Instructions

1. Purchase a book listing all the culinary herbs and spices with photos for each one (see the references portion of this article for a book).

2. Examine the herb or spice you are trying to identify. Note down its specific qualities, such as texture, color, size and shape.

3. Determine whether the herb is in its whole or ground form, as well as if it is dried or fresh. This can cause wrong identification if a spice is ground but is not in the picture.

4. Figure out how old the spice or herb you are wishing to identify is. Also, whether it is in seeding, flowering, or newly grown form, for this will help when identifying it.

5. Compare the herb or spice that you are wishing to identify with the photo of it in the book. Affirm that it is the correct herb by comparing age, size, shape, form, stage, texture and color.