Across the world, chefs are looking for new and innovative ingredients to help set their culinary creations apart. The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), along with the Raisin Administrative Committee (RAC), welcomed 26 professional bakery and pastry chefs to the United States to showcase U.S cheese and raisins and how they can be incorporated into bakery and pastry applications to create delicious products that their customers will enjoy.

Chefs from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Mexico and Germany participated in a USDEC & RAC-sponsored training mission in the United States, September 4-11. The participants were winners of bakery competitions in their home countries where they competed against fellow chefs to create delicious bakery & pastry items containing U.S. cheese and/or raisins. Their winning creations included items such as ‘Fromage Raisin’, ‘Cheese Bread of Raisin and Brown Rice’, and ‘Bianca Cream Cheese Raisin’ featuring U.S. cheeses such as cream cheese, gorgonzola, Monterey Jack and Colby Jack.

While in the United States, the chefs attended a training session at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Napa, CA where the instructors reviewed current trends in the culinary sector and presented unique, on-trend recipes featuring U.S. dairy & raisins. The chefs also attended a reception at Markham Vineyard in Napa where they had the opportunity to taste more than 25 specialty U.S. cheeses paired with the vineyard’s wines.

As the group continued their tour through California, they visited raisin growing operations and processing centers, as well as a dairy farm and Hilmar Cheese Company where they were able to get a close-up look at milk production & cheese manufacturing in the United States.

The trip opened the eyes of the chefs to the depth and breadth of the U.S. cheese selection and the endless possibilities for using cheese in their culinary creations. Chefs can keep on trend and introduce innovative concepts that meet changing consumer demand with the help of U.S. dairy products, which are key ingredients to many successful foodservice applications and recipes that enhance menus and bottom lines.

To learn more about using U.S. dairy in your culinary creations, please visit http://www.thinkusadairy.org/foodservice