Looking to cook something new? Give our Spice of the Month Club a try with a free sample of the spice, recipes for a main course and smaller dish or dessert to fit your needs or diet, and learn a little about the spice.

Spice of the Month kits can be picked up the first through the seventh of the month during the Library's open hours at our Morgan Memorial and North Suffolk locations. Kits available on a first come, first served basis. No registration required.

New! Bring back your previous month's kit box and we will refill it with new recipe cards and a spice!

August: Berbere Blend

This August we’re featuring a mixture from the center of the Silk Road: berbere. A spice blend that is commonly used in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine, it translates as “hot” and comes from the Ancient Ethiopian word for pepper, (papare). It is a complex blend of spices that typically includes chili peppers, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, among others. The exact recipe for berbere can vary depending on the region and the cook, but it is generally quite spicy and flavorful. Berbere is often used as a seasoning for meat dishes, stews and vegetable dishes, and it can be used to add heat and depth of flavor to a wide range of dishes. Along with peppery heat, berbere spice tends to be earthy and richly aromatic because of the sweeter ground spices used. Some liken its flavor to a combination of curry powder and chili powder. But because berbere spice blends differ depending on which spices the cook uses, there is no single universal flavor profile for the blend. It features in Ethiopia’s national dish: doro wat, a chicken stew with a red color that comes from berbere. You can also use it as a dry rub on meat or for roasting vegetables to impart a spicy yet sweetly aromatic flavor.

Recipes this month:

• Misir Wat (Ethiopian Spiced Red Lentils)
• Gomen Wat: Ethiopian Collards Mix
• New to the Kitchen?: Upgrade a favorite with Berbere BBQ Sauce

May: Galangal

June: Ginger + Hing/Asafoetida

July: Ají Amarillo