On December 2020, California Raisins held the first edition of the contest “Christmas Bread” with Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos, A.C. (COMEPAN A.C.).- Mexican Bakers’ Guild The contest was open for every bakery lover with or without experience, but with the same passion: baking.
The objective of the contest was to create a Christmas bread recipe with a unique condition: the bread must include California raisins. The participants sent at least 3 photos in high definition along with a short story about what inspired them to make that recipe. All recipes were presented and submitted for qualification to the jury, with Paulina Herrera, Miren Karmele, Carlos Ramírez, Pietro Lembo and Kenny Kuri; Mexican chefs and bakers that support the Bakery Sector in Mexico.
For the first edition, COMEPAN receive a total of 27 participant recipes, and selected 5 winners who surprised the jury with their Christmas bread recipe and receive $100USD as a prize. Among them was Daniel Sánchez who obtained 1st place in the contest with his product “Christmas Basket”.
After the contest, Pasitas de California developed a digital recipe book with all the creations of the 27 participants who showed their creativity, talent and Christmas spirit into a baked product that captivated the jury at first glance. (link a Receta)
About COMEPAN A.C.
The Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos (Mexican Bakers’ Guild) is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in general who share the philosophy of good bread and good baking practices to obtain it, as well as the interest in professionalization and social valuation of the baker’s trade in Mexico.
On behalf of the Western United States Agricultural Trade Association (WUSATA) and coordinated by Beto Lanz 15 companies participated in the first recipe program in Mexico with the main objective of promoting value-added food and beverage products in the Mexican gastronomic industry.
The chefs who participated were Chef Pablo Salas, from Amaranta Restaurant; Josefina Santa Cruz, from Sesame; Chuy Elizondo, from Benell; Oscar Herrera, from Flor de Nogal; and Bianca Castro, from Biscottis Bakery. The companies that participated in this first recipe program were Agropur, Northwest Hazelnuts, Farmer’s Rice, Fresh Nature Foods, Barber’s food, Limoneira, Smile Foods, Royal Ridge, Shining Ocean, Pure palms, Jacey Cakes, Colorado Potatoes, Traina Foods, Bow & Arrow and Sadaf Foods.
Each company selected one chef to received the ingredients . Among those products were surimi, dried apricots, hazelnuts, fresh green garbanzo beans, potatoes, and gouda cheese. Each product with a different flavor and origin.
The recipes developed were published on the Chefs’ social networks and reposted on the official WUSATA social media pages, resulting in + 2, 218, 290 people reached and 1, 028, 900 views.
As part of the “Taste of the West” campaign, and with the challenge to communicate where to buy the products to consumers Wusata had communication through Walmart and HEB channels.
The campaign was achieved through digital advertising in both chains, a Landing page was created with all the products from the promotion, also banners on website and offsite communication (materials through social media). There was a total of 1103% growth in visits compared to the season without promotion and more than 9,600 interactions with consumers on the banners.
At the end of this project, a digital recipe book was developed now available in: https://issuu.com/home/published/taste_of_the_west_original
The month of August began with two online seminars in collaboration with the Mexican Bakers Guild (COMEPAN), a project created by Chefs and Bakers: Irving Quiroz, Bernardo Flores, Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure. The event was sponsored by Real California Milk, California Raisins, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Monterrey Office.
The invitation was open to the general public with the aim of captivating enthusiasts for the bakery that could later be part of the guild itself. The Seminar was carried out on two dates; August 12 for Mexico City and August 13 for Monterrey, achieving a total record of 3,081 people who connected from Mexico, the United States, Spain and Colombia.
The first date was covered with the participation of Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure who produce Cocoa Bread with pasitas, Vienna Bread, Rye Bread and Peasant Bread. On the other hand, Bernardo Flores and Irving Quiroz showed the techniques For achieving a low fermentation Ciabatta, Marbling Box Bread, Sourdough with Oat Atole and Dark Chocolate Babka.
View stream:
Results.
The Mexican Bakers Guild is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals and entrepreneurs in general who share the philosophy of the goodness of bread. A survey was conducted to explore the opinion and segments of attendees:
| Type of Industry | % |
| Consumer | 22% |
| Distributor | 1% |
| Foodservice | 5% |
| Other | 32% |
| Bakery | 40% |
———————————————————————————————————-
| What type of content would you like for future seminars? | % |
| Interviews | 0% |
| Explanation of ingredients | 7% |
| Recipes | 18% |
| Baking techniques | 70% |
| Tips | 5% |
On June 17, an online seminar was held for more than 1,000 registered participants taught by Chef Irving Quiroz where he spoke about the importance of butter as a key ingredient in baking.
During the 90-minute session, Chef Irving Quiroz shared his knowledge and experiences with butter, highlighting the importance of quality butter, the optimum temperature for different types of baking, and the process of sifting the flour and fermenting the dough. Also, he explained the differences between a margarine and butter, an important characteristic at the end of the baking.
Chef Irving Quiroz baked: Conchas Gourmet, Chocolate Chip Cookies and a little-known bread in Mexico called Kouign Amann, a typical bread from the French region of Bretagne that means “Butter tart” and which has a special cold-rolling process. The digital recipe book was available to download at www.lechedecalifornia.com
The event was moderated by Beto Lanz, author and journalist about travel and gastronomy in Mexico and the world. Beto emphasized the origin, the process and the flavor of California Butter in addition to answering the participants’ questions.
Webinar record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=358uKQGoLEw
On May 27th, Imalinx organized a Bakery Webinar with Chef Irving Quiroz to talk about the “Uses of California Raisins i bakery” The Chef developed 3 recipes with raisins as the main ingredient and he explained the process of each one during the webinar.
The webinar was broadcasted on Zoom with a total of 461 registered attendees and 311 total users during 90 minutes. The webinar was also shared on Facebook Live , generating 604 more live views with the possibility of watching again, reaching 32k views by the end of May!
The activity was a total success, especially during this period where people are at home eager to learn something new every day. After the webinar we received many comments asking where to buy California Raisins, sharing their own recipes and greetings for making this webinar.
In January, representatives of the California Milk Advisory Board met in Koh Samui, Thailand where the global strategy was reviewed. For two days, the representatives were in meetings so that together they could give feedback from past years to continue improving. This year in Mexico the following objectives were set:
In October 2019, Real California Milk held the second edition of the California Dairy Products Contest where 8 teams competed for a trip to Napa, California. The Food & Wine team showed by Chef Antonio Garrido and Chef Mariana Rojas surprised the jury with their dishes and became winners of the Training in Trends and handling of dairy products, based at the CIA, Copia in Napa, California.
In January 2020, the chefs of Food & Wine Table and Chef Abraham Alanis of Laben Foodservice travel to California to receive the training. During the trip, the chefs visited Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese where they participated in a Culinary Trends Workshop 2020 presented by CIA executive chefs, Brad Barnes & Barbara Alexander who also offered a culinary and tasting experience with their own recipes made with California dairy products.
They had a tour in the Farmstead Cheese, to learn about the quality processes of Real California Milk and the animal care, one of the main characteristics of Real California Milk dairy products. The last day the chefs had the experience of cooking at the CIA facilities, Copy being part of multiculturalism reflected in the dishes of chefs from different parts of the world.
Antonio Garrido, Mariana Rojas, and Abraham Lanis went back home with the knowledge and dairy training to be implemented in their kitchens and processes in order to offer quality and flavor in their recipes.
Imalix supported the process of insertion into the Mexican market of products with the seal of the California Dairy Commission. Negotiations were worked out from 2018, until this year we were able to find cheeses and Ice Cream in supermarket chains at Mexico.
In Walmart we can find 12 new flavors of Crystal Creamery Ice Cream that were supported with point of sale activities and a digital communication program for the launch. The 4 months after sales was increased by 400 %.
Soriana Chain Price Club, City Club, introduced two desserts with ice cream and, one specialty lychee flavor. Sales have grown steadily by 93 % compared to normal and sampling days. It also opened the doors of its catalogue to some specialty cheeses such as Monterey Jack, Cheddar and Provolone. Promotional activities were created for the sliced product and, sales increased by 500 % on samplings days against normal.
Calimax, a regional chain with 98 stores, introduced 21 new products into 20% of its stores. Sierra Nevada, Point Reyes and Fiscalini are part of the catalogue and presented in the “Rincón del Sabor” island with deli products in the shops.
Laben in Monterrey will make its third cheese import under the DiStefano brand in six different presentations between the products of Fiore di Latte, Artisanal Burrata and, Fresh Mozzarella.
On the other hand, Ochoa Dairy Products in May began importing cream cheese under the Smithfield brand of the Savencia processor. This product is a second choice of California Cream Cheese at the state of Baja California.
As part of the Diversification Strategy for California Raisins, activities were developed to share the brand’s message in other regions of the country where the Artisanal Bakery is growing; covering this year it was delivered at Mexico City, Puebla, Tijuana and, Monterrey.
The seminar was taught by Dr. and Baker Master Klaus Tenbergen and, food scientist Dr. Priscilla Santiago with technical expertise on Bakery and Raisins from California.
About 190 bakers attended, who received technical information and, the benefits of incorporating California Raisins into the bread. In addition, there was talk about quality standards, the seasons and processes of sowing and harvesting raisins, their health benefits and by products, such as pasta and raisin juice.
There was a total coverage of 20 media outlets at the different sites, representing a reach of 300 942 members of the industry.
The baking competition took place in Mexico City from April 10th to 12th with a total of 12 participant teams, consisting of Baker Chefs and a Sous Chefs.
The event lasted 3 days and, 33 products were developed. Each team must bake a brioche, a croissant and an innovative bread with California Raisins. After the deliberation of the members of the jury, the team of the bakery, Saint Honore from Queretaro, was awarded first place.
The award was a Bakery Training at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California.