Author: Emily Brockbrader

Having lived in Cambridge for nearly a quarter century now, I’ve come to know a thing or two about the distinctive local flavors one can savor here. But for the past few years, I’ve become intrigued at spotting a vehicle around town with the words Cambridge Spice Company emblazoned on the window. Hoping to discover the savory secret behind this edible enterprise ensconced somewhere in my adopted home town, I asked the Internet to help me learn more, and it introduced me to Cecil Johnson Jr, another Pennsylvania transplant (like myself) who, along with his wife Ervina, a true Cambridge native, are the brains and inspiration behind Cecil’s Rubba Ya, aka “Seasonings with Soul.” The couple’s quest for healthier ways to serve up favorite hearty foods to folks they love has led them well beyond their original path, to farmers’ markets, food demonstrations, online as well as retail sales, the kitchens of local restaurants, and culinary awards, including the top prize for the original blend in a barbeque tasting at last year’s Cambridge Main Street sponsored Groovefest: Blues, Brews, and BBQs downtown end of summer festival, also in a cooking competition among area Hyatt Resorts by a Hyatt Chesapeake chef using Johnson’s blackening blend. For more than 30 years Johnson has enjoyed preparing foods with the zesty twang of barbecue for family and friends. But with health issues such...

Shane Brill likes to begin each day by tasting something brand new. But instead of rummaging in the fridge, or frequenting the local bakery, he forages for novel flavors in and around his own backyard, or while biking to work as the assistant director of the Eastern Shore Food Lab at Washington College in Chestertown. Brill brought his penchant for wrangling tasty morsels from the largely overlooked natural landscape to an Adkins Arboretum workshop held during the Fall native plant sale in September. First via photo overview and talk, followed by a “field” walkabout, he helped participants look beyond the familiar attributes of locally growing trees and shrubs — shade and scenic greenery — as sources of sustenance, just as Native Americans, colonial settlers had historically done, and as critters continue to do. One of these, the graceful Juneberry tree, offers luscious berries, so tasty that you have to be quick to beat the birds to them. (Once you tell your friends how good they are, you’ll have even more competition, Brill added, speaking from experience.) Another sweet treat comes courtesy of the Pawpaw tree whose unassuming green pods open to orange tinged tropical tasting fruit. Brill recently gathered 20 pounds of pawpaw he plans to puree and store for use in the Food Lab over the year. He’s also used the fruit to flavor ice cream. Birch tree...