Creating a freshly made peach cobbler is one thing. Trying to make a frozen peach cobbler match that fresh taste is another.
That was the task in front of the four-member SMSU team that recently won the Research Chefs Association Student Culinology Competition in Atlanta, Ga.
Six universities from across the country qualified for the event, and SMSU's team was the overall champion. SMSU beat defending national champion Johnson & Wales University of Providence, R.I. Also competing were the University of Minnesota, Mississippi State University, Louisiana State University and the University of Guelph, Canada.
The team captain was KayLee Ryker, a senior culinology major from Jeffers.
Ryker attended Red Rock Central High School and began her college experience at South Dakota State University, majoring in ag business and agronomy before transferring to SMSU because of its culinology program.
"Culinology mixes culinary arts with food science, I liked that," she said. "That appealed to me, so I transferred."
The competition in Atlanta was to commercialize a dessert, with a main ingredient of peaches.
"It's a large project, and took a huge amount of time. We began last September practicing, and the Schwan Food Company was really helpful," said Ryker.
The team sent down its peach cobbler recipe, in frozen, commercial form, five weeks before the competition. They then prepared it, fresh, on-site. The object was to duplicate the taste of the fresh version with the frozen as best as they could.
"There were some changes to the frozen recipe. The functional ingredients, like gums and starches, things like that, aren't typically seen in a regular kitchen,"?she said. "We had some issues with the topping, also, so we went from whole butter to a butter blend. There were a few differences between the frozen, and the fresh."
SMSU's entry was pretty basic, she said. "Some of the others had a 'wow' factor with them. One made a foam to go with a sponge cake, another used liquid nitrogen. With ours, we were more simple; we concentrated more on the flavors."
Ryker called the competition "an amazing experience" and said one of the things she'll always remember is the way the SMSU students worked together. "I think one of the most important reasons for our success was teamwork. We worked together well, and had so much help from (Michael Cheng, Culinology director). We also got a lot of good advice from the Schwan Food Company."
Ryker will graduate in May, and will go to work for Kerry Ingredients in Beloit, Wis.
"They talked with a recent graduate who directed to our school. They talked to Michael and he directed them to me. It's amazing,"?she said.
She's on her way back from spring break in Florida, where she was able to get to the beach and watch the Twins play some Grapefruit League games. With a bright future ahead of her, she is looking forward to her final semester and beginning her professional career.
The other members of SMSU's presentation team were Chad Woelfle, senior, Isle.; Ashley Moore, junior, Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Stephanie Grau, junior, Ankeny, Iowa. Subash Yadav, a junior from Nepal, also accompanied the team.