Week 2 of Passion for Spices™’s Art & Science Camp taught the kids and teens something new each day.
Day 1
Passion for Spices Chief Culinary Educator Chef Sam Kadko exposed the campers to having fun with yeast. The campers made herb focaccia and homemade pita bread, topped with with locally sourced ingredients. One of the older campers learned how to fire roast bell peppers. The younger ones divided and rolled out the dough for the pita bread. Chef Sam said “See It’s easy! You just have to make a spider with your hands, and roll it up like this". An exciting start!
Day 2
Guest chef, Executive Pastry Chef John Sauchelli, led the Cupcake Wars and the pretzel making. For the first half of the day, the campers twisted their own pretzels and topped them with either cheese or Kashmiri Garam Masala sugar mixture for a sweet or savory twist. The second half was reserved for the Cupcake War. The campers were split into two teams, the “Cupcake Cruisers” and the “Cupcake Bombers”. The Cupcake Bombers utilised the fishing nets, cupcake crumble ‘sand’, and blue sprinkles for a beach theme. They put all the "sand" cupcakes on one side, of their sand and all of the "water" cupcakes on the other side. The Cruisers used a floral theme, grabbing lavender and faux flowers to decorate the around the strawberry buttercream. What a fun day!
Day 3
Today the campers learned the basics of Pickling and Preserving. The young chefs had a blast using fun gadgets that they had never used before. They sliced up radishes to pickle in a red wine vinegar mixture, which resulted in a surprisingly sweet pickled radish with a complex taste. They made sweet and sour pickles from sliced cucumbers. Everyone gobbled them up with ham and cheese sandwiches on sliced baguettes slathered with Irish butter and the freshly made spiced cherry jam. Yum!
Day 4
The fourth day was all about Cheese! We made fresh ricotta, which they used for the Cannoli filing. The Campers enjoyed figuring out how much filling they could fit in each cannoli. They also made roasted tomato salads and parmesan with panellas, a sicilian Chickpea fritter. The day’s cooking lesson was focused on curdling milk and they learned the science of curdling milk and the impact of about acids and the ph scale on the flavor and texture of food. Another great foodie adventure for our campers.
Day 5
Guest Chef Scott Savokinas taught the campers the basics of making home ice cream treats. The Campers made ice cream and parfaits filled with homemade granola and learned to make an egg custard based French Vanilla ice cream. The Campers used the ice cream to make a no-bake dessert with an oreo crust and a chocolate fudge topping. The granola had a delicious honey taste and went really complimented the maple syrup used in the parfait. As the week came to a close, everyone went home happily with their stomachs full of ice cream, fresh fruit parfait, granola, and the no bake dessert. What a fun week !
