From Sept. 12 to Sept. 16, Family and Consumer Science teacher Cheryl Clower’s first and sixth period Intro to Culinary Arts students participated in the Peanut Recipe Contest. The students used class time to come up with and perfect recipes for a dish containing peanuts. Students  traveled around the classroom and sampled each others’ products before a group of teachers did the same.

“Our local Culinary Arts students were encouraged to enter an original recipe for a Peanut Energy Bar.  The recipe had to contain whole or chopped peanuts as the sponsor of the event is The Georgia Peanut Commission,” Clower said.

Once everyone had a taste of the various peanut recipes, a winner was decided. Out of the six students who entered the competition, freshmen Paris Coventon and Lyndsay Martin, sophomores Serenity East and Annslee Tokar, and seniors Stefani Smith and Pikria Tsutskiridze, Coventon was declared the Starr’s Mill High School winner.

Coventon takes Clower’s sixth period Intro to Culinary Arts class. Her peanut recipe was a bar consisting of chopped peanuts, oats, chocolate chips, rice krispies, brown sugar, and corn syrup. She said she “started out with the basics and then when it didn’t taste good, [she] would add more and more to get the perfect product.”

A bulk of Coventon’s competition had recipes made mainly out of “chopped fruits and more chocolate which took away from the peanut taste of the final energy bar,” Clower said.

Coventon will be moving on to compete in Perry, Ga. on Oct. 12 at the Georgia National Fair, where she will go up against students from all over the state. Their peanut recipes will be tasted by judges and considered for the final winner. The selection of peanut recipes range from unsweet to sweet and are judged based on taste, originality, appearance, and ease of preparation. The winner of the competition will receive $100, second place wins $75, third place wins $50, and fourth place wins $25.

Coventon was surprised to be selected as the winner but she said she’s happy and excited to attend the fair.  “I can’t wait for the contest and competition,” Coventon said. Clower believes that Coventon has a great chance at winning the Peanut Recipe Contest at the Georgia National Fair.