A Sneak Peak at the Produce Facility and Bakeshop

Ten lucky employees got a VIP tour of the Tour Facility and Bakeshop in the basement of Creelman Hall during October's Healthy Workplace Month. 

Here's some of the feedback from tour participants:

• "Amazed to see how much organization and hard work is put into keeping the facility going on."

• "I liked the knowledge of local farming support, amount of support it provides across campus."

Learn more about the two facilities that were 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, vac pac 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 vac pac broccoli and cauliflower all summer to be use 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.  Items include; Smoked Roma Tomato Jam, zucchini relish, apple butter, pickles, cherry bomb peppers, spicy beans, Corn and Peach Salsa, Spicy Ketchup, to name a few.  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.  Direct buys from Elmira Mennonite Produce Auction where vendors must be growing within a 75 km range.  During the school year September to April it acts a a central hub for daily product processing.

Creelman Bake Shop is the latest foodservice operation in Hospitality Services at the University of Guelph.  Our goal is to provide delicious hand-made baked goods for our students, faculty, staff & friends.  Annie and Jessica, our bake shop cooks, put their heart and soul into every treat they create.  From their bouchon bites to custom cakes, squares and cookies, they use fine ingredients and have often baked recipes using Guelph's Culinary Cookbook Collection in the library’s special archives. Their specialties will be offered across campus at many Hospitality Services locations, the Caffeine Canteen food truck and in our Conference & Catering operations. We are supporting locally grown ingredients, Ontario dairy, and fairtrade products in our baking.