Herb Companion

by Tanya Irwin, Jul 10, 2008, 5:00 PM

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First things first: To head off the inevitable responses in the blog, "Herb" is not shorthand for marijuana. This is actually a magazine about culinary and healing herbs.

Not that we've got that out of the way, let me say that even if you aren't about those kind of herbs -- the non-recreational variety that you can grow without fear of arrest -- you might still find some value in this magazine.

Ogden Publications has relaunched The Herb Companion, combining it with Herbs for Health after surveys revealed the two niche magazines had almost entirely the same readership. Beginning with the June/July issue, The Herb Companion adds natural health content to its cooking, gardening and body-care lineup. Herbs for Health topics now account for about one-third of the editorial coverage. The new tagline, "Grow Cook Heal," pretty much sums up the subject matter of all of the articles.

While the added material means larger issues, the current one logs in at a modest 72 pages -- meager compared to more mainstream garden and health magazines. And even with the combination, it's still a niche publication. How much can you say about "Basil: the Bold, the Beautiful" or "The Return of Chia." The magazine did devote five pages to the basil article, which included beautiful pictures of different varieties, a list of "10 Basils You'll Love" and recipes for "Pesto with a Twist" (add some lemon basil and sage) and "Pesto Pizza with Tomato and Eggplant."

If that last recipe sounds tempting, you're sure to enjoy the next six pages of pictures and recipes for healthy herbal pizzas. Since (wo)man cannot live on herb alone, included is Mario Batali's recipe for pizza dough, the base of his Pizza Margherita. I wonder if the die-hard herbalists are turning up their noses at this non-herb content?  You've got to wonder if the reader who would devour the rather academic two-page history of "The Herb Society of America" would dismiss Mario's recipe as "fluff."   
 
With the combination comes a redesign including larger photos, a new logo and a roomier layout. The art direction is generally pleasing to the eye, although some of Brian Orr's illustrations are borderline hokey (a drawing of a Guatemalan woman cooking to accompany Jim Long's essay "Judith's Cooking Lesson" struck me as a little odd -- but it was a difficult piece to illustrate, I imagine.) I did enjoy his rendition of a relaxing mouse holding basil up to his ears for the "Chill Out with Pesto" piece in the short-take "Fresh Clips" section, which includes news, reviews, people and places.  Each of these little news nuggets was interesting and worth the couple of minutes it takes to read one.

Besides recipes, there are projects for the DIY types. Six pages are devoted to "Stone Wall Beauty," which details how to plant a stone wall with herbs. The art directors found the ideal stone wall to illustrate the story at Powell Gardens in Kansas City, Mo.   Besides written and photographic explanations of how to go about getting the same effect in the home garden, there is also a one-page list of "12 Herbal Rock Stars."  The clever title made me giggle.  Who needs that other kind of herb, anyway?

MAG STATS
Published by: Ogden Publications Inc
Frequency: Bimonthly
Web site
 

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