Desserts can be difficult foods for those who work in the hospital food service industry. These savory items are often distinguished by their sweet flavor and sometimes unhealthy side effects. But thanks to a new dessert trend, crafting healthier desserts may not be too difficult for kitchen staff members.
Breaking the norm
Culinary tastes and styles are always changing, and dessert is heading down a healthier road, thanks to the creative works of innovative pastry chefs. Food Management magazine published an article that cited the Executive Pastry Chef at the Harvard Business School, Andreas Horava, who noted that these ingredients also heighten the appeal.
“When you add a savory component to a dessert, it becomes more sophisticated, more upscale,” Horava stated.
Additionally, he recognized that the expanded palette gave chefs more to work with.
“Experimenting with non-traditional ingredients not only allows a chef to be more creative, but it also lets the customer experience new layers of flavor,” said Horava.
These interesting ingredients included black beans, cayenne pepper, leek and much more. Culinary imagination and proper preparation can turn almost any food item into a dessert. As such, food service directors will want to encourage kitchen staff members to run dessert experiments to embrace this new trend and reap its healthy benefits.
Have fun
Food service software allows directors to monitor their inventory, which can be beneficial for experiments such as this. Start with some easy ingredients like cayenne pepper and progress onto more difficult items such as leek once you get the creative juices flowing in the kitchen. Nutrition software can help kitchen staff members better gauge which desserts are healthier than others and focus on the best recipes and ingredients. Run taste tests and decide which recipes will most likely appeal to the audience. When a few have been established, adjust the inventory accordingly.
Offer these healthy sweets in the cafeteria and in patient menus. Food directors can use tray tracking features to find out which desserts are most popular among patients. Chefs can then use these indicators as jump off points, exploring other recipes that use the same ingredients or have the same flavors. Never be afraid to venture from the familiar, though.
Consider offering a unique and innovative sweet that stands out from the regular items to encourage the creative mentality that’s essential to food service.