NILES — It’s been said that variety is the spice of life, and Caleb Mohn has shown he’s happy to add spice to his life with variety in mind.

“My dad and I tasted it at first and it was the worst thing you could ever taste at the beginning, then we added stuff to it to make it better,” Caleb, 9, of Liberty, said with a chuckle.

The stuff he added to his initial attempt to create a potpourri of spices were salt, pepper and cardamom (a spice with a ginger-like taste), said Caleb, a third-grader at the Lewis Center for Gifted Learning in Youngstown.

He also added a stronger taste for learning effective ways to conduct business, courtesy of having been part of Saturday’s Youth Market Day at Eastwood Mall.

Hosting the four-hour event was Junior Achievement of the Mahoning Valley, in partnership with the mall.

Accompanying Caleb were his parents, Larry and Sarra Mohn, who helped their son sell his variations of spices, many of which included brown sugar as a main ingredient. Some of them were made to be added to meat products, and a few others “taste best on everything,” Caleb observed.

“Junior Achievement’s three pillars are entrepreneurship, financial literacy and career / work readiness, and this event kind of ties all three together,” Morgan Conley, JA’s program and special-events coordinator, noted.

A few months ago, JA conducted a workshop at Eastwood Mall to prepare for Saturday’s market, she said, adding that young people age 6 or 7 to 18 representing about 16 area businesses took part.

Awards were given in three categories: people’s choice, best of show-most creative and best product.

Items and services available included handmade pouches, bracelets, crocheted caps, keychains, necklaces, gluten-free treats, products for cats and a slew of landscaping services, thanks largely to Dante Deuley, 13, of Champion.

“I have my own equipment so far. I got a deal on a zero-turn from my neighbor,” Dante, a Champion Middle School eighth-grader, said, referring to a riding mower that has virtually no turning radius and cuts grass in a linear, striped pattern.

Dante, who helps run Wise Guys Lawn Care, added that he’s saved his money for about two years to buy a host of other landscaping items such as a power washer, a leaf blower, a weed trimmer and a push mower.

The young entrepreneur recalled having earned money from mowing a lawn for a friend of his mother’s. The result may have been shorter grass for the friend, but it also led to a growth in Dante’s interest in landscaping, he said.

His foray into the business world — reinforced by Saturday’s Youth Market Day — has taught him the value of hard work, being on time to a job, good money-management skills and the importance of saving money and making important repairs, Dante explained.

“He’s such a hard-working kid and I’m so proud of him,” his mother, Kristi Deuley, said, adding that her son also is a straight-A student who has soccer as part of his busy schedule.

“I sell sugar scrubs,” Olivia Adkins, 8, a Lakeview Elementary School second-grader, said about her role with Liv’s Scrubs, a Cortland-based business that specializes in a variety of skin-exfoliation products derived mostly from coconut or olive oil.

Olivia’s mother, Angela Adkins, said that her daughter’s interest in selling items began when she learned a few tricks of the trade on the popular social network website Pinterest.

Last November, the girl also began creating Christmas gifts and ornaments, which further whet her interest in selling things. Olivia’s efforts have the support of both parents, her mother added.

The 8-year-old also wasn’t shy about dispensing a few tips of her own that can lead to success in business for herself and others.

“Make sure you’re nice and friendly, make sure it’s the right consistency and full all the way, and work hard to get good,” she advised.