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Learn about a spice or herb, try it out at home, and come back to talk with others about your experiences with this spice club. Spice packet, information sheet, reading & resource list, and recipes provided. Meets every other month.
Call the Reference Desk at 847-259-6050 x130 with any questions.
Upcoming Club Meetings
Featured spice: Coconut Sugar
Dates Tuesday, September 29
Time 7:00–8:00 p.m.
Details Sap from tapped coconut flower stems is boiled down to create this sweetener, common to regions where coconut has been cultivated the longest.
Featured spice: Star Anise
Dates Tuesday, November 17
Time 7:00–8:00 p.m.
Details Whether you want to make your mulled cider stand out or try your hand at making Chinese five-spice powder, star anise offers plenty of scope. A spice with varied uses.
Past Featured Spices & Herbs
Revisit your favorite spices and herbs. To browse books featuring these spices, ask for help at the Reference Desk.
Featured spice: Sicilian Citrus Italian Seasoning
Details A twist on Italian seasoning adds citrus peels to the usual basil, oregano, rosemary, onion, and garlic.
Featured spice: Natural food colorings
Details Butterfly pea flower, cranberry, hibiscus flower, and mango powders. Battle the gray days with some color! Butterfly pea flower, cranberry, hibiscus flower, and mango powders don’t pack quite as much punch as the more standardized artificial colors, but they’re still fun to experiment with.
Featured spice: Green cardamom and rose petals
Details Kick off the new year with two ancient flavors. While they can be used in many ways, we’ll provide a bundle with a recipe for date and nut squares that draw on ladoo and khajur burfi for inspiration—naturally sweet, protein-packed, and imbued with the complex, fragrant scents and flavors of cardamom and rose.
Featured spice: Nutmeg
Details Nutmeg's rich scent and sweet, spicy flavor has been prized for centuries, whether where it grows naturally or in the far-flung regions where it is traded.
Featured spice: Galangal
Details Galangal is a cousin to ginger, with a distinct taste and scent that can layer fabulously with other spices.
Featured spice: Caraway
Details Caraway seeds are small, aromatic and were initially used for medicinal purposes before people began cooking with them. They have a complex, bittersweet flavor.
Featured spice: Sumac
Details Sumac, a sour, tangy fruit found throughout much of the world, has been used both fresh and dried since ancient times.
Food & Recipes
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Find a scrumptious collection of food and recipe resources including food culture, nutrition, and cooking instruction.
Cookbook Chat Newsletter
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Cookbook Chat highlights different sections of our cookbook collection each month.