Dragon Road Trip: Mommy Bloggers Philippines and Kiddies Tour the Gardenia Plant

Hello Sweeties!

My son Jarod and I went on an interesting trip to Binan, Laguna to learn how they make our favorite Gardenia Bakeries Philippines loaf bread.

Jarod with Gardee the Gardenia Mascot

Last year Jarod did not have field trips for one reason or the other, he was looking forward to one, so when Mommy Bloggers Philippines opened the sign up for Gardenia Plant Tour, I grabbed the opportunity to take Jarod. It`s not everyday my son and I gets to go out and explore and bond together.

Jarod went to breads on display right away.

We got inside the cool interior of the Gardenia auditorium and lo and behold all their breads on display! So many varieties! I am not sure if we tried all of them. The packaging is so colorful, unlike the ordinary bread in the market.

Mommies and Kiddies were given a light “merienda” snack to fortify us after that long trip. Afterwards or was it during the snack we watched their Gardenia AVP (Audio Visual Presentation).

Mommies get this personalized lanyard as our passport to tour the Gardenia Plant

The art of bread-making by Gardenia, Photos courtesy of Gardenia

Gardenia is a name synonymous to great tasting, fresh, soft, fragrant, nutritious bread and pastries. They started their operation in 1998 and now with state-of-the-art computer controlled bread manufacturing plant capable of making 6,000 loaves of bread per hour or nearly 150,000 loaves per day. The plant also ensured that all breads baked remained practically untouched by human hands.

We did not get to go down to the plant proper nor were we allowed to take photos for security purposes. We did get to see their ginormous tower, ovens and bread conveyor belt.

Gardenia is the only bread manufacturer I know that has the G-lock seal of freshness

Gardenia is the only bread manufacturer I know that has the color coded G-lock seal of freshness

We learned an interesting fact during the tour, I have always been curious about the different colors of the tabs whenever I buy a loaf of Gardenia, there is actually a reason for that. There are dates on the G-lock tabs of every loaf and that tells you the expiration date of the bread, but what it doesn’t tell you is when it was baked. The colors are keys to this information. The G-lock tabs are color-coded a represents the day when the bread was baked. Mind you that the day it represents is the day of that very week when you bought your bread, not last week. So next time you buy your Gardenia bread, look at the color of the G-lock tab. Cool huh?

Jarod posing at the faux bread conveyor belt.

Wishing you had these gigantic bread loaves? Yeah, me too!

Gardenia is a brand every Mom can trust. How so? Well, Gardenia has been awarded ISO 9001:2008 (International Organization for Standardization) certification in compliance with Quality Management System and certification for product quality excellence. This is awarded only to companies that comply with globally accepted manufacturing standards meant to ensure the highest quality. Gardenia also received the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certification for food safety since 2003 to present. This proves that the company adheres to the systematic approach in the identification, evaluation, and control of the food safety standards. From 20014- 2010, Gardenia was accorded the status of Superbrands by Superbands Ltd., an independent authority and arbiter on branding. They were also awarded the Annual National Consumer`s Award (ANCA) as the “Outstanding Bread Manufacturer” for 5 straight years!

Jarod with the very pretty Gardenia hosts for our Plant Tour

Mommy Bloggers Philippines group shot courtesy of Gardenia

After the Plant Tour, we all went back inside the auditorium for the Recipe Demo.

Jarod is not the oldest kid in the group but he is the tallest. He he he. Look how cute our kiddies are wearing the Gardenia apron that they also got to take home.

Jarod jumped right in when asked if he was interested in making Mango Refrigerator Cake. He happens to love making this dessert at home, we had no idea we can also make it using our favorite Gardenia bread.

https://youtu.be/k86tAUGWtCM

Watch as Chef Jarod makes the easy no bake Gardenia Mango Refrigerator cake . He was psyched about it.

Enjoy the video, sorry I am such stage mom.

Jarod proudly displays his Gardenia Mango Refrigerator Cake

Jarod shared his creation this with big sis Raffy when we got home, yep he took great care of it.

They wowed us with their Bread Buffet. There was so much you can do with Gardenia bread that I am excited to go home and try all the recipes found in the kit they gave us!

My favorite was the Summer Roll Sandwich, it has shrimp! If you want to get the creative recipes for all these go here.

Our favorite loaf! Thank you Gardenia Bakeries for the loot!

Jarod and I are thankful for the opportunity to see the care and consideration Gardenia shows each and every consumer by making only the best quality bread we know and love.

Gardenia is indeed a brand all Mommies can trust, I know for years to come the only brand in bread my kids truly enjoy is Gardenia. Thank you for opening your doors to us, Gardenia is true to it`s slogan “Masarap kahit walang palaman.” It is delicious on it`s own.