It's time to spice up your home cooking and transform your dishes from bland and boring to punchy and flavoursome with this definitive guide to spices!

Taking the periodic table of spices as a starting point, this adventurous recipe book explores the science behind the art of making incredible spice blends to help you release the flavour in your dishes. Discover a spice book like no other from TV personality, food scientist and bestselling author, Dr Stuart Farrimond.

Spice profiles - organised by their dominant flavour compound - showcase the world's top spices, with recipe ideas, information on how to buy, use, and store, and more in-depth science to help you release the flavours and make your own spice connections. There is also a selection of recipes using innovative spice blends, based on the new spice science, designed to brighten your palate and inspire your own culinary adventures.

Sure to get your taste-buds tingling, you can explore:

- An explanation of what spices are and how they're produced.
- Which countries favour which spices and a bit of the history behind it.
- Dozens of spice blends you can make and what you can use it for.
- 52 exciting recipes from around the world which showcase each spice blend.
- A reference guide to look up each spice to understand how to use it.
- Colour-coded charts to help you learn the chemical compounds that make up the flavours.
- Instructions on how to design your own spice blends with photographic references without.

Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe - it's knowing how to use the right combination of spices and herbs to get the greatest possible flavour from your dishes. From learning how the flavour compounds within spices work together to exploring the world's top spices, this is the perfect cookbook for curious cooks and adventurous foodies. Whether you're a fan of spice seeking to experiment with new flavour combinations, or simply a beginner-level home-cook looking to advance your knowledge on all things spice-related, this is a must-have volume also doubling up as a great coffee table book for the whole family to love.

Explore the world's best spices, be inspired to make your own new spice blends, and take your cooking to new heights. You'll turn to this beautiful and unique book time and again - to explore and innovate.

At DK, we believe in the power of discovery.

So why stop there? This series from DK is designed to help you perfect your cooking with practical instruction - and the science behind it. There are more cookbooks to discover from The Science of... series giving you the essentials to cook up a storm! Find the answers to your everyday cooking questions and get more out of your recipes with The Science of Cooking, paired together they make the ideal cookery gifts for your food-loving friends too!