Fourth through sixth-grade students from Pineview Middle School, Mandeville Middle School, Little Oak Middle School, and Lee Road Junior High School joined professional produce buyers and food bloggers to select winning recipes of this year’s Sensory Experience Contest on Thursday at Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) 2017 Fresh Summit Convention & Expo.
PMA’s annual Sensory Experience Contest is designed to promote greater consumption of fresh produce at home and in schools and other foodservice settings, by showcasing the delicious flavors and beautiful colors of fresh fruits and vegetables in produce-centric recipes.
Judges tasted 10 finalist recipes, and bestowed three awards:
- Kids’ Choice Award: Mucci Farms- layered strawberry and mango dip
- Buyers’ Choice Award: Del Fresco- mini cucumbers strawberry boats
- Bloggers’ Choice Award (new this year):Green Giant- spaghetti squash pizza nests
The 10 finalist recipes that were judged were:
- Black Gold Farms, Thai Red Potato Summer Roll
- Crunch Pak, Apple Rings Flatbread
- Del Fresco Produce Ltd., Mini Cucumber Strawberry Boats
- Domex Superfresh Growers, Autumn Glory Apple Pad Thai Salad
- Good Foods Group, Mardi Gras Spring Roll
- Green Giant Fresh, Spaghetti Squash Pizza Nests
- Mann’s Fresh Vegetables, Mann’s Cauliettes Cheesy “Cauli-Tots”
- Mucci Farm, Layered Strawberry and Mango Dip
- Setton Farms, Pistachio Chewy Bite Watermelon Pizza
- Zespri Kiwifruit, Zespri Kiwi Frui-shi
Produce companies exhibiting at this year’s Fresh Summit were all eligible to submit entries to the contest this summer. A panel of produce industry buyers pre-selected 10 finalists to be judged by the tasting panel in New Orleans.
All the finalists’ recipes and recipe photos will be posted to www.freshsummit.com.