University on Tour: Creelman Prep Kitchens and Bakeshop

Title: U of G on Tour: Creelman Prep Kitchens and Bake Shop

Description: Back by popular demand! Join a U of G Chef for an exclusive tour of the Creelman basement kitchens and the bakeshop. Did you know U of G kitchens process thousands of pounds of local harvest in the summer to use in menus during the school year? The produce facility provides a hub for chefs to process fresh fruits and vegetables during harvest season for winter use.  The bake shop allows our campus community to enjoy fresh hand-made baked goods with locally grown ingredients, Ontario dairy and fairtrade baking products.  *Registration is limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Registration: Register through Qualtrics!

Learn more about the two facilities that will be toured below:

The Produce Facility was built in 2012 and we use it to process fresh fruit and veg (mostly local) that we clean, chop, blanch, vacpac and freeze during harvest season, to be used in the winter. Some of the more interesting items we have done are 1200 lbs. of asparagus - frozen to be used in DIY pasta bars, asparagus soup and quiche - we usually process garlic scrapes into a chopped blend to be made into garlic scape pesto which then makes our aoili for sandwiches and burgers. We blast freeze up to 100 flats of berries each year to be used in compotes for catering desserts.  We chop, blanch and vacpac broccoli and cauliflower all summer to be used across campus in soups and salad bar/pasta stations.  This produce facility also allows us to pickle and jar many items for burger toppings at the 100 Mile Grille in Creelman Hall.  Local produce comes from many sources: 1. Produce Supplier - Green City Produce (we are approximately 45% local in season, and 25 - 35% local out of season.  2.  U of G Research Farms 3. Organic Farm and Chef's Garden 4. Ignatius Farm 5.  Direct buys from the Elmira Mennonite Produce Auction where vendors must grow produce within a 75 km range.  During the school year (September to April),  the Produce Facility acts as a central hub for daily product processing.

Creelman Bake Shop Our goal is to provide delicious hand-made baked goods for our students, faculty, staff & friends. From bouchon bites to custom cakes, squares and cookies, we use fine ingredients and have often baked recipes using Guelph's Culinary Cookbook Collection in the library’s special archives. Our specialties are offered across campus at many Hospitality Services locations, the Caffeine Canteen food truck, and our Conference & Catering operations. We are supporting locally grown ingredients, Ontario dairy, and fairtrade products in our baking