Online courses help culinary educators keep skills sharp and may count toward ACF recertification hours.
By Lisa Parrish, GMC Editor
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Busy culinary instructors educating culinary students may miss opportunities to enhance their personal skills or investigate the latest flavor trends taking shape in today’s foodservice scene. CAFÉ understands how time is precious for culinary educators and their need for continuing education in this fast-changing foodservice industry.
Online courses help keep professionals up-to-date with free and fee-based programs designed to augment cooking techniques, provide the newest safety and nutrition information and much more. Also, the courses provide a much sought-after continuing education hour requirement for many American Culinary Federation certifications. But where does an industrious chef educator find these courses?
Listed below are several courses that offer between one and 15 continuing education hours. They are not limited to ACF-certificated chefs alone and may be appropriate for use in the culinary classroom as well. Instructors can find additional courses through the ACF’s Approved Learning Opportunities page.
Whether you are looking for a refresher course, wanting to learn new skills or need CEHs for your certification, look no further.
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 AgriBeef: To familiarize chefs, cooks, culinary instructors and students with the beef life cycle from birth to ranch life, transition to feed yard finishing, and completion at the processing/fabrication plant. This model is based on a sustainable, gold standard for beef handling in the U.S.
15 CEH - Free
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 American Egg Board: The EGGPRO™ Curriculum features both Culinary and Egg Science modules. Increase your understanding of incredible, versatile, functional eggs by enrolling in the EggPro™ online culinary/food science curriculum. This unique egg-focused professional development opportunity consists of two online courses - Egg Foundations (culinary) and Egg Functionality (food science). Course content was developed by the American Egg Board in collaboration with Rouxbe Global Food Group.
Up to 35 CEH – $99
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 American Lamb Board: The "Curriculamb" is a comprehensive culinary education resource on American Lamb. The "curriculamb" includes lessons on the U.S. sheep industry, buying and handling lamb, lamb carcass and cuts, nutrition and cooking. A quiz for ACF CEH credits is also provided.
4.5 CEH – Free
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 California Avocado Commission: A Primer for Fresh California Avocados helps chef instructors discover the natural benefits and popular appeal of Fresh California Avocados. With its rich taste and smooth texture, California Avocado moves easily across conventional and global menus, from appetizers to desserts, and across all day parts. Take-aways include recognizing the stages of ripeness, sizing, storing and handling. In addition to the CEH approved course, there are five additional labs, with tested recipes, designed by culinary instructors for culinary instructors to implement.
1 CEH - Free
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 California Prunes: A three-part series of teaching modules ideal for chefs, culinary instructors, and the culinary classroom. The program’s focus is to introduce the participant to the versatile California prune and its unique applications in the kitchen and bakeshop. The modules will take the participant through an understanding of California agriculture as associated with prunes, the process of growing and harvesting the fruit, the steps involved in drying and grading prunes, distribution and most importantly – how the chef can build unique menus using a concept coined by Chef Grant Achatz of “flavor bouncing” – ensuring that a great dish is comprised of ingredients that all work well with each other creating symmetry in overall flavor.
Free - CEH
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 Lentils: Lentils.org Learning Hub is a free online self-paced course designed by and for foodservice chefs to learn more about lentils including how to cook them, why they are healthy and sustainable, and how to apply them all across the menu with skill building and culinary demonstrations.
9 CEH - Free
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 National Mango Board: Mango University is a unique, dual-track educational platform blending the vibrant world of language learning with the fresh, flavorful versatility of mangos in the kitchen. The Fresh Mango Culinary Education course is self-paced online program designed for culinary students, professionals and curious minds alike. Participants learn how to cut, select, store and prep fresh mango; discover how mango adds color, flavor and superfruit nutrition to a wide variety of global dishes; and explore the naturally invigorating benefits of fresh mango.
8.5 CEH – Free
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 National Onion Association: Onions Layers of Flavor Culinary Curriculum is a comprehensive educational resource on onions. A staple for foodservice operations, the humble onion is an important part of culinary education. Curriculum includes: onion history and production, storing and handling tips, onion types, sizes and colors.
3 CEH -Free
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 National Watermelon Promotion Board: Watermelon is an on-trend ingredient and more foodservice operators are embracing this versatile fruit. It can also play an important role in culinary education from garde manger to flavor versatility. That’s why the National Watermelon Promotion Board has created the culinary curriculum for instructors, students and chefs, accredited by the American Culinary Federation. The lesson plans and presentations can be used in the classroom, as an online tool or for personal development. You must complete the quiz and evaluation to receive the certificate for Continuing Education Hours.5 CEH- Free
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 Washington Red Raspberries: The Washington Red Raspberry Commission has posted resources focusing on baking with frozen Washington red raspberry formats. These resources were created in partnership with the Bread Bakers Guild of America, King Arthur Flour, the Washington State University’s Breadlab and Solveig Tofte of Sun Street Bakery in Minneapolis, Minn. The partnership was formed as part of a Baking Collaborative grant awarded to the WRRC from the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
12.5 CEH - Free
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