‘Rainbow salad’ tops KagES recipe contest

The “rainbow salad” prepared by sixth graders Mannelyn Cabrera and Leikita Maliuyaf emerged as the top winner in the 2012 Kagman Elementary School’s recipe contest, besting 23 other contenders in the competition held Monday on campus.

As the school’s top recipe, their entry will be submitted to the Public School System recipe contest committee and it will hopefully be eligible to enter in the islandwide competition next month.

This year’s winning recipe has these main ingredients: pineapple with peaches, mixed fruits, and young coconut mixed in lite cool whip and milk.

Lareyna Camacho, this year’s coordinator for the Kagman Elementary recipe contest, said the competition was held in the school cafeteria with 25 students from kindergarten to sixth grade participating.

There were two categories in the competition: the kindergarten to third grade division and the fourth to sixth grade division.

In the K-3 division, participants had to create something using one of the following fruits: banana, papaya, tangerine, mountain apple, or starfruit/carambola.

For the fourth to sixth grade division, the group had to make a recipe with one of the following fruits: mango, watermelon, pineapple, sweet sop, or guava.

“Students made a variety of recipes using their choice of fruit in a cake, smoothie, and even salsa,” Camacho told Saipan Tribune.

All recipes were judged according to taste, texture, presentation, and originality. Judges also assessed if the recipe is healthy: low in sugar, low in fat, or low in sodium. Additionally, all entries were checked if they are practical or economical to make on the island.

According to Camacho, the school-level recipe contest is in line with National Nutrition Month, which will be celebrated next month with the theme “Get Your Plate in Shape.”

She said it is also a way of spreading awareness of the new nutrition guideline, “MyPlate,” which recommends that half of plate meals should be fruits and vegetables.

Camacho shared that the students that joined the contest showed so much potential of becoming professionals in the field of culinary arts. They came up with their own recipes, even giving recipes their unique names.

“These kids not only learned about healthy eating but they learned so much more about food safety, food prepping, to the importance of cooperation in the kitchen. They were all so proud of their work and thrilled that they had the opportunity to make a healthy recipe,” added Camacho.