PRODUCT

KNOWLEDGE

The materials for this course were developed by

The Culinary Institute of America.
 Revision Date

Jan 2011

Version Reference
3.0e

Copyright © 2011
THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA®
All Rights Reserved
This manual is published and copyrighted by The Culinary Institute of America. Copying,
duplicating, selling or otherwise distributing this product is hereby expressly forbidden except
by prior written consent of The Culinary Institute of America®.
Pre Day One Requirements

Welcome to CIA and Product Knowledge

Prior to entering Product Knowledge class, students should have a printed copy of the
Presentation Materials/Power Points that students are issued along with their other text
books. Students may download the Power Points (ppts.) onto a laptop prior to class.

Prior to entering class on Day one:

Read through the unit 1 ppt., Make note of any unanswered questions and bring them to class.

The text books used in this course are:

The Culinary Institute of America, The Professional Chef, 8th ed., New York: John
Wiley, 2006.

Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking, 2nd ed., New York, NY, Schriber., 2004.

Reading assignments and videos are listed in the course syllabus and should be read prior
to the class in which they are to be discussed.

All students are to be seated and ready to work at the starting time of class.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Course Information ....................................................................2

Daily Overview, Class Material References.............................................3

Reading and Video Assignments ............................................................4

Course Assessment, Grading, and Class Details………………………..5

 GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION

Product Knowledge
An introduction to the identification and use of vegetables, fruits, herbs, prepared goods, and dairy
products. Explore both fresh and prepared foods and learn to identify, receive, store, and hold products.
Students will also learn to evaluate products for taste, texture, smell, appearance, and other quality
attributes.

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Product Knowledge!

“Good food starts with good ingredients” may be a tired cliché, but how can a food
enthusiast or food service professional dispute the notion? A restaurant’s daily challenge is
to exceed guest expectations and provide a quality dining experience. How ingredients are
selected and purchased has a great impact on an operation’s ability to serve a final product
customers will enjoy.

The variety and availability of produce is ever increasing. The Product Knowledge class will
introduce you to a small portion of the tremendous variety of product available and give
you an understanding of the criteria for selecting quality produce. This will be done through
lecture, demonstration and hands-on experience where you will see, touch, taste and smell a
variety of products. This experience will prepare you for future classes where you need to
identify and prepare a wide variety of produce.

Each produce group discussion will cover product identity, seasonality and availability,
receiving and storage, condition and quality factors, maturity and ripeness, common
culinary uses, and comparing and contrasting flavors and textures of selected products.
Daily Overview of Product Knowledge

Day 1 Orientation to Product Knowledge

Seasonality, Comparative Tasting, Produce Distribution
Growth; Development; Maturation and Ripeness
Purchase Specifications
Nuts and Seeds

Day 2 Lettuces, Salad Greens,

Cooking Greens,
Cabbage

Day 3 Quiz 1
Mushrooms, Stalks
Onions, Tubers
Roots, Pods

Day 4 Purchase Specification due

Quiz 2
Tomatoes, Peppers, Squash
Herbs, Apples, Pears, Grapes

Day 5 Quiz 3
Berries, Stone Fruits, Citrus
Bananas, Melons, Specialty fruits

Day 6 Dairy, Cheese

Quiz 4
Reading and Video Assignments
Pro Chef ON FOOD AND COOKING

General – Guidelines Plants as Food pp.243-248

Day 1 Selection, Grading,
Availability, Storage Plant Structure: Cells, Tissues, and
pp. 226 Organs
pp. 261-264
Nuts and Seeds
pp. 310 Flavor/Handling & Storage pp.270-278

Ripening pp.350-353

Lettuce pp. 248 Please refer to the indices on pages 300

Day 2 Salad Greens pp.250 and
Cooking Greens pp.252 350 that correspond to the pertinent
Cabbage pp. 243 content
Herbs pp.270 for Days 2-6.

Mushrooms pp.254
Day 3 Onions pp.256
Pod and Seed pp.260
Root Veg pp.262
Tubers pp. 264
Shoots and stalks pp.266

Soft shell pp.244

Day 4 Hard shell pp.246
Peppers pp.258
Tomatoes pp.268
Apples pp.229
Grapes pp.234
Pears pp.237

Berries pp.230
Day 5 Citrus pp.232
Melons pp.235
Stone fruits pp.238
Others pp.239

Day 6 Dairy 274-289

ASSESSMENT, GRADING AND CLASS DETAILS

Your grade in Product Knowledge will be determined as follows below in the table:
 all quizzes are comprehensive.
 see specification guidelines on the courseware web portal for instructions.

Method of Evaluation Date Grade Mix

Quiz #1 Jan 7th 20%

Purchase Specification Jan 10th 10%
Quiz #2 Jan 10th 20%
Quiz #3 Jan 11th 20%
Quiz #4 Jan 14th 25%
Professionalism and Participation Throughout 5%

Total 100%

“Make-up” quizzes are at instructors’ discretion.

You are expected to comply with all policies as expressed in the Student Handbook.

For college policies regarding grading, attendance, the professionalism, uniform and
hygiene code, and academic honesty please see appropriate section of the Student Handbook.

Courteous and professional use of laptop computers and other electronic devices during the
class period is expected. Any inappropriate use will result in the loss of privileges. (Please
refer to the student computer and network usage policy section of the Student Handbook).