Decatur students in NASA cooking competition

A recipe Cristina Flores found online and Decatur High School students modified has put the school’s culinary program on the national stage.

Decatur students have been selected to compete at Space Center Houston in Texas with the opportunity to prepare a dessert that will be served to astronauts on the International Space Station.

“This is a really big honor for our students and speaks well for the job Cindy Yates is doing with the program,” Decatur Principal Johnny Berry said.

The culinary challenge is part of NASA’s HUNCH program, High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware. This year students from across America developed dessert recipes and new foods that will fly to the space station.

Johnson Space Center started the HUNCH program in 2003 to give high school students hands-on experience using their science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills.

Decatur was among 10 schools nationally selected to participate in the April 26 competition, according to NASA HUNCH culinary program manager Alli Westover.

The process of getting its recipe before NASA judges wasn’t easy. Students had to submit a recipe that contained between 200 and 400 calories per serving, 13 grams or less of fat, 4 grams or less of saturated fat, 250 milligrams or less of sodium, 12 grams or less of sugar, and 2 grams or more of dietary fiber.

Flores found the Blackberry-Orange Croissant Breakfast Casserole recipe online, but its ingredients were outside the rules.

“It was different,” the junior said about the recipe. “It was a breakfast recipe, but was something that would be good to eat at any time.”

Flores said they took out some of the original ingredients and added orange zest, maple abstract, turbinado cane sugar and coconut milk.

“We baked it several different ways and added different flavors until we settled on the final recipe,” she said.

To select Decatur’s recipe for the competition, Yates had her students prepare desserts at school that were taste-tested by faculty members and other students.

“We sent in three, and this is the one NASA selected,” she said.

Decatur students received the highest score during the regional competition at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center's Davidson Center in Huntsville.

“This is a big honor,” said Taraysha Alexander, a senior and one of four students who will travel to Houston for the national event.

If Decatur wins, this will be the second presence for local students on the space station. In 2016, two parts made by students in Austin High’s machine tool technology class traveled to the International Space Station.

Austin students made 55 stainless steel stud latch bolts, which are part of the locker door mechanical latching system, and 10 aluminum flight extravehicular activity threaded brush tools that astronauts use during space walks.

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