OP: Culinary Herbs

Orange Judd Company, New York, 1912. Hardcover. Very Good. First printing.

Horticulturist Maurice Grenville Kains (1868–1946) approaches herb growing with the resolute ethos of self-reliance and economy. Inexpensive and easy to maintain, he argues, herb gardens offer even the most impoverished kitchens an opportunity to add nutrition and flavor to humble ingredients with a tony result. 

Kains is a generous guide through every step of herb gardening from cultivation to propagation, curing, storing, transplanting, and soil upkeep. The latter half of the book profiles particular botanicals with their history, physical descriptions, and growing and usage advice. 

The stems of angelica, for example, can be treated as celery, the leaves substituted for spinach, and the seeds used to flavor beverages and sweets or distilled for their oil. Hoarhound, though uncommon even by the publication of this book in 1912, could still be found in throat lozenges. The herb is also appealing to pollinators, and Kains praises the honey produced where hoarhound flowers are plentiful.

Our copy of Culinary Herbs is largely clean and unmarked, printed on sturdy stock and soundly bound. The stamped title on the cover is now rubbed and faded. A pleasant read and useful resource supported by black and white illustrations and photographs. First printing.