SUNDRE – A spicy new program at the Sundre library is intended to help patrons explore their culinary creativity and expand their gastronomic horizons.
Featuring a new flavour every month, the Spice of the Month Club at the Sundre Municipal Library was introduced in October with cardamom to get things cooking.
Patrons who harbour a passion for experimenting with new recipes that tease the tastebuds and provide their palates with tantalizing new experiences can grab what is known as a take-and-make kit at the library, which is located immediately adjacent the Sundre Community Centre at 96, 2nd Avenue NW.
“When they pick up their kit, the brochure contains the history and information about the spice, it contains three recipes that contain the spice and enough quantity of the spice to make those three recipes, plus a little extra for experimenting with them after the fact,” said Joy Willihnganz, library manager.
The kits are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.
Native to the humid forests of southern India, cardamom is known for boasting a distinctive flavour that both complements and enhances sweet as well as savoury dishes, and can be used in curries, desserts, and meat dishes or even beverages such as coffee and chai tea.
“We kept the numbers kind of low for the first month, not knowing how popular it was going to be,” Willihnganz told the Albertan during an interview before the holidays, adding there were initially 12 packages prepared to test the proverbial waters.
“And all of our kits got picked up within a couple of days of being available. So, we are planning on having a few more available than that,” she said. “People are interested in it and wondering what it’s about.”
As to whether any patrons had perhaps brought in some teasers of what they’d cooked up for staff to taste test, Willihnganz said, “So far, we have not had samples of anybody using their spice and putting it to work.”
That’s not to say they wouldn’t welcome the opportunity to do so.
“We are more than happy to do taste tests if they would so choose,” she said.
The second featured spice of the month in November was turmeric, which was all snapped up within about a week, and sage was offered in December with 17 kits picked up.
Opting to put the program on a post-holiday hiatus in January when people might be seeking a break from cooking, Willihnganz said the next spice of the month will be available in February when packages of paprika will be distributed, followed in March by Chinese five-spice and then finally wrapping up in April with caraway seeds.
Although new to the Sundre library, the Spice of the Month Club had already begun to brew in other locations.
“We actually read about the program being done by another library in a different location in Canada and thought it was a neat program to bring to our library, something different in that we have an active population who’s checking our cookbooks and have a quite an extensive cooking collection,” said Willihnganz.
“It’s a topic that is of a lot of interest to a lot of people,” she said.
“So we thought it was a great opportunity to bring in a unique program that people could do at home that would give them a chance to explore something different, have the supplies to do that different project and learn a little bit about it, and be able to tie that back into our collection of cookbooks and books that could further enhance their learning and all things cooking related,” she said.
“Our cookbooks are one of our non-fiction collection items that do circulate very well. There is interest in them, and it’s one area that we grow every year by bringing in new cookbooks,” she said.
“This year in particular, we had some steak books and some barbecue books that we added that people were really engaged with,” she said.
“Having this program is a great tie in to be able to draw attention to that collection and give people their options.”
