Notes from April meeting "Balance the Load

May 2013
Announcements
The ACF meeting will be held this Monday, May 13th at the Walters State Campus in
Sevierville.
Directions
Speakers
Bee Friend President
o Pollination process in the garden
o Benefits to Organic Honey and cost.
o How Bees increase produce productivity
Dobbin Callahan- Administrator Tennessee Green Hospitality
o Sustainability efforts in the workplace
o Earning the “Tennessee Green” certification
o An attitude of renewal
Hugh Brewer- Brewers Mushrooms
o Shiitake Log demonstration, hands on
Alicea Abbey- Market Manager, Gatlinburg Farmers Market
o Market happenings
o Connecting with your market
Culinary Careers: Spotlight on Bakers
By Patricia Cecil-Reed
If you love to bake and want to use your skills to forge a new career, consider how baking
degree programs can help you attain your goals. Becoming a baker is easier than ever
with the training options available today. You can attend online baking degree programs,
campus programs, or combine the two learning styles. Read on to learn more about being a
professional baker, from different types of baking jobs to job outlook and salary ranges for
bakers.
What Does a Baker Do?
You’ve tasted the final product of a baker’s work any time you’ve bitten in to a delicious
donut, freshly-made bread, or piece of birthday cake. Essentially, bakers prepare breads,
pastries, and baked goods of all kinds for sale.
Mixing and measuring ingredients, following detailed recipes, and operating ovens and
baking machinery are all job skills that bakers use on a daily basis. Beyond the basic tasks,
some specialty jobs for bakers include:
Bread Baker: Baking bread is an art of its own, as bread bakers know. Although most
breads share the same basic ingredients, there are added ingredients and special techniques
used to produce an almost endless variety of breads. The delicate baking process for
making bread requires bread bakers to have great attention to detail and time management
skills.
Pastry Chef: These chefs specialize in making pastries, cakes, and other desserts. Pastry
chefs are also responsible for decorating cakes, filling pastries, and making the various
icings and fillings for these pastries. Many pastry chefs attend culinary school to learn the
advanced skills this profession requires.
Bakery Chef: Bakery chefs are usually experienced bakers who oversee the daily
operations of bakery kitchens. Managing employees, ordering supplies, and ensuring that
recipes are being followed correctly are all the job of the bakery chef. Most bakery chefs
attend culinary school for formal training and have years of experience in their field before
taking on this management role.
Bakers may work in a number of environments, from wholesale or retail bakeries to hotels,
restaurants, or gourmet food shops. Regardless of the setting, most bakers work under
deadlines, which can cause stress. A baker’s hours can also be outside the norm, including
early mornings, late nights, holidays, or weekends. For some, a love of baking makes up
for these odd hours, and other bakers thrive in a hectic kitchen environment.
How Will Formal Education Help You Become a Baker?
To make it as a baker, you’ll need a special set of skills acquired through professional
training, either as an apprentice or trainee at a bakery or through baking courses at culinary
or vocational school. Baking degree programs can teach you essential skills such as:
Baking bread and pastries
Making icing and fillings
Following recipes, mixing ingredients, and mastering baking temperatures
Operating and maintaining baking equipment
Nutrition courses
Health and sanitation guidelines
There are baking degree programs of varying lengths and specialties. If you choose to
pursue a specialized path (for example, if you have your sights set on becoming a pastry chef
or owning your own bakery), you can take baking courses in a number of areas including:
Business management
Financial planning
Production techniques
Wholesale baking
Menu planning
Teaching baking and culinary arts
There are plenty of chefs who have made it by starting at the bottom and working their way
up without formal training. On the other hand, culinary school can be a great place to start
your career with confidence. A degree from a baking program can show employers that you
mean business, and the internships you may complete while in school can lead to permanent
positions.
What Is the Job Outlook for Bakers?
In 2008, there were approximately 151,600 bakers in the U.S. Unlike other food processing
jobs, where employment is restricted to geographic areas with food plants or processing
centers, bakers are found in towns and cities throughout the nation.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that job opportunities for food processing
professions overall should be good in the 2008-2018 decade. Jobs for bakers in particular
should be more in demand because of the growing popularity of specialty baked goods. This
may be particularly good news for specialty bakers like pastry chefs.
A 2009 Modern Baking survey of retail bakers found most of the bakers surveyed reported
an increase in retail customers from 2007 to 2009. Moreover, 50 percent of the survey
participants felt confident that sales would increase through the end of the year and be better
than their 2007 figures.
Some bakers even speculate that a struggling economy has increased the desire for “comfort
food” like baked goods. Compared to larger indulgences, a tasty treat is still an affordable
splurge for most people.
Average Baker Salary
Baker salaries depend on a number of factors, such as years of experience in the field, formal
training, specific job title, and geographic location. The average salary range for a baker
is between $19,905 and $29,554 annually, according to PayScale.com. Salary ranges for
specialty bakers include:
Pastry chef: $24,775 to $41,962 annually
Cake decorator: $18,849 to $27,398 annually
Bakery manager: $26,591 to $42,691 annually
Your baking education can also play a role in your salary, with the following comparisons
found between a baker’s level of training and their hourly wages:
High school diploma: $8.58 to $14.10
Pastry and baking certificate: $8.84 to $12.12
Associate’s degree, culinary arts: $9.31 to $14.70
Associate of applied science (AAS): $9.76 to $10.82
Associate of science (AS), pastry and culinary arts: $9.08 to $11.00
Some employers may prefer to hire bakers who have completed a baking degree program
or taken baking courses. It is possible that formal training may offer an advantage when
applying for more upscale positions at hotels or restaurants. These positions may also offer a
more competitive salary.
If you have a passion for baking, why not turn your favorite pastime into a new career?
Baking degree programs can provide you with the education and training you need to succeed
as a baker, whether you choose to be a general baker, a pastry chef, a bakery manager, or a
bakery owner. Don’t hesitate to follow your passion -- enroll in baking courses today.
About the Author
Patricia Cecil-Reed is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a B.A. in
Literature from Sarah Lawrence College.
Why Buying Fresh and Local is Not Enough
By Olivia DeWolfe
As the green movement enters the mainstream food industry, more customers are looking for
choices that reflect higher levels of quality in their food. But for many diners, it’s no longer
enough to eat ingredients that are local, certified organic, and free from genetic modification,
hormones, chemicals and antibiotics.
Now customers want meat, poultry, eggs, dairy and fish from animals that have been treated
humanely--and not just for ethical reasons. They’re beginning to link food safety, nutrition
and flavor to animal welfare practices. In fact, a 2007 survey conducted for the American
Humane Certified (AHC) found that 58 percent of consumers felt the labeling of animal
products as humane was more important than organic or natural. But is the food industry
ready to meet these standards?
Chefs Are On Board
The concept of cooking with humane food is not new to professional chefs. In 2007,
Wolfgang Puck promised to serve only humane animal products in his restaurants. Some
chefs say they prefer humanely raised meat because the animals haven’t been sick or stressed
during their lives, which can toughen the flesh and degrade the taste. Meat producers are also
interested in potential benefits of raising humanely treated animals: a growing market and
long-term productivity of the animals.
Price can be a concern for both chefs and producers of humane food, since it costs more to
keep animals happy and healthy or to provide the space necessary for them to range freely.
Some critics say that because consumers have gotten used to the low cost and poor quality of
factory meat, convincing them to pay higher prices will be an uphill battle. But proponents of
humane food have faith that as consumers make the connection between animal health and
human health, they will be willing to pay higher prices. They also argue that as more people
demand humane food, the market will adjust and prices will become more competitive.
Standards for Humane Food
To meet the need for rating and labeling humane food, several independent organizations
have emerged. Created by the American Humane Association, the American Humane
Certified (AHC) program is a farm animal welfare standards program that provides producers
and consumers with independent verification of the ethical treatment of animals.
Similarly, Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) is a five-year-old division of the Animal Welfare
Institute that certifies and promotes family farms. The Global Animal Partnership is an
international group that also performs third-party audits and certifications for farms.
These rating systems are based on points for meeting certain criteria for raising animals
humanely, including:
Cage free
No crowding
Entire life on one farm,
Fed off of mother
Similar to the process the food industry went through to create a reliable standard for organic
products, there are still some bumps in the road when it comes to creating an industrywide animal welfare standard that includes all species, provides a way for retailers to easily
understand the rating system, and makes it simple for consumers to identify the labels.
Cruelty-Free Recipes Support the Cause
Chef Alex Seidel of Fruition restaurant in Denver--one of Food and Wine magazine’s Top 10
Best New Chefs in 2010--recently served a holiday meal consisting of recipes made solely
with ingredients from AHC producers to promote this new standard of animal welfare. Joining
the trend, Whole Foods is one of three large food corporations that has agreed to raise their
animal welfare standards.
Most chefs agree that what they serve has to taste good and be reasonably priced, but with
the demand from customers and the support of animal welfare organizations, more and more
are willing to take the risk of providing humanely treated products knowing it’s better for
animals, farms, customers and communities.
About the Author
Olivia DeWolfe is a freelance chef and writer specializing in all things culinary. She’s been
cooking professionally for 18 years, and currently runs a personal chef business called The
Olive Tree.
Urban Forager | Ramp Season
By AVA CHIN
Owen Brunette
A cloud of oniony fragrance hung over the glade.
In recent weeks, while traversing the wet, wooded areas of friends’ backyards in Greenwich,
Conn., and Westchester County, I discovered lush carpets of two-leaved plants under the
dappled light of deciduous trees. Crouching down low among last year’s foliage, I found
that while the stems of the plants in Greenwich were white and the ones in Westchester were
reddish, the air in both areas was filled with the distinctive fragrance of onions. Ramps. I
quickly considered the culinary possibilities — savory ramp pie, scrambled eggs with ramps,
ramps with morels.
The ramp — Allium tricoccum, a k a wild leek or wild onion — is a perennial that grows two
or three flat, lance-shaped leaves that can reach nine inches and resemble lily of the valley,
except for the reddish-white stems and the persistent oniony fragrance. (Note: lily of the
valley leaves are odorless and poisonous.)
Ramps have white, elongated bulbs, and they grow in clusters — so if you stumble upon
them as we did, you will most likely find a bounty crop. Ramps grow wild in wet, woodland
areas from Canada to Alabama and west to the Dakotas. In some parts of the South, where
ramp festivals have been popular for generations, they are considered a spring tonic. Here
in the tristate area they appear in April and May, coinciding with the appearance of morel
mushrooms.
As the Times’s Dining Section recently reported, some experts have raised the question of
ramps being over-harvested for commercial use. (Ramps are described as being of “special
concern” on the threatened or endangered list in Maine, Rhode Island and Tennessee; in
Quebec, ramps are a protected species and harvesting is restricted to limited individual use
only).
Having witnessed the abundant clusters of ramps growing wild on friends’ properties, it’s hard
to think of Allium tricoccum as being at risk locally. But since good foraging practices go
hand in hand with conservation, it’s always smart to limit how much one takes from a given
area. Even in these glades of backyard ramps, we collected only a few bulbs and a handful of
leaves, bringing them back to the city to enjoy sautéed with morels and a touch of cream, or
grilled under a pile of spring salad.
Ingredient of the Month
13 | April
Rhubarb
Ingredient
of the Month
Presented by ACFEF Chef & Child Foundation
and Clemson University
Ingredient of the Month
Rhubarb
is technically a member of the vegetable
family; however, it is commonly mistaken to be a fruit through its
association with desserts. In fact, rhubarb is often called "pie
plant" because of its popular pairing with strawberries in pies. It
grows as a long, red, fleshy stalk with poisonous leaves. When
raw, the stalks are crisp and tart with a texture similar to celery.
Different varieties offer a range of sizes and colors, but all share
a tangy flavor caused by oxalic acid in the long leaf stalks,
the only edible part of the plant. Red-stalked rhubarb is more
popular with consumers.
Healthy ingredient contribution
Calcium: One serving of rhubarb contains
27% of the daily-recommended value (DV) of calcium.
Calcium plays a major role in the mineralization of bone
health since 99% of the body’s calcium is stored in
the bones. Calcium also plays a major role in cellular
processes involving neurotransmitter release and
muscle contraction.
Tannins: Rhubarb contains tannins, which are
ubiquitous plant substances responsible for the
astringent taste found in many foods and beverages.
Tannins are actually naturally occurring polyphenols,
which belong to a larger group of chemicals called
antioxidants, and have recently been discussed and
disputed as possible cancer-reducing, as well as,
headache-causing compounds.
Vitamin K: One serving of rhubarb contains
50% DV of vitamin K. Vitamin K plays a major role in
bone growth and the maintenance of bone density.
It can slow the process of osteoclastic processes by
binding calcium. This can be extremely helpful for premenopausal women. Vitamin K also plays a crucial role
in blood clotting when injured.
Vitamin C: One serving of rhubarb contains
11% DV of vitamin C. Vitamin C is a highly effective
antioxidant and antihistamine. It is also very important
in fighting infections.
13 | April
Rhubarb was first cultivated in the Far East over 2,000 years
ago and was initially grown for medicinal purposes by the
Chinese. It wasn’t until the 18th century that it was grown for
culinary use in Great Britain and the United States. Today it is
cultivated outside in cool temperate climates around the world
and in hothouses, where it’s produced all year long. Hothouse
rhubarb is available from December to March, whereas the
field-grown plant can be found from March to October, with
a peak season from April to June. Because rhubarb is too
tart for most people to eat raw, it is usually baked or stewed
and sweetened.
Varieties and uses
There are many varieties of rhubarb, most of which fall
into two basic categories: hothouse and field grown.
Hothouse rhubarb is distinguished by its pink to pale red
stalks and yellow-green leaves and is generally sweeter
than field-grown rhubarb. Field-grown rhubarb has cherry
red stalks, green leaves, and a more pronounced flavor.
Before sugar became widely available, rhubarb was
cooked in soups and sauces, especially in the northern
parts of the world where it grows easily, like Siberia
and the Himalayas. Due to its tart flavor, rhubarb is not
commonly consumed raw but rather paired with sweet
fruits, such as persimmons, apples, and strawberries.
The bitterness of citrus fruits can also be a nice pairing
with the tang of rhubarb. Sweet spices like cinnamon,
cardamom, nutmeg, and ginger, as well as vanilla,
complement the tartness. Rhubarb is commonly baked
into pies or tarts and can also be enjoyed in preserves,
fruit salsas or as a fruit sauce.
Fun Facts
In 1947, the United States Customs Court ruled
that rhubarb was a fruit, defying the laws of nature that
maintain it as a vegetable.
Ben Franklin is credited for bringing rhubarb
seeds to the Quakers along the North American east coast
in the late 1700s; however, it wasn’t until the early 1800s
when rhubarb became a renowned ingredient for pie.
“Rhubarb” is the name of a popular 1951
movie about a cat named Rhubarb, who has been left a
baseball franchise by his rich, eccentric owner.
13 | APRIL
Ingredient of the Month
Storage
Fresh rhubarb can be stored in a plastic bag in the
refrigerator for up to a week. It can also be chopped,
placed in a heavy-duty plastic bag or airtight container,
and frozen for up to six months.
Serving size
One cup of diced raw rhubarb contains 25 calories,
2 grams of fiber, 15% DV of vitamin C, and 10% DV
of calcium.
Contributions for this article were made by Ana Veloff. The following recipe was created and tested by
Clemson University’s Culinary Nutrition Undergraduate Student Research Group.
RECIPE
Rh u barb App le Crisp
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
Filling:
4 small persimmons, peeled
and sliced
3 medium apples, peeled
and sliced
1 pound rhubarb, sliced
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon ground
cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ⁄ cup dark brown sugar
3
¾ cup quick-cooking oats
1 ⁄ cup chopped walnuts
3
6 tablespoons chilled butter,
cut into pieces
¼ teaspoon salt
1) Preheat oven to 375°F.
2) Coat a 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with
cooking spray. In large bowl, combine persimmon, apple
slices, rhubarb, sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, and
ginger; toss to mix well. Pour into baking dish.
3) Place all the topping ingredients (flour, sugar, oats,
Nutrition Information
Calories: 260
Fat: 10g
Sat. Fat: 5g
Carbs: 41g
Sodium: 20mg
Fiber: 4g
Sugars: 20g
Protein: 3g
Vitamin A: 6% Vitamin C: 20%
Calcium: 6%
Iron: 8%
nuts, butter and salt) in a food processor and process
until the mixture is crumbly (looks like coarse meal)
and there are no large pieces of butter visible. (This
can also be done with a pastry blender, two forks or
your fingertips.) Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over
persimmon mixture.
4) Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until topping is golden
brown. Serve warm.
This recipe was created and tested by Clemson University’s Culinary Nutrition Undergraduate Student Research Group.
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