Purdue ~ Week 4 & 5

The weeks are flying by here at Purdue. Week 4 was one of our busiest weeks yet! We had the chance to tour Piazza Produce, one of Purdue’s largest suppliers of fresh produce located in Indianapolis, IN. After touring the facilities and learning about Piazza’s sustainability efforts, we also toured Piazza’s Garden Cut division, where fresh fruits, vegetables and specialty items are processed. Throughout the day we learned about so many aspects of processing and storage - we saw machines that could peel a cantaloupe in less than 10 seconds, held a 26 pound block of chocolate, and learned the science behind banana ripening from Garden Cut’s very own Banana Ripening Specialist (what a fun job title!) Our field trip was then deliciously concluded with lunch at R Bistro.

Starting off our tour day with some fresh fruit!

The conveyer belt that helps Garden Cut recycle scrap waste for composting

Banana Ripening Lesson :)

Zucchini and Pea Soup & Bacon avocado panini with tomato chutney

Bianca and I spent the remainder of week 4 at the Purdue Memorial Union (PMU). One of the unique aspects of Purdue’s MU is that it houses multiple stand-alone food venues (check them out!), ranging from an organic convenience market to specialty pizzas, fine dining, and an ice cream parlor. On Thursday we shadowed the manager of Pappy’s Sweet Shop, which still sells ice cream made from the original Purdue Creamery recipe. We even got to try some homemade fudge and shakes to top off the day!

We also worked with Purdue Catering to assist with food preparation and serving on Friday and Saturday. We helped prep and plate food for a banquet on Friday, and Chef Bryan took us under his wing in the PMU production kitchen to teach us some cooking techniques involving tofu. Saturday’s focus was on service as we helped decorate the PMU ballrooms for two wedding receptions and assisted with meal service throughout the evening. I really enjoyed seeing all of the details come together – who doesn’t love a good wedding?!

Week 5 then came and went in the blink of an eye. We spent most of our time tying up loose ends on various projects and “junk sculpture crafting” for our themed meal. We utilized some of our finest crafting resources throughout the week - hot glue and Mod Podge, of course! You’ll have to wait for pictures of our masterpiece reveal at our concluding presentation! Also, the most delicious part of the week was recipe testing Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal cookies for our menu. To ensure that the dining halls could reproduce our product, we took great care in documenting our procedures and measurements along the way to create a standardized recipe - definitely a fun and tasty task :)

Nutrition module display for Portion Control

Until next week...

~ Holly