I hate straight drinking water but love drinking flavored waters. This book had many really good recipes for making flavored waters using fruit and herbs. The only thing that is somewhat inconvenient is that the recipes are al for large batches not single glasses. That is great if you enjoy that mixture but is a waste if you didn't care for it. Overall, it was well worth the read and they are great on a hot summer day. ( )

This is a very quick book, especially for those who want to expand their water intake. My school makes fresh vitamin water for us daily, and that is what sparked my interest in this book. I personally love cucumber water, but this book had some very nice recipes in it that I am anxious to try. Don't hold back your creativity! ( )

I received this book as a complimentary review copy. Neat ideas to flavor your water. Some of the recipes seem quite enticing. There is a short segment on the vitamin section but I would be using this as more for flavored water to get my daily intake. I like it but I probably wouldn't purchase it. ( )

Nice combination of fruits and herbs. A good way to add your extra water. I think the recipes are more for fun and entertainment than health. Probably needs to be edited by someone with a nutrition background. ( )

I received this book through librarything.com.

I wonder if Nancy Bellamy and Regent Publishing checked the trademark rules before publishing "Everyday Vitamin Water Recipes" because Coca-Cola Co. might not be too happy. "VitaminWater" as a trade name is locked up. I do see that there are lots of similar books on Amazon, though, so maybe Coke is asleep.

There are a couple of other things they might have checked too, like the book's science (wrong), its health and nutrition advice (bogus) and recipe writing conventions (flouted). Ho hum, what else is new? Is there really room in our lives for additional amateur cookbooks?

I was looking forward to receiving this book because I dislike drinking plain water but I live in the tropics and need to drink plenty of liquids. The book can be summarized easily. Take whatever fruit and herbs you have around the kitchen. Chop them up in interesting combinations. Salt or sweeten as desired. Add them to water and let sit for a few hours or overnight. Drink.

Now on to why you do not want to bother with this book. I am not going to waste time talking about the health nonsense at the beginning except to comment that a vitamin water must be miraculous indeed if brown sugar or honey can be added "without adding to its calorie count." FYI Ms Bellemy, water does not "absorb" taste or anything else. Water dissolves stuff. Recipes usually say "infuse."

At least one recommendation could make you sick. Ms Bellemy suggests boosting the health benefits of her potions by adding a few drops of essential oils because essential oils are "an important part of maintaining overall good health" (sorry, I can't resist poking fun). Flavor essences might make interesting additions to these recipes but essential oils not intended for food use can be poisonous.

What's up with fiber? Ms Bellemy says that vitamin water has lots of fiber. Well, no it doesn't. The ingredients have fiber but nowhere does she suggest eating them. Some of the ingredients, like vanilla beans and herb twigs, aren't exactly edible either.

The recipes are poorly written.

 Ms Bellemy prefers cutting her ingredients into chunks instead of mincing or muddling but does not say why. Science says chop. Water soluble components leech from surfaces faster than from centers and from cut or crushed surfaces faster than intact ones. The more surfaces of any sort you have the more leeching, so smaller or crushed pieces will be more effective. There are clarity issues with muddling but these are not mentioned.
 Nearly all the recipes indicate that the water is "done" a few minutes after assembly but then go on to say that you "must" refrigerate the mix for 8-10 hours to "chill." The science isn't here. Leeching takes time and if you want stronger flavors and more nutrients the water needs to sit. No need to refrigerate, either, if your kitchen is clean.
 Ms Bellemy does not mention that some ingredients (lime peel and some mints, for instance) add unpleasant bitter flavors if they are left in liquids too long.
 Ginger water is touted as "a healthy alternative to tea!" but the recipe contains tea.
 Pomegranate seeds are the hard dry bits inside an aril. The aril has the juice.
 Recipes containing ginger contain "ginger, ground" which is not the same as "ground dried ginger."
 One recipe contains "rose oil." Yuck! Use rose water instead.
 One recipe contains "wedges" of grapefruit. Probably she means grapefruit segments with membrane and seeds removed. Grapefruit membrane contains many bitter compounds and is usually discarded.
 The vanilla water recipe is really odd. Soak vanilla beans and then add some vanilla extract. I am not actually sure how soluble vanilla is in water. Alcohol extracts are more common. And do you know how much 5 vanilla beans cost?

The layout of the book is strange. This is an ebook so it is important to mark chapter and section divisions. Here paragraphs are not indented which makes the text look run together. There are no visual breaks between some sections. Photos seem to be intended for some section breaks but not all. Annoying. In at least one case the photo does not match the drink recipe it accompanies.

Some awkward sentences.

Finally what is with the order of ingredients? Each recipe has one garden ingredient first, followed by the water, followed by the rest of the ingredients regardless of the order of use. The water should be listed last if we were following convention. And there is no need to repeat the amount of ingredients in the Method section unless the amount is divided. "12 mint" leaves above is "the mint" below.

I do not recommend this book. ( )