The California Raisin Marketing Board hired award-winning chef, Della Gossett, pastry chef instructor at the French Pastry School of Chicago, to serve as a pastry consultant and apply more than a decade of experience gained in some of the nation’s finest kitchens toward developing uses of California raisins in pastries and desserts.


The California Raisin Marketing Board names chef Della Gossett, pastry chef instructor of the French Pastry School of Chicago, as a pastry consultant for its board, responsible for developing new pastry recipes and curriculum and teaching courses about California raisins in pastry to students at the FPS. She will also represent the California raisin industry at special events throughout the country, while contributing to the board’s Chef Assist program, a comprehensive effort to further inspire use of California raisins in high-volume foodservice settings, such as college dining and hotel/hospitality venues.  

“The California raisin industry has a long and successful history of developing innovative applications for California raisins in the baking, pastry and dessert categories,” says Larry Blagg, senior vice president of marketing for the Fresno, Calif.-based board. “A consultant the caliber of chef Gossett will help ensure we carry on this tradition, while creating new opportunities for the California raisin industry and the nearly 3,000 growers we proudly represent.”

Previously, Gossett served as an executive pastry chef at Chicago-based Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant, and as pastry chef at Trotter’s to Go. Her earlier career experience included pastry chef positions at Atlas in New York, as well as at TRIO in Evanston, Ill.

Gossett has traveled across the country and around the world to perfect her culinary craft. She was selected as one of only two American chefs to participate in chef Ramon Morato’s elite pastry chef workshop at Escola Aula ChocoVic, Vic, Spain. She has also completed coursework at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute and the FPS in Chicago.