In early October, 20 Girl Scouts from the Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana (GCNWI) council of Girl Scouts visited The Hatchery Chicago, a non-profit food business incubator supported by Ingredion, to meet two female culinary entrepreneurs and participate in a hands-on food science demonstration by Ingredion Chef Nelson Serrano-Bahri.

Culinary entrepreneurs Maya-Camille Broussard, owner of Justice of the Pies, and Tathy, owner of Gifted Breads, spoke to the Girl Scouts about recognizing market opportunities, innovating to meet a need, the challenges and rewards of starting and owning a business, and learned how The Hatchery develops culinary talent.

Chef Nelson led the Girl Scouts in an experiment demonstrating the food science behind a chocolate chip cookie and testing the impact of ingredient adjustments. For example, the scouts switched out wheat flour for a blend of almond flour and Ingredion’s PRECISA^® Bake GF for a gluten-free cookie to test different ingredients make in texture. Other ingredient changes included substituting apple sauce for butter and using Allulose and a stevia/inulin blend of sweeteners instead of sugar. Through these changes, Chef Nelson was able to demonstrate the importance of formulation, texture and taste when comparing the results to a typical chocolate chip cookie. 

Ingredion formed a partnership with The Hatchery Chicago in 2018 as part of its Ingredion for Emerging Business initiative. Through the partnership, Ingredion connects with the local food and beverage start-up community helping to empower entrepreneurs with customer-centric innovative ingredient solutions, food and beverage product development expertise and market insights.