Andrew Langley is a knowledgeable writer, with his name to more than a hundred different books, many of them dedicated to food and drink. Among his formative influences he lists a season picking grapes in Bordeaux, several years of raising sheep and chickens in Wiltshire and two decades drinking his grandmother's tea.

Within these pages you'll find a pungent array of fantastic tips on all things spice, with useful advice from the basics of storing, and how long to keep certain spices, to methods for cutting, chopping, grating and grinding. Follow simple recipes for classic spice mixes, learn how to tell your garam masala from your chermoula and pick up tips for how to battle against colds, sore throats and even indigestion. This little book is peppered throughout with spice wisdom.