Friday, March 11, we hosted a small group of Florida-based chefs and culinary instructors on a harvest tour through the strawberry fields, farms, cooling and shipping facilities in Hillsborough County.
Meeting executive chefs, research and product development chefs and chef instructors who are teaching the chefs-of-tomorrow is the best way possible to spread the word about our scrumptious strawberries and to increase future demand from foodservice operators and chefs.
Based on the positive feedback from our guests, we hope to expand this program next year. Even these highly educated and experienced culinary pros told us they learned a lot about strawberries that they never knew before.
Chef instructor Jennifer Denlinger, CC, CHE, teaches at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Orlando. She was one of the chefs on the tour. Within hours of having visited the farms and other facilities, she invited FSGA to give a presentation to her students. We look forward to each and every opportunity to educate professionals and consumers about our industry.