- Savory Spice Shop Owners Jon & Janet Hauge
The Princeton Public Library continued its series Flavors of Princeton this month showcasing Savory Spice Shop on Spring Street. Co-owner Jon Hauge discussed spices and shared several menus with a Spice Up Your Valentine’s Day talk. He was joined by his co-owner and wife Janet Hauge, who is also a PPL librarian.
Hauge started out with his modified version of dukkah, which is an Egyptian spice blend. He pre-mixed equal parts of the following seeds: anise, cumin, fennel, black, brown and yellow mustard, blue and white poppy, black and white sesame, then dry roasted them in a pan for 5 minutes, lightly crushed the mixture. It was served in a few bowls. Attendees dipped long bread sticks provided by the Witherspoon Bread Company into olive oil provided by Carter and Cavero, and then rolled them in the dukkah. It was delicious and very exotic.
After speaking about a selection of spices they brought for sampling, Mr. Hauge then shared his black onyx fudge brownie with Chardonnay smoked salt recipe. While most cocoa goes through the Dutch process once, alkalizing it to neutralize the acid, the Savory Spice Shop’s black onyx cocoa powder goes through the Dutch process twice. Jon and Janet passed around samples of the brownies, which were so dark in color that I expected a bitter taste, and was happy that it wasn’t. It had a nice chocolaty, sweet and salty taste.
The Hauges had handouts available featuring 16 recipes using spices from the shop for four courses including a bisque, appetizers, entrées, and desserts that could be used for Valentine’s Day. There were even a couple of vegan recipes. Additionally, two spice samples were also given to all. It was a nice hour of information, recipes, tastings, and take-home samples, thanks to the Savory Spice Shop and The Princeton Public Library. You can view lots of their recipes online.