Kids in the Kitchen is a great new initiative held in the Burlington County Farmhouse kitchen. Starting last month, the program seeks to teach kids between the ages of 7 and 13 the basics of cooking, their first foray being a pizza making course. In the class, they learned how to chop vegetables, crush garlic, and stretch dough. Once they were done, their reward was eating the product.

Participants of the program are taught by the Burlington County Agricultural Center’s kitchen manager, Kathryn Simon, with help from Amanda Rodriguez, owner of the Rod Homestead in Haddon Township. Rodriguez also acts as the instructor for the center’s various cooking classes and workshops.

Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Tom Pullion was on hand and had this to say, “Our Burlington County Parks System has activities, events and programs for all ages and interests and our Agricultural Center and its Farmhouse Kitchen is a fantastic place to learn about farming and how to use locally grown products to make into delicious meals and snacks. The addition of the new Kids in the Kitchen series gives our youngest budding chefs a taste of cooking in a commercial kitchen with instructions from cooking pros. As a foodie and amateur chef, I was thrilled to watch these kids interact and learn the ins and outs of the kitchen.” 

The Burlington County Farmhouse Kitchen is a mixed-use commercial kitchen that acts not only as a space in which to hold workshops, but also as an incubator for local food entrepreneurs and farmers. In the space, users have total access to the facility as they develop their product or perfect it before bringing it to market. Farmers, already in a suffering industry, are given one more avenue in which to add value to their ingredients and make money, and it all comes at a much lower cost than it might usually take when developing a marketable product.

The kitchen can also be rented out for cooking demonstrations, classes, and private use.

Only one more class of Kids in the Kitchen is scheduled, and that will be on Sunday, March 12 at 10am. Registration is $40. Parents can either drop their kids off or stay to watch. The whole class is only two and a half hours, ending at 12:30pm. Participants will learn how to make buttercream icing and cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day. I would imagine these classes fill up quickly, so if you might be interested, register here.

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