Imalinx awarded the prize to the first place of the annual California Raisin Baking Contest in Mexico, Carlos Guido traveled to California accompanied by Sandra Corona, the product development manager of El Globo, the Mexico’s largest bakery.
Both had the opportunity to get involved with the process of harvesting California Raisin, learned the industry history, learned about the high standards of cultivation and packaging processes, which result in high quality products.
Between the bakery contest and his training in California, Carlos developed a total of 10 different products with the potential to be marketed.
El Globo had interest in knowing more about product availability during the year, to introduce at least 3 new products to the market in different seasons.
The Second Foodservice Cup of Bakery was carried out 3 days within the framework of Expo Sirha 2018. The aim of the event was to increase the product development and to show to the bakers the California Raisin versatility in baked products.
Annual Baking Contest was developed during Expo Sirha where nine pairs from the Mexican Republic and Guatemala participated in the event, which involved five bread categories that had to include the two varieties of California Raisin, currants and sultanas. The result was 45 baked products and the winning pair was the Corazón Latino company.
The prize was a trip to Napa California to visit the raisin crops and to receive a training at the Culinary Institute of America.
The Raisin Administrative Committee organized the Third Master Baking Seminar with the participation of the chefs and writers of the book “Bread, Flavor and Tradition”, Didier Rosada and Juan Manuel Martinez Solarte.
The seminar goal was to train chefs and bakers on the versatility and the process of California Raisin harvesting and its uses in bakery products. At the end of the event gift bags were given, the seminar recipe book and the complete presentation so that the ideas could be used by the assistants in their companies. The event communication allowed to reach to more than 210 executives chefs and bakers registered, from great companies as El Globo, Nestle, Hyatt and Four Seasons.
The Raisin Administrative Committee of California stablished an alliance with El Globo, a French-style gourmet bakery which is part of Grupo Bimbo and is a market leader in Mexico.
During the Christmas season, products were made with both varieties of Raisin, such as Fruitcakes and Panettone.
Samplings were made at 40 “El Globo” sale points for 80 days to boost the products sale. And marketing materials were designed and placed at the stores to increase visibility.
The purpose was to encourage California Raisins sales and provide information to consumers about theirs benefits, applications and characteristics.
An increase in sales of 2% for Panettone and 10% for Fruitcake were the results of the 6 weeks campaign. El Globo made its first purchase of raisin for the development of its products.
From June 8th to 14th, a trip to California was made with winners of the bakery contest from different countries such as Japan, China, Germany and Mexico.
For this year, Mexico invited the first-place winner of the Sal y Dulce Artesanos bakery and the owner of the Da Silva bakery, chef Eduardo Da Silva as brand ambassador to the country.
During this trip, the participants had a seminar on bakery trends at the Culinary Institute of America given by chef Robert Jörin. They also prepared their winning recipe at the CIA and they presented it to the California Raisins packers at a dinner party.
The group also visited the fields and factories of the raisins to observe more closely the process of harvesting California Raisins and what makes them unique.
At the beginning of September, the winners of the first California Raisins Bakery Contest in Mexico had the opportunity to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California along with a group of winning bakers and chefs from Asia and Europe.
Cultivation fields were visited, grapes were harvested and packing plants were visited.
In May 2016, the Master Seminar was held, and it gathered 307 industry professionals from Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Querétaro, Tabasco and Monterrey.
According to the figures, 73% of the attendees were bakers, 14% restaurant managers and hotel chains, 8% culinary institutes and 5% supermarkets and corporate chains.
The seminar was taught by Craig Ponsford, a professor at the Culinary Institute of America, accompanied by Bread Bakers, winners of the First California Raisins Bakery Contest that took place in Mexico City in 2015. The bakers developed 12 recipes to show the process during the seminar and share the best baking techniques.
The main objectives of the event were:
• Communicate the benefits and applications of baking with California Raisins, as well present its properties that make it a versatile product.
• Report on new bakery trends, such as the use of dough, fermentation processes, use of whole grains and benefits of wheat flour.
Attendees were invited to integrate California Raisins into their baked products and to participate in the Second Bakery Contest in 2016.
With the aim of motivating bakery industry professionals to use California Raisins, a recipe contest was called with the following categories: salted bread, sweetbread, snacks or the base for other recipes.
The winning recipe award was a course at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California.
And the winning breads were a concha with raisins and a raisin sauce for light fried pastries.
Imalinx as part of
the industry service program, worked in conjunction with the National Chamber
of Bakery and Related Industries (CANAINPA, for its acronym in Spanish) to
develop the 2 seminars, with the aim of presenting the benefits and
applications of cooking with the California Raisins, highlighting its benefits
and facilitating its consumption.
Both events were attended by 50 bakers…
Imalinx in conjunction with the Culinary Institute Corbuse, held a bakery seminar with the aim of presenting the benefits and applications of baking with California Raisins.
The evaluations showed that there is a lot of opportunity to integrate the raisins into the kitchen of new generations.