By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The smell of the fall and holiday season filled the air in the Community Room at the Sherborn Library, as they held a Make Your Own Festive Seasoning event. This workshop was hosted by Therapy Gardens who offers an array of in-person activities including cooking and nutrition, healthy living, and indoor and outdoor gardening. They specialize in working with libraries, senior community centers, and other living facilities throughout Massachusetts and parts of the New England Area.
This specific event focused on learning about and creating festive seasonal and holiday mixes that will not only benefit your health but also taste and smell delicious! Therapy Gardens employee Anne Bishop presented to all attendees about the different spices and herbs they would be mixing. Before starting her presentation, she made sure everyone received a handout detailing ten different spice mixes they could create during this event.
When presenting, each slide consisted of different health benefits of every spice and Bishop also mentioned other tips and tricks on how to use them. For example, Turmeric has many incredible benefits when using it, including being a strong anti-inflammatory. In order to attain the full benefits of this spice, one should use about a teaspoon a day and eat it with black pepper.
Once Bishops presentation was over, it was time for the most exciting part of the evening, mixing these wonderful spices together! Some of the blends they could create were a mix of both savory and sweet: a pumpkin pie spice, a mocha spice blend, a spicy coffee blend, a roasting blend, a baker's spice blend, and more.
Two very popular blends were named Holiday Spice I & II and these would work best in hot beverages or mixed together with whipped cream. Holiday Spice I included cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves, and light brown sugar. Holiday Spice II included cinnamon, allspice, cloves, coriander, cardamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
When it came time to mix all the spices together, Bishop mentioned that there is no exact measurement on how much should go into it. It really is up to you on how much you like the spice and/or how strong they are.
Each and every spice / herb that was included on Bishop’s recipe sheet was provided so that attendees could make whichever one they wanted. Everyone seemed to have such a fun time creating their very own mixes and were very eager to try them out at home!
Events like these are happening at the Sherborn Library year round. For more information on any upcoming events they are hosting, please visit their website at www.sherbornlibrary.org.
