Canola Growers Award Culinary Scholarship

Anne Ho, a professional baking student at Red River College, will be awarded the Manitoba Canola Growers Association Canola Oil Bakeoff scholarship. Anne’s winning recipe, Maccha Green Tea Strawberry Roll (included), stole the taste buds of the judges last November at the Canola Oil Bakeoff competition.

Ho will receive her $300 scholarship at Thursday’s Red River College Hospitality Student Achievement Awards Luncheon.

The Canola Oil competition was open to all Culinary Arts and Professional Baking students at Red River College. This is the second annual culinary scholarship that the Manitoba Canola Growers Association has provided.

"There were eight entries and only four were chosen as finalists," says Jennifer Simpson, Special Projects Coordinator. "The judges were delighted that the students presented such original and delicious recipes."

It came down to two recipes and after much deliberation, the winner was chosen based on presentation, taste, creativity, trendiness and a written explanation connecting the dish to Manitoba Cuisine.

A unique criteria to the Manitoba Canola Growers Association Culinary Scholarship is the written explanation of how the student’s recipe connects to Manitoba cuisine. Ho’s inspiration was green tea ice cream. Green tea is used in so many products—why not a baked dessert using heart-healthy canola oil and local strawberries to make it an impressive and delicious dessert with a modern twist?

The goal of the scholarship competition is to inspire new and upcoming chefs to utilize canola oil, the oil with infinite possibilities. This year, all entries were baked items from cakes, cookies, muffins to some creative desserts that could be on any restaurant’s menu. MCGA believes in supporting and encouraging chefs to experiment and incorporate local ingredients into their cooking repertoire.

The runner-up was Elise Evison, first term professional baking student, with her recipe of Snowball Chance…..In Manitoba. This is an extremely Manitoba inspired recipe.

"It’s a new twist on an old favourite," says Simpson. Snowball Chance is a simple bannock recipe wrapped around an apple and drizzled with maple caramel sauce.

The Manitoba Canola Growers Association is a non-profit member organization made up of canola producers who share the goal to develop and promote the marketing of Manitoba grown canola.

Winning recipes

For more information or pictures contact:

Jennifer Simpson
Special Projects Coordinator
Tel: (204) 982-2107
Email: simpsonj@mcgacanola.org