Passion For Spices Team is Excited For the Annual Around The World Cooking Camp 2019

Foods Of The World
July 8-12

The Foods of the World Program is geared to teach campers all about food and culture. Every year, the Passion For Spices™ Team identifies the countries we are showcasing. The children will be given an opportunity to learn hands on recipes from the Foods of the World and understand the details of food specialties and their cultural practices.

Arts and Sciences
July 15-19

The second week of the Around the World Cooking Camp consists of learning the arts and sciences of cooking. For example, kids learned all about yeast and how to make fresh Herb Focaccia and homemade Pita Bread. They also learned about pickling and preserving different foods.

The kids made a tasty Herb Focaccia which can be seen on the right.

Farm To Table
July 22-26

This third week of our summer cooking camp was all about using farm fresh and seasonal vegetables. The Passion for Spices team focused on teaching campers the importance of knowing where your food comes from, identifying in season fruits and vegetables, and creating fresh and summery foods.

Families Cooking Together
July 12, 19, 26

In our Families Cooking Together Workshop, you cook along with your family members and as a team and then enjoy the prepared meal. The class format is designed as a workshop where you will have hands on cooking experiences and learn class recipes and techniques.

Culinary Teen Competition
August 12-16

In this NEW addition to our summer camp repertoire, we put several teams of teens to the progressive culinary test! Our professional chefs will be working with each team everyday, and each team  will learn new techniques as well as how to plan, prepare, create and present a 3 course meal using mystery ingredients from our seasonal "market basket" along with open access to our "community pantry." Finished dishes  will be judged on presentation, use of seasonal ingredients, technique, flavor development, and teamwork. Based on their performance, teams are awarded points, with each team receiving a daily score. On the final day, daily scores will be added together and whichever team has the most points WINS!

As we showcase here, our young chefs ages vary from five to teen, and is organized in such a way that they learn at their appropriate levels. Our Passion for Spices™ team are well experienced professionals, who will be guiding and training the kids to get the best experience in this culinary journey.

We also make sure we provide a generous portion of the food we prepare so everyone gets to try the food they prepare including the "picky eaters", which we have converted many of them over the years.

This year we have some exciting activities for your kids including cheese-making and a chocolate celebration.

All  of the ingredients used during the weeks of camp are organic, fresh, and non-processed. Each day we have a totally different theme, but all to show kids that their food can be delicious, healthy, and sustainably grown!

Highlights of Art & Science of Cooking

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 !

Memories of 2018 Around the World Camp

Highlights of Around the World 2018 Camp

In five short days, the campers had traveled to the food scenes of Latin America, Europe, and East Asia. At Passion For Spices™ Summer Cooking Camp, the kids learn about the food and flavor profiles of regional dishes native to a particular country, which changes every day. From fire-roasted poblano salsa to chicken shao mai, Passion For Spices™’ chef, Sam Kadko, kept the kids on their toes in the kitchen.

Day 1: Mexican Cooking

During our brief stop in Mexico on Monday, the campers charred poblano peppers, removed the skin, and combined them with blanched tomatoes in a food processor to form a delicious sauce that the kids loved to spoon over their tacos. The kids also made chicken enchiladas smothered in green tomatillo sauce and stuffed with chicken and freshly grated Monterrey jack cheese.

Day 2: Spanish Specialties

On the second day, we visited Spain where the children prepared paella valenciana with chicken and chorizo. Older campers enjoyed browning the chorizo over the stove while our younger chefs enjoyed cutting summer squash and zucchini for a traditional Spanish tapas. The children made a roux sauce, frequently used to thicken other dishes.

Day 3: Asian Dishes

On Wednesday, we stopped by China for some dim sum. The kids watched excitedly as Chef Kadko showed them how to make pleats for the chicken potstickers. They also enjoyed making shao mai, an open faced dumpling. They also had golden egg rolls packed with mushrooms, noodles, and aromatics like ginger and garlic. Surely enough, we sent home a class full of happy campers with stomachs full of lots and lots of dumplings.

Day 4: French Delights

On his last day of this week’s camp, Kadko gave the campers a taste of what has long been known as the culinary center of the world: France. He showed students how to swirl crepe batter around a lightly buttered pan to evenly distribute the batter so that the crepe cooks evenly, while others used a portable induction cooktop to make petite crepes. The flatbread was filled with either an apple or chicken filling. In addition to the crepes, the campers baked citrusy madeleines. Once baked, the campers dipped half into a rich chocolate ganache, that was so good, kids were demanding it by the spoonful!

Day 5: Argentine Cuisine

Day 5 came with guest chefs Anita and Vicky of Summit’s own Anita’s Baked Goods. Together, they instructed the campers on how to prepare traditional Argentine empanadas, alfajores, and Argentinian gnocchi. Campers got to prepare everything from the empanada fillings to putting the alfajores together, which are cookies with dulce de leche (caramelized condensed milk) sandwiched between two sugar cookies. But the campers favorite part of camp that day way filling the empanadas.

Passion For Spices Team is Gearing Up for our 9th Annual Around The World Cooking Camp 2018

We at Passion for Spices™ offer a unique camp where kids and teens are able to come and enjoy an exquisite culinary experience learning about various cultures and classics around the world.

Every year we follow a theme, in the first week we learn about cultures around the world where our team selects the regions to educate the campers about the cuisine, culture, and people of that country. In the second week, we learn about the Art and science of cooking where they learn the basic science of cooking by preparing food and experimenting the ingredients. The last week is the farm to table week where they get introduced to a sustainable farm, where they can hand pick the produce and plan and prepare for the day. It's always a fun day at the farm!

Below is a shot of the Art and Science program, where Chef Sam Kadko is demonstrating how to make fresh mozzarella.

Our Young Chefs making fresh mozzarella.

As we showcase here, our young chefs ages vary from five to teen, and is organized in such a way that they learn at their appropriate levels. Our Passion for Spices™ team are well experienced professionals, who will be guiding and training the kids to get the best experience in this culinary journey.

We also make sure we provide a generous portion of the food we prepare so everyone gets to try the food they prepare including the "picky eaters", which we have converted many of them over the years.

This year we have some exciting guest chefs, including the pastry chef doing a cupcake war and savory and sweet pretzels, I am sure will be one of the highlights of the camp. 

All  of the ingredients used during the weeks of camp are organic, fresh, and non-processed. Each day we have a totally different theme, but all to show kids that their food can be delicious, healthy, and sustainably grown!

Here is some of the examples of our young chefs in action in our previous camps. In the Farm to table day we made fresh fruit crostata and the kids made their own pie dough and assembled delicious pies, and some of them took home for their parents as well. 

Kids learning to make plum crostata topped with homemade plum jam filling.

This year we are planning another great program with our young chefs and the Passion for Spices™ team is looking forward to welcoming them to our camp.

"Cook with Mom" and Create Memories

Passion for Spices invites you to come and celebrate Mother's Day by having a joyful cooking experience. Our team is ready to help you and your family celebrate this special day.

We have a few great ideas that will create memories for your lifetime and we promise it will be loads of fun and something special for you and your Mom.

At Passion for Spices our culinary professionals have various workshops and customized classes designed for beginners to experienced cooks.

Here are some examples of a family enjoying preparing authentic Japanese food.

This is one of our family culinary workshops where they learned how to make soba noodles from scratch. We used buckwheat grout created the flour for the dough. They learned how to make real soba noodles from scratch , and we are so happy to see that many are making fresh noodles at home.

It's always fun to cook with mom and make authentic dishes like empanadas. 

Here in our roti making workshop, the child is making authentic rotis from scratch. It is a fun experience to make food from scratch and the joy of cooking is something special. 

Our family workshops are designed for the entire family to come and cook together to have a good time. The children sit down and enjoy the prepared meal with their families. This is the best experience they have shared.