College Cooks Up First Prize in National Blueberry Contest

First prize in the “Chase the Winter Blues Blueberry Contest” sponsored by the National Association of College and University Food Services went to SUNY Cobleskill’s Cobleskill Auxiliary Services Inc. (CAS) in the category of colleges and universities with 8,000 students or fewer.  The week-long culinary competition, held February 18 - 28, showcased the healthy fruit in more than 27 dishes and included everything from the traditional (blueberry pancakes) to the bizarre (blueberry pizza and blueberry ketchup).

CAS Executive Chef Dave Phelps and his team crafted unique blueberry dishes and desserts for each of the five dining locations across campus. The more traditional uses of blueberries included coffee cake, cheesecake, cream cheese muffins, pie, crisp, tarts, triffle and smoothies.  For the more adventurous, there were dried blueberry cookies, blueberry lemon pound cake, and blueberry banana bread.  Finally, for the true epicurean, there was blueberry barbecued chicken, pasta salad with chicken and blueberries, blueberry spinach salad with chicken, pecans and blue cheese, and chicken with blueberry salsa.  There was even blueberry butter for the spreading.

SUNY Cobleskill students were provide with fun blueberry facts and the blueberry special of the day on table tents, the Web site, flyers and posters around campus.  The blueberry bash culminated with a “Taste of the Blues” theme dinner in Champlin Dining Hall, co-sponsored by the Council for Student Activities (CSA). CSA held blue activities ranging from, find the blue object in a pie of blue whipped cream, to Totally Blue Twister, to a prize for the student who wore the most blue.

The prize is an all-expenses-paid trip for a CAS employee to the NACUFS Conference in Washington D.C. 

The Chase the Winter Blues Blueberry Promotion Contest was offered through NACUFS to celebrate its 50th anniversary in conjunction with the U. S. Highbush Blueberry Council to raise awareness of the healthy fruit.