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The Magic of Spice Blends: A Guide to the Art, Science, and Lore of Combining Flavors Hardcover – December 15, 2015

4.0 out of 5 stars 36 ratings


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A pinch of this and a dash of that, and you'll be creating distinctive and delectable flavors in every dish!

Today, more than ever, we have access to almost every spice and herb imaginable. But it's the careful blending of herbs and spices that is the true art of the spice handler.

The Magic of Spice Blends reveals the secrets of creating and cooking with the world's classic spice blends from seven regions: Africa, the Far East, Europe, India, the Middle East, North America and the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America.

Chef Aliza Green guides you through the principles of choosing, working with, and blending spices. Join the fun of creating personalized spice and herb blends and knowing just what goes into them--no ancient, bitter, musty dust here! Find resources on where to purchase great quality herds and spices, even organic, non-irradiated. You can even grow your own and use them to make those wonderful spice blends.

Along with background information on the history, culture, and culinary uses of each blend, The Magic of Spice Blends includes recipes and variations for 50 spice blends and an additional 50 recipes featuring the blends, including: Spicy Moroccan Steamed Mussels with Charmoula (Africa); Vietnamese Chicken Bahn-Mi Sandwich with Chinese Five Spice (the Far East); Swedish Gingerbread Cookies (Europe); Grilled Vadouvan Salmon with Date-Tamarind Chutney (India); Watermelon, Labne, and Mint Salad with Lime-Advieh Dressing (the Middle East); Louisiana Spicy Boiled Crayfish (North America); and Jerk-Spiced Turkey Wings (the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America).

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About the Author

Aliza Green is a chef and food industry consultant. She has written thirteen cookbooks, including a James Beard Award winner and four for Quarry Books: Making Artisan Pasta, Soupmaker's Kitchen, Fishmonger's Apprentice, and Butcher's Apprentice. Making Artisan Pasta was named by Cooking Light as one of their Top 100 Cookbooks of the Last 25 years. She is also the chef-manager of Baba Olga's Cafe & Supper Club in Philadelphia, which marries global flavor with locally sourced, sustainably harvested ingredients.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quarry Books (December 15, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 163159074X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1631590740
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.8 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.25 x 0.63 x 10.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 36 ratings

About the author

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Aliza Green
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Aliza Green, the Philadelphia-based cookbook author, journalist and pioneering woman chef, is the author of fifteen highly successful cookbooks. Her newest book, Starting with Ingredients: 100 Delicious Ways to Make Use of What You've Got, a perfect and personable guide to help with the challenges of cooking today, will be released on July 14. Her book The Magic of Spice Blends (Quarry Books 2015), is a guide for the spice lover who wants to make his or her own fabulously fragrant blends and learn how to use spice blends to add sparkle to any dish.

Researching The Magic of Spice Blends inspired Green to gather a small group of food lovers to explore the wonderful spice-enhanced food of Morocco. Visit her webpage (www.alizagreen.com) for details about this small group culinary & cultural itinerary. Her next small-group culinary/cultural tour, Three Greek Islands, runs October 2-13, 2020. Other tour destinations for 2021 include Israel (March 3 to 13, 2021).

For soup lover's, The Soupmaker's Kitchen (Quarry Books 2013), is brimming with an international array of must-try soups, many of the vegetarian and vegan. Her Making Artisan Pasta, a step-by-step full color guide to making a world of fresh pasta has been garnering outstanding reviews and strong sales. It was selected by Cooking Light Magazine as one of its Top 100 Cookbooks of the Last 25 Years--quite an honor in a field of thousands!

Green's book, The Butcher's Apprentice, (Quarry Books, 2012) contains fascinating interviews with a rancher raising Japanese Wagyu cattle, a couple who produce Italian-quality prosciutto in Iowa because that's where the pigs are, a new-wave Jewish deli owner, a thoughtful hunter, a humane slaughterhouse designer, and an chef in Umbria who serves only meat from her family's farm. Interspersed are clear, full-color step by step techniques that even the novice will be confident enough to try.

The perfect companion book is her Field Guide to Meat: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Meat, Poultry, and Game Cut (Quirk Books 2005) earned high praises from Food & Wine and Real Simple.

The Fishmonger's Apprentice (Quarry Books 2011) is full of step by step techniques for working with everything from geoduck to swordfish, from abalone to crayfish, flatfish to round fish. Interviews with experts in fishing like the five Portuguese families who started the sustainable American Albacore Tuna Association, a third-generation lobster-man from Maine, the manager of the Honolulu wholesale fish auction, and manager of London's Billingsgate Fish Market, which has been in continuous operation for over 1,000 years!

Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market (Quirk Books 2004), was recommended by the New York Times, Men's Health, and Shape and has sold over 50,000 copies. Her personal favorite is Field Guide to Herbs & Spices (Quirk Books 2006), a compact guide to spices from around the world. Field Guide to Seafood (Quirk Books 2007) is a complete guide to choosing fish and shellfish. The series of four food field guides is a must on the shelves of food writers, editors, and culinary students.

Her masterly Starting with Ingredients: Quintessential Recipes for the Way We Really Cook was published to outstanding reviews. With over 550 recipes and detailed, practical, information about the background, culture, history, and uses of 100 important ingredients, this book flies off the shelves in the United Stated and Canada. Starting with Ingredients: Baking does for baking what the first book did for general cooking in 60 chapters. Find uncommon international recipes, detailed ingredient information, and dozens of invaluable tips.

¡Ceviche!: Seafood, Salads, and Cocktails With a Latino Twist (Running Press 2001), which Green co-authored with chef Guillermo Pernot, received a James Beard Award for "Best Single Subject Cookbook." Her book, The Bean Bible: A Legumaniac's Guide to Lentils, Peas, and Every Edible Bean on the Planet! (Running Press 2000), was described by Booklist as "a comprehensive guide to the world of beans and bean cookery belongs in every cookbook collection." When Running Press re-released it as as Beans: More than 200 Delicious, Wholesome Recipes from Around the World with new photographs and recipes, the book appeared in a New York Times feature on top holiday cookbooks.

The beautiful oversized book, Georges Perrier: Le Bec-Fin Recipes (Running Press 1997) features a collection of recipes from Philadelphia's landmark restaurant that Green co-wrote with the renowned French chef.

Green has conducted numerous cooking classes, and had many television appearances and radio interviews. As one of the pioneer chefs who helped make the city of Philadelphia a dining destination, Green began her career in the mid-1970's as Executive Chef at the renowned Ristorante DiLullo, where her culinary achievements landed the restaurant a prestigious four-star rating. In 1988, The Philadelphia Inquirer inducted Chef Green into its Culinary Hall of Fame, citing her as one of the ten most influential people in the city's food industry for her uncompromising efforts at working with local farmers.

Green cites her childhood, which she spent traveling and living abroad, as the inspiration for her culinary pursuits. She has been reading about, writing about and preparing and perfecting food for most of her life. Today, Green spends her time writing food guides and cookbooks, consulting to restaurants and other food businesses, teaching, and leading culinary tours.

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4 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book, both for the novice and experienced cook
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2017
    This is a great book, both for the novice and experienced cook, apart from the ideas it presents there is a wealth of information for making various traditional spice blends from all the corners of the globe. I cannot recommend it as a reference book highly enough
  • Beverley Stanley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on February 20, 2018
    Perfect Christmas gift
  • rick
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2017
    very helpfull book
  • J. P. Martinez
    2.0 out of 5 stars Catering quantities.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2019
    Bought it, and sent it straight back. Lots of the recipes are for 500g, 600g, or even 800g of spice blends. I do not need to make 800g of a spice blend to use within 3 to 4 months. It looks like this book is aimed more at the mass caterer than the domestic cook.
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