‘Checking Out’ a spice at Pine Plains Free Library

PINE PLAINS — Anyone with a taste for a home cooked Latin American meal need look no farther than the Pine Plains Free Library’s new “spice library” for inspiration, instruction, and the spices needed to make it all happen.

But beyond making a tasty meal, Library Director Dee Ann Campbell says that the decision to focus on the spices chosen is the result of the library working to “build a bridge in the community between Spanish speakers who often come to the area to help pick crops” and non-Spanish speaking residents.

Speaking of the new residents, Campbell says, “We thought it would be a way of engaging them with the library in addition to language classes — to have access to spices they might not be able to get a hold of easily in the community.”

Campbell, a former resident of Texas, says that the current spices includes Epazote, which she uses in preparing Tex-Mex Beans for a touch of home. Others, mainly from Mexico, Central, and South America, are Annatto, Guascas, Chimichurri, and Aji Amrillo, with a variety of others coming soon.

Cookbooks printed in English may be borrowed by curious cooks who who are not familiar with the use of the spices.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 20, the spices have been packaged in small envelopes and are available to all at the main desk.

Although most library loans require a free card from the Mid-Hudson Library System, Assistant Library Director Annie Mallozzi, recognizes that those wishing to access the spices are not always able to show the proof of residency required to register for a card. If that is the case, she says, “We don’t want to deny anyone access, so we will make it work for them.”

That bridge building effort also entails free English language lessons, which currently take place at the library at 7775 S. Main St. on Wednesday at 10 :30 a.m and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Additional classes are scheduled for Mondays at 6:30 p.m. starting the second week in September.

Campbell notes, “With this course, when school starts in the fall, we are going to have cultural exchange events between the Spanish speakers in our class who are learning English and the classes (at Stissing High School) that are learning Spanish.”

She says food will be a touchstone of that event where, “They will all get together,” practice their new languages, “and we will build a community that way. It’s a component of an over all plan.”

For more information or to check library hours which will change as of Sept. 1, go to pineplainslibrary.org. or call 518-398-1927.