ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — Cheesecake, pound cake, cinnamon rolls and whoopie pies all had one thing in common at this year’s Baldwin County Sweet Potato Cook-Off: a star ingredient grown in the fields around them. Middle and high school students from across the county turned Alabama’s official state vegetable into original dishes during the annual competition, held Sept. 15 at the Baldwin County Farmers Federation building in Robertsdale.
The Baldwin County Farmers Federation sponsored the event in partnership with the Baldwin County Extension. Family and Consumer Sciences students competed in junior and senior divisions, each preparing an original recipe built around locally grown sweet potatoes. Entries ranged from rich desserts to breakfast-style treats.
The winners
Judges Ed Kane, Donna Shoen and Bobbie Lane tasted their way through the entries and selected the top three dishes in each division.
Senior division (grades 9-12)
- First place: Sarah Davis Thompson, Baldwin Preparatory School — Sweet Potato Cheesecake
- Second place: Zipporah Biggs, Robertsdale High School — Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pound Cake
- Third place: Channis Hibbert, Baldwin Preparatory School — Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
Junior division (grades 7-8)
- First place: Zoie Cowan, Central Baldwin Middle School — Sweet Potato Honeybun Cake
- Second place: Eliza Garlock, Elberta Middle School — Sweet Potato Cheesecake
- Third place: Aubree Harcrow, Summerdale Middle School — Mini Sweet Potato Whoopie Pies
Baldwin Preparatory School placed two students in the senior division’s top three, while the junior division winners came from three different middle schools in the central and southern part of the county. Sweet potato cheesecake proved popular across age groups, earning a first-place finish in the senior division and a second-place finish in the junior division.
More than a cooking contest
The cook-off is designed to do more than reward good baking. Alongside the competition, organizers offered educational activities focused on local agriculture and food production, giving students a closer look at the crops raised in their own community and the industry that brings them to market.
That connection is a natural fit for Family and Consumer Sciences classes, which teach students practical skills in nutrition, food preparation and consumer decision-making. Developing an original recipe around a single ingredient asks students to think about flavor, technique and presentation, while the agricultural lessons tie what happens in the kitchen back to the farms that supply it.
Growers and educators behind the event
Several local partners helped make the competition possible:
- Baldwin County Farmers Federation, led in this effort by Dawn Hopper, sponsored the cook-off and hosted it at the federation’s building in Robertsdale.
- Baldwin County Extension partnered with the federation to organize the event.
- Tiffaney Plato, Baldwin County Career Technical Supervisor, supported the participating students.
- Local sweet potato growers — Peturis Farms, Sirmon Farms and the farm of Daniel Volovecky — contributed to the event, supporting its emphasis on youth agricultural education.
The Baldwin County Farmers Federation is the county-level organization of the Alabama Farmers Federation, the state’s largest farm organization, which works on behalf of farmers and promotes agricultural education and awareness.
Alabama’s state vegetable
The sweet potato has held official status in Alabama since 2021, when Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation naming it the state vegetable.
Sweet potatoes are prized for their taste and their nutritional value. They provide vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates and are a fat-free food, which makes them a versatile ingredient for both sweet and savory cooking — as the students’ recipes showed.
The crop carries real weight in the state’s farm economy. Sweet potatoes have an economic value of $11.8 million to Alabama, and the state ranks among the top 10 sweet potato-producing states in the nation. Within Alabama, Baldwin and Cullman counties are the largest producers.
Why Baldwin County grows sweet potatoes
Baldwin County is one of Alabama’s most productive agricultural areas. Its sandy, well-drained soils and long, warm growing season suit crops such as sweet potatoes, peanuts, cotton, sod and a wide range of vegetables. Robertsdale, Summerdale, Elberta and Loxley sit in the heart of that farm country, and many of the students who competed in the cook-off attend schools surrounded by working fields.
Sweet potatoes are typically planted in late spring and harvested in late summer and fall, which places the mid-September cook-off squarely in harvest season. That timing allows growers to supply fresh product while the crop is coming out of the ground.
As the county’s population has grown rapidly in recent decades, programs that connect young residents with local agriculture have taken on added importance. For many students, an event like the cook-off is a first chance to meet the families who grow the food sold in local markets and to learn about careers in farming, food science and agribusiness.
Schools represented
The cook-off drew students from public and private schools across Baldwin County. Schools with students placing in the top three included:
- Baldwin Preparatory School
- Robertsdale High School
- Central Baldwin Middle School
- Elberta Middle School
- Summerdale Middle School
Looking ahead
The Sweet Potato Cook-Off is an annual event, and Family and Consumer Sciences students interested in competing in future years can learn more through their teachers and schools’ career technical programs. The Baldwin County Farmers Federation and the Baldwin County Extension office in the county also offer information on youth agricultural programs throughout the year.
For this year’s winners, the competition offered a taste of recognition, and a reminder that some of the best ingredients in Baldwin County kitchens come from just down the road.