Two pupils from Stroud High School have been named the best young cooks in Gloucestershire and are set to compete against Oxfordshire in the Create & Cook competition finals in July.

Jasmine Bate and Emily Voyce, aged 13, were crowned the county winners of the Create & Cook competition in Gloucestershire, which is run by fit2cook food education and sponsored by The Midcounties Co-operative Food’s ‘Best of Our Counties’ brand.

Jasmine and Emily were up against three other schools and challenged to create a menu from the wealth of locally-produced ingredients the county has to offer. They wowed judges Gareth Fulford, award-winning chef at the Purslane restaurant in Cheltenham, fit2cook director Min Raisman and The Midcounties Co-operative’s Georgia Gaston and Kiran Chand with their home made Scotch eggs made with local pork and eggs and their strawberry tartlets which also used lots of Gloucestershire ingredients.

The winning young cooks and the runners-up, Sophia Torris and Lottie Oliver from the Cotswold School in Bourton on the Water, will be going head-to-head with the best cooks from the Oxfordshire competition at The Foodworks Cookery School near Cheltenham in July. The winners here will be crowned the 2018 Create & Cook Midcounties champions.

The Gloucestershire finals took place at Gloucestershire College, Cheltenham on 17th May and were supported by The Midcounties Co-operative, Fresh n Local farmers markets, Gloucester Services and the National Farmers Union in Gloucestershire.

“We are very proud of our achievements today and excited to share our love of cooking with everyone at the next stage of the competition” said Jasmine and Emily.

“Being involved in Create & Cook Competition has taught us the importance of buying local, it’s been a great experience.”

Matt Fletcher, direct sourcing manager at The Midcounties Co-operative Food, said: “Supporting young people and local suppliers is incredibly important to us and the Create & Cook competition is a fun way for us to get schools into cooking with the amazing ingredients made here in Gloucestershire.”

Min Raisman, director of fit2cook, said: “We were completely blown away by the creativity of all the pupils this year and it was difficult to choose the finalists.

"We’re looking forward to choosing our champions at the finals in July and seeing how the girls refine their dishes further.”

For more information please see www.createandcook.co.uk