Rachel Benn (Extension Program Coordinator) and Jenna Smith (Nutrition and Wellness Educator) of University of Illinois Extension helped coordinate taste tests at both Dwight Common School and Dwight High School in Dwight, IL.
Food service staff prepared potential new side dishes to have students taste test during their lunch periods. The Common School students were offered a Cucumber Mango Salad and the high school students tried a Pineapple Broccoli Slaw.
The Pineapple Broccoli Slaw had mixed reaction at the high school, but a great number of students at the Common School enjoyed the Cucumber Mango Salad! The school staff decided that they will incorporate the salad into their menu when the foods are in season.
While not all students liked the samples, they were excited to give their opinions! Taste testing gave them an opportunity to try something new and directly impact the foods they eat in the cafeteria.
The Cucumber Mango Salad tested at Dwight Common School came from the Budget Bytes website. Although the recipe is not standardized, the website includes a tool that helps scale the recipe to larger quantities. However, we recommend adding spices and seasonings in smaller amounts at first and adding more to taste as you test the recipe to make it standardized to your operation. You will also need to determine the meal component distributions (cucumbers count as "other vegetables").
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