Hermine’s candies sweetened with history, love

For German-born Hermine Sittle-Kubista, each of her hand-crafted confections offered at her Coeur d’Alene shop is more than any ordinary indulgence: There’s a bit of history and a lot of love that goes into each bite.

Sittle-Kubista has long been a resident in the business strip along North Government Way, where her Clothes Clinic alterations shop has served North Idaho since 1996. It wasn’t until last year, however, that the long-time confectioner officially offered her candy to the public, renaming her shop Hermine’s Old World Confections: Fine Chocolate and Marzipan Specialties.

“There just wasn’t anything like this around,” Sittle-Kubista said in her slight German accent, about opening the Bavarian-themed confection shop, where a backdrop of the Neuschwanstein castle frames a full-size, wooden gingerbread house. And, she added, her old-world recipes for marzipan, an almond paste-based treat, and “Lebkuchen,” a traditional German baked good that translates into “cake of life,” are products that are better consumed when made fresh. “Because we don’t have it here, I guess I had a little bit of an idea that we don’t have to import this,” she said, adding that “we have the heritage and local people around” to make the confections the right way.

Sittle-Kubista’s old-world inspiration came from her upbringing in an orphanage in the small German town of St. Alban, where the then-extravagant and expensive marzipan treats were cherished items for kids to come by. Nestled into a valley in the rolling countryside, Sittle-Kubista said her hometown has remained largely untouched through the years. “There’s no developing going on. Nobody goes in, and nobody goes out,” she explained.

But that didn’t stop her from getting an education, especially in the area of the culinary arts. “You learn a lot when you grow up in Germany,” she offered. “I was a cook, I was doing restaurant work, I was cooking for 80 people. … So I have a background.”

While Sittle-Kubista’s job called for her to make an assortment of meals, she was quick in her youth to gravitate toward several of the richer Old World recipes, some of which have been handed down for generations and date back to the 14th century, she said. “It’s just a matter of opening your ears and your eyes, and it’s just up to you to learn things if you want to,” Sittle-Kubista said.

German classics such as the honey-made Lebkuchen have long been Sittle-Kubista family favorites. Even after moving across the Atlantic Ocean in 1963 as the bride of an American soldier, and later settling in North Idaho to start a family, Sittle-Kubista kept her oven, as well as that of the St. Pius X Catholic Church, busy. In the interim of running her clothing alteration shop, she continued to churn out crowd-favorite marzipan treats, which often contain the sweet paste in a variety of chocolate covered confections.

Last year, however, Sittle-Kubista and her second husband, Kevin Kubista, whom she met on Tubbs Hill 10 years ago while they were walking their dogs, added a full kitchen in the back of the shop. With a new business license, customized cooking space, top-quality marzipan paste from Brooklyn and an intrepid approach to trying new things, Sittle-Kubista began offering specialty and seasonal sweets under her own operational moniker. Her “feast of real traditional recipes from the ‘old country’,” a pamphlet reads, includes marzipan candy apples, candy logs and potatoes, hazelnut truffle bars, “cake of life” covered in chocolate and Coeur d’Alene almond nuggets

Still, there are a few items of note that Sittle-Kubista said she’s proud not to offer: preservatives.

“It’s a natural kind of thing, there are no preservatives,” she said, referring to marzipan. “Nutrition wise, I would say it’s better to eat than other candy.”

With the new business, the now part-time seamstress has been able to realize a long-time goal in letting her inner confectioner loose, her husband said.

“My wife does it all,” he offered, while she prepped some German cake in the still-gleaming, stainless steel kitchen.

“It was a dream of hers (to open the confection shop), and having a kitchen here instead of going to the church.”

For Sittle-Kubista, confections are more than a special treat; they are a reminder of the sweeter things in life, such as youthful times, no matter their country of origin. “There is a little kid in everybody,” she offered, adding that candy can act as a generational bridge. “That’s my aim. I just want to go in the kitchen and I want to make stuff for everyone to enjoy. I want to do the best that money can buy.”