McDougalls' Young Baking Team of the Year returns for 2018

The McDougalls' Young Baking Team of the Year competition is now open for entries.

 

The competition, open to seven- to 11-year-olds, is now in its fourth year, and will see finalists compete at the live final at LACA: The Main Event, (Lead Association for Catering in Education) in July.

 

Entries are open for registration from today and this year the winning team will take home a jackpot £1,000 worth of equipment for their school kitchen, with four runners up also awarded £250 worth of equipment each for the first time.

 

The competition theme will continue to focus on local produce, encouraging schools to source local ingredients for their recipes helping pupils learn more about where their food comes from.

 

Mark Taylor, customer controller at competition organisers, Premier Foods, explained: "It is really important to us that the McDougalls' Young Baking Team of the Year competition helps develop children's cooking skills. Last year it was revealed that 41% of children didn't know that eggs come from chickens, so we're proud to run an initiative that can help rectify this knowledge gap.

 

The competition judges, Carol Harwood, representing LACA; Andrew Green, representing the Craft Guild of Chefs; and Mark Rigby, executive chef at Premier Foods will shortlist down the entries and invite five shortlisted teams to the live final.

 

Sarah Middlemiss, school chef at Chapter House Preparatory School, and 2017 winners, commented: "We were delighted to be crowned the champions of the 2017 competition. Our recipe was inspired by our school tradition of serving meringues with berries for our school birthday celebrations, and by our delicious homegrown strawberries from the school's very own vegetable garden. The experience has been invaluable for the children and I would encourage everyone to take part. The children have not only learnt new cooking and teamwork skills, but they have had fun in the process. Good luck to all the 2018 entrants!"

 

Schools can register their interest at www.premierfoodservice.co.uk and will receive a McDougall's toolkit within seven days which will include product samples, an application form and recipe inspiration.

 

Teams will be asked to create either a sweet or savoury recipe, which includes one local ingredient and one McDougalls' flour based mix for submission.

 

Key dates:

 

• Registration closes: 31 March 2018
• Recipes to be submitted: 4 May 2018

 

2017 McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year revealed >>

 

LACA member to run five marathons fuelled only by school meals >>

 

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