Put Your Skills to Work - Make Your Dreams Come True

The Southeast Produce Council is introducing an exciting new program. It is a student culinary competition that will provide scholarship funds for the winning students attending culinary schools in the Southeast. This exciting ground-floor opportunity will reach out to the future Chefs of tomorrow to include more produce on the plate than ever before. Culinary students will compete by developing innovative vegetarian recipes using a range of fresh produce items.

Once the Culinary Schools and their students are invited to compete, a group of judges will narrow down the finalists. The top six students will compete for the grand scholarship rewards during the SPC’s Southern Exposure Annual conference. In fact, students will be competing on the show floor during the Expo. The final competition will be judged by ACF judges.

This competition will follow American Culinary Federation (ACF) guidelines. Scholarship rewards will include: First Place - $10,000; Second Place - $7,500 and Third Place - $5,000.

Student Applicant Guidelines


Thank you for your interest in our R.E.C.I.P.E. scholarship program. Below are some guidelines and information that will be useful in preparing your recipes and submitting your application. Your first course, main course and dessert recipes are due by January 15, 2009. The six finalists will be announced by February 1, 2009.

Please direct any questions to info@seproducecouncil.com with "Question RECIPE Scholarship Program" in the subject line.

Best wishes and good luck!

Southeast Produce Council

Culinary Student Scholarship Program

2009 Guidelines

Student Applicants: Please read the instructions and guide lines below.

Pay special attention to the following. Your recipes must include the three platinum sponsors items. They are broccoli, apples and you must use Gourmet Garden herbs. 

You should also use the gold sponsors items which are oranges, peaches and carrots.  The remaining fresh produce items you use in your recipes should be chosen from as many of the silver sponsors items as possible. They are lemons, tomatoes, pineapples, celery, mushrooms and asparagus.

This scholarship program is being funded by the sponsors listed below. Be sure to use as many of the sponsors items as possible in your recipes. The number of sponsored items used will be taken into consideration during the judging process.

                          

1. All recipes submitted to the Southeast Produce Council for the Culinary Student Scholarship Program’s Culinary Competition will become the sole property of the Southeast Produce Council. The Southeast Produce Council reserves the right to use the Culinary Student Scholarship Program recipes for advertising, publication or any matter deemed necessary to promote the Southeast Produce Council’s Culinary Student Scholarship Program and its Student Culinary Competition.

2. The Southeast Produce Council’s Culinary Student Scholarship Program Culinary Competition will consist of two parts. Both parts of the National Finals will be American Culinary Federation (ACF) sanctioned. Part one will be Category S/1which will be combined with F/3: Vegetables: The individual competitor will exhibit knife skills, mise en place and basic culinary organizational skills. The competitor will have 20 minutes to complete the assignment. No advanced preparation is allowed. The competitors will be provided the whole and will bring raw materials to execute the assignment by the sponsors of this culinary competition. Competitors will bring their own tools including smallware, cheesecloth and /or towels, and plain glass bowls to display the finished products. The competitor is required to know all basic classical cuts. He or she will need to demonstrate three different cuts which will be drawn at random: this could include mandolin skills. Sample of cuts include: julienne, brunoise, batonnet, variations of dice, tourneed, rondelle and paysanne. Competitors will use a 1/80 count potato for each cut. Carrots, parsley & tomatoes will also be provided. The cooking portion of the competition will be Category F/3 - Regional Tastes / Customized Competition. The competition will be a vegetarian signature 3 course meal to include a starter, main course and dessert. The competitor will prepare 6 portions each. The competitor will have 30 minutes for set up, 2 hours to prepare & a 15 minute window for plate up. No protein substitutes are allowed in the recipes.

3. The competitor will submit his/her recipes to the Southeast Produce Council Culinary Panel, where the top 6 recipes will be selected. The top 6 candidates will compete in Tampa at the Southern Exposure Convention on March 7, 2009. Recipes can be sent by email or mailed to our office.

4. All competitors must incorporate a minimum of all the 12 ingredients below in their three course recipe programs. Competitors may use any other items in the common pantry along with the 12 sponsored items. The final six competitors, who reach the championship, MUST showcase the three Platinum Sponsored items in their final recipe program along with any of the other sponsored items and the common pantry items. 

Fresh Produce Pantry

Apples*
Asparagus*
Avocados
Baking Potatoes
Bell Peppers
Blueberries
Broccoli*
Carrots*
Celery*
Colored Bell Peppers
Fresh Herbs (minimum five)*
Garlic
Grapes
Greens (one variety)
Lemons*
Lettuces (two varieties)
Limes
Mangos
Mushrooms (two species)*
Onions
Oranges*
Peaches*
Pears (one variety)
Pineapples*
Red Potatoes
Shallots
Strawberries
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes*
Watermelon


* Indicates sponsored items.

Platinum Sponsors

Apio, Inc. Broccoli www.apioinc.com
Domex SuperFreshGrowersAppleswww.superfreshgrowers.com
Gourmet Garden Herbs www.gourmetgarden.com
Sahlman Williams Public Relations & Marketing www.sahlman.com

Gold Sponsors

SealdSweet International Oranges www.sealdsweet.com
Kingsburg Orchards Peaches www.kingsburgorchards.com
Grimmway Farms Carrots www.grimmway.com


Silver Sponsors

DNE World Fruit Sales Lemons www.dneworld.com
Dimare Fresh Tomatoes www.dimarefresh.com
Del Monte Fresh Pineapples www.freshdelmonte.com
Duda Farm Fresh Foods Celery www.duda.com
Keystone Fruit Marketing Asparagus www.keystonefruit.com
Monterey Mushroom Mushrooms www.montereymushrooms.com

Bronze Sponsors

Mission Produce www.missionproduce.com
Mann Packing Company www.broccoli.com