An estimated 1.75 million liters of commercial balsamic vinegar and 1,760 liters of traditional balsamic vinegar are sold annually. Noted for its rich color, intense fruity aroma and exquisite sweet-and-sour flavor, it has become America's most coveted condiment. It is now served in the trendiest restaurants and is frequently featured in gourmet food magazines.

For gourmets who want to learn more about this uncommon elixir and use it to add a touch of flavor to their own home-cooked meals comes The Balsamic Vinegar Cookbook. Featuring more than 40 tantalizing recipes that make the most of balsamic vinegar's assertive, complex flavor, it offers dishes such as Minestrone Modena-Style, Maple-glazed Balsamic Carrots, Salmon with Gingered Balsamic Vinegar and Strawberry Granita. An engaging history of balsamic vinegar combined with a fascinating look at how it is produced round out this tribute, which also defines terms, clears up misconceptions and provides a list of mail-order sources to ensure that readers have access to the best balsamic vinegar possible.

Whether you're a newcomer or an expert chef, this book lets you kick up your grill skills by adding homemade sauces to your repertoire. Along with fun barbecue lore, kitchen tips, and chili-wrangling info (including the quick remedy to use when chili residue gets into your eyes), there are recipes for one-of-a-kind barbecue sauces, salsas and jams, steak sauce, original Texas- and Louisiana-style sauces, Alabama Whiskey sauce, and many more. Learn the differences between grill and barbecue sauces, why ketchup is a kind of individual yet universal genius, and how to create your own delicious sauces.

Every aspect of growing, identifying, harvesting, preserving, and using over 500 species of herbs is provided in this compendium. Home gardeners, commercial horticulturists, and academics will benefit from the knowledge and the 165 meticulous botanical drawings in this text.

In a Nutshell is organized to reflect the way we eat meals today, with chapters like Nibbles, Dip It, Noodles and Nuts, and Family Style. Omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike will delight in dishes both simple and complex, from Almond-Crusted Mac-and-Cheese to Pistachio Biryiani. Culinary cheerleaders for the powerful team of sixteen nuts and seeds featured in the book, Tannenbaum and Tutunjian prove that nuts are so much more than a happy-hour snack.

The influence of spices is often overlooked when it comes to their place in the modern kitchen. They bring the whole world into our homes and have been transforming bland meals into feasts for our palates for centuries. This richly illustrated book is a must have for those who like to add zest to their cooking. Concise introductory chapters provide an insight into the history of spices, with basic facts to help you with regard to where to buy and, how to store, your seasonings. An additional short description is given to make sure you know when the different spices should be added to your culinary concertos.

The spices themselves are sorted by their different flavor notes into five separate sections. "Powerful and Dynamic: Earthy Spices". This section deals with such household names as coriander, cumin and cinnamon. "Fragrant and Delicate: Floral Spices" is next to come. The focus here is on delicate spices such as lavender, saffron and lemongrass. "Spices with Staying Power: Balsamic flavors" is the next chapter to inspire. Subtle favorites such as basil, rosemary and sage are presented. Penultimately we run into "Spices with Spirit and Sass: The Hot Ones". Chilli, garlic and ginger are just a few examples of the hot herbs and spices which provide great backing vocals for any dish. The final chapter deals with the "Exquisite, Finely Tuned Mixtures: The Big Hitters". These spice blends, such as five-spice powder, Ras el Hanout and curry powder, succeed in bringing the big, wide, world direrctly into your kitchen. Each spice is presented in a concise profile, providing their origins and distribution, and most importantly how they can be best put to use, with more than one-hundred mouthwatering recipes for every taste and occasion.

Across the country, communities are looking for ways to help increase and support local bee populations. Never has honey, aptly described as "liquid gold," seemed more precious.

Stirred into tea or spread onto toast, honey is a familiar tableside condiment, but in Homemade with Honey, Sue Doeden applies this ambrosial ingredient to a wide variety of dishes-- from enchanting sweets like Glorious Harvest Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting and Ricotta Pancakes with Honey- Baked Bananas and Pecans to savory enchantments like Honey Balsamic Black Bean and Mango Salsa and Hot and Sweet Peruvian Steak Salad. Flavorful beverages include a Lemon, Honey, and Herbs Cooler and delicious twists on toddies and smoothies. A generous and thoughtful guide, Doeden offers tips for storing honey during its unlimited shelf life and for rescuing honey that has crystallized. And she empowers home cooks to go beyond her seventy- five recipes by offering a primer on different varieties and explaining how to substitute honey for sugar.

Honey is sustainable, natural, and wholesome, and local varieties are abundantly available. Buzzing with endless possibilities for your kitchen, Homemade with Honey helps you make the tastiest use of this precious ingredient.