MYSTERY INGREDIENTS CHALLENGE
Objectives:
 To introduce knife skills
 To introduce working as a team
 To present a simple food challenge with some guidance and some creative
license
 To practice for working with evaluation and rubric guidelines
 To explore peers as evaluators
 To introduce some nutrition concepts and food value
Preparation:
 Make/laminate mystery ingredient cards
 Set up prep stations (knife, gloves, cutting board and small bowl)
 Large mixing bowl and spoon (and a compost bowl (if applicable))
 Plate for chips
 5-in-1 griddler if you want to make “chips”
 Purchase and wash the food ingredients
MYSTERY INGREDIENTS:
 Pepper (two per team)
 Tomato (two per team)
 Onion (one per team)
 Garlic (2 cloves per team)
PANTRY:
 Tortillas: corn,
flour, wheat, grain
(or purchase a
variety of chip
choices)
 Cilantro
 Lemon
 Limes
 Fresh or canned
corn
 Black beans










Jalapeno
Avocado
Mango
Peach
Oregano
Cumin
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Pepper
Spray olive oil
Activity:
1. Divide teams into groups of 5 depending on the number of stations. Before
we can cook you must identify your ingredients. Pass out a set of cards to
each team instructing them to NOT turn them over until they have correctly
identified the ingredient. Encourage them to work together to identify what
the ingredient is. They must go to the workshop leaders to obtain your
mystery ingredients. Careful, other teams don't hear you. You have 30
minutes to complete the entire challenge.
2. Allow prep to start as teams complete identification.
3. Once all teams have identified their ingredients and are well underway stop
them and ask, do you know what we can make with these ingredients?
4. Kitchen Challenge 1: You have all been given the ingredients to make a salsa,
but now is your time to shine. Using the pantry ingredients, what do you
want to add to your salsa? What can you use to “make” chips? Remember
you are sharing pantry ingredients. At this point, one team member needs to
be chosen by the team to be an evaluator.
5. As cooks are prepping and cooking, gather the evaluators. Give half the
evaluators a scoresheet with the rubric and the other half the scoresheet
without the rubric. Instruct evaluators to not share their rubrics. If you are
doing this with a small group and only have one evaluator, use the sheet with
no rubric.
6. Kitchen disaster scenario (approximately halfway through the challenge):
The power goes out in mid-cooking. Everyone needs to choose one member
to go to work with another team.
7. Finishing up: Give the group a countdown, provide bowls for the salsa and
plates for “chips” for plating purposes. Teams should select one team member
to present their salsa to the evaluator(s).
Discussion
Team Participation
 How did you feel choosing a member to move teams? How did the team
member feel about being moved to another team? How do the teams feel about
losing a member to gain another? Did it change the dynamics?
 How did you come to a process of group decision-making? How did you ensure
that all voices were heard and respected?
Evaluation
 Evaluators, were you comfortable with trying to evaluate the work without any
parameters? For those who had the rubrics, did you feel they helped guide your
ratings?
 How did it feel to evaluate your peers? Were you easier or harder on your
peers? What questions did you ask?
 Participants, how did it feel to be evaluated by a peer? What questions would
you have asked?
 What best practices or lessons learned come from this experience?
Give time for evaluators and participants to sample. Give time for evaluators to pick
their “winner.” Give a prize, if desired.
SOME DEFINITIONS:
Antioxidant: a substance that inhibits oxidation, especially one used to counteract
the deterioration of stored food products. A substance such as vitamin C or E that
removes potentially damaging oxidizing agents in a living organism.
Amino Acid: Any of a large number of compounds found in living cells that
contain carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, and join together to form
proteins.
Resources:
 Utah Education Network: www.uen.org
 Utah State University Cooperative Extension:
digitalcommons.usu.edu/extension_curfood
 Texas A&M Food Challenge:
http://d114-h.tamu.edu/files/2012/09/FoodChallenge-Manual16-17.pdf
http://d114-h.tamu.edu/files/2012/09/2017-4H-state-food-showguidelines.final_.2.pdf
 Vermont Junior Iron Chef:
http://vtfeed.org/jrironchefvt
TOMATO
SMALL DICE
ONION
CHOPPED
PEPPER
JULIENNE AND DICED
GARLIC
MINCE AND CRUSH
MYSTERY INGREDIENT
What is red and has a skin?
Contains seeds
Is a fruit
Can be made into a sauce
Can be added to a salad
China is the largest producer
It is rich in lycopene which is an antioxidant—good for the heart and effective
against some cancers
MYSTERY INGREDIENT
What is white or red and has a skin?
Is a bulb
Ancient Egyptians worshipped them and they were found in tombs
Was used as currency in the Middle Ages
Is rich in quercetin which is an antioxidant that has been shown to fight lung
cancer
Can be used to soothe insect bites and burns
Can make you cry because once you cut them they release sulfuric acid
MYSTERY INGREDIENT
What comes in multiple colors—red, green, yellow, orange, purple, black and
white?
It is a fruit
The seeds add more flavor
They contain the antioxidant lycopene and Vitamin C
Can be eaten at any stage of growth
They are available all year round
MYSTERY INGREDIENT
Has a peel and is white
Oldest cultivated crop
Lowers cholesterol levels and the build up of plaque in arteries
90% of this crop is grown in California
It is a bulb and has a strong smell (which is caused by a chemical reaction when
the cells are broken)
It contains 17 amino acids which are essential for body functions and make up
75% of the human body