Who's doing Culinary Lab this year?

Here are the students participating in this year's Culinary Lab with the Dairy Council of Arizona:

Michael Mengekamp, Liberty High School

Tyler Wells, Liberty High School

Jared Witte, Paradise Valley

Anthony Leon, Central High

Davinia Avalos, Central High

Conner Anderson, Basha High

Megan Berry, Barry Goldwater

Fernanda Ocho Jaquez, Glendale High

Austin Neanover, Glendale High

Alexis Cox, Flagstaff

Sierra O'Connor, Barry Goldwater High

Alexia Camacho, Coolidge High

Emma Verdugo, Glendale High

Alayne Kinlecheenie, Ganado

Parker Dage, Flagstaff

Zach Kaczanowski, Ironwood Ridge

Calyn Morris, JTED @ Mountain View

Allison Campbell, JTED @ Mountain View
Marisol Anaya, JTED @ Mountain View

We'll be following those students as they progress in creating their recipes and honing their skills with the help of CCAP Culinary Assistant Nicole Schwartz and several other CCAP Arizona alumni.

Culinary Lab returns this month

Twenty CCAP-Arizona students will participate in this year's CCAP-Dairy Council Fuel Up to Play 60 Culinary Lab, an in-depth experience to further develop kitchen skills as well as nutrient analysis and recipe costing and development.

$15,000 in CCAP Scholarships will be awarded through this program (sponsored by the Arizona Dairy Council), and students need not compete in the CCAP Scholarships cooking competition to participate in Culinary Lab.

Terri Verason, MS. RDN, Director of Nutrition for the Dairy Council of Arizona, says,

"We’re excited to have a new group of high school culinary students learn about the nutritional aspects and culinary functions of dairy foods, and to tour a dairy farm to meet a farmer and see how well they care for their land and cows.

 "This year will be much better because we learned so much by doing it the first time last year.  We held a separate Orientation Session in May instead of trying to squish it into the first lab session. 

"And we’re looking forward to having the students learn about the importance of breakfast and healthy snacking, and the history and use of cheese, then bring that information back to share with their fellow students at school. "

In addition to learning recipe development and costing, students in Culinary Lab also gain fundamental understanding of the dairy industry from farm to table and the numerous steps in between (including product development and marketing).

All recipes developed through Culinary Lab will again be included in a Fuel Up To Play 60 Recipe Book that will be distributed at Fuel Up To Play 60 events and C-CAP Awards Breakfast.

What's in store for Culinary Lab?

In between recipe development and presenting what they've learned (and how to replicate it) to fellow culinary students, this year's Culinary Lab students will attend four separate lab sessions.

They'll be finding out about health snacking, with an emphasis on Greek yogurt and Greek cream cheese, on August 27, and on September 24, they'll be working on health breakfast pizzas.  Then on October 29, they'll work on cheese dips and smoothies, making cheese and ricotta. 

On December 3, Culinary Lab will visit Danzeisen's Dairy in Laveen. With a line of flavored milks, high-intensity cream and specialty milk drinks, Danzeisen's is a dairy that's working hard to make milk products a major element of 21st century dining.

Culinary Lab results and scholarship winners will be announced at the CCAP Awards Breakfast on March 27, 2017.