly coloured and some feature colour photos. The text
is easy on the eye as the pages are not cluttered and the incredible knowledge
and enthusiasm of the author really does shine through.
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Super Herbs includes 65 recipes (not juice recipes) that include over 100 different
herbs. The recipes are split into health sections such as Protective Herbs,
power herbs, mood herbs, aphrodisiac herbs etc. An excellent feature of the
recipes is a 'Growing tip' that regularly features with the recipe to advise
how the herbs in the recipe are best grown. The nutitional benefits of each
recipe are also explained. The herbs featured range from the every day that
you will find in any supermarket such as Basil and Coriander to the lesser known
such as purslane (which can be used as mild diuretic and anti-diarrhoeal) or
bergamot (which is often used for its antiseptic properties).
Sections of the book that are of great interest are the sections on growing
your own herbs, drying your freshly cut herbs and freezing your own herbs. The
freezing and drying of herbs can mean that you can still enjoy the benefits
of home grown herbs in your juice / food recipes whatever the time of year.
Super herbs also contains a comprehensive a-z list of herbs that heal and their
best sources, what they are good for and how they should be used. There is also
a 'Herb yourself better' section which has a common list of ailments and suggests
which herbs are of use in prevention / treating of an ailment.
Whilst Super Herbs isn't a book specifically aimed at juicing it provides a
wealth of knowledge that should be of great use to you in both your juicing
and cooking routines. You will definitely want to try out some of the recipes
and like most good recipe books, Super Herbs will make you want to try something
that you may never have considered / encountered before.
Happy Juicer
