A whole lot of learning — and fun — went on last week in Hilo when Hamakua Springs Country Farm teamed up with Hilo Community College to present the second annual You Say Tomato recipe contest.

The point was not the recipes, although, as judge Sonia Martinez commented, "this year the sophistication of some of the recipes surprised us."

Indeed, one entrant, Dr. Alan Fujimoto of Hilo, who describes himself as "a serious foodie for years and years" entered a trio of recipes to be plated together that was worthy of the tasting menu of any fine-dining restaurant. The judges chose to give the entree award to just one of them — probably fearing that, otherwise, the press release to announce the winning recipes would be the size of the Hilo phone book.

But back to learning. The tomato contest got its start when visionary farmer Richard Ha of Hamakua Springs Country Farm decided he wanted to do something to help Hilo culinary students learn more about finedining restaurants so they could get better jobs when they graduate, in keeping with a commitment he already has to creating a synergy between chefs and growers. He enlisted the help of his customer and friend, chef Alan Wong.

It's a win-win-win, Ha said. The public learns more about locally grown produce through developing recipes, or hearing about the recipes and ingredients used. The culinarians — who are charged with preparing the final decisions EXACTLY as the contestants have written them — are challenged in a variety of ways. And chefs like Wong have a chance to do some teaching (a passion of his) as well as scoping out possible employees.

"I love how the whole state participates by sending in recipes from all over," said Martinez, a food writer whose blog is www.soniatasteshawaii.com. (One winner was from Maui.)

Chef Alan Okuda, who oversees the culinary program at HCC, said the tomato contest is great for the students because "we get to work with fine chefs like Alan and we get to work with the same ingredients that he works with."

An important learning component for the students is that they work in teams — one second-year student with one first-year student. "They have to exhibit leadership skills, mentoring. That's really important. Chefs have to be educators, they're educating their staffs, they're educating their customers," he explained.

Chef-instructor Sandy Barr said the tomato contest is a marathon project for the students, which exposes them to the famed heat in the kitchen. Some recipes are written in familiar "kitchen language," but others are more folksy or more vague. Students had to strive to interpret the contestants' wishes. Barr believes this somewhat frustrating exercise will help improve their own recipe-writing skills.

They were also under the pressure of competition; everyone wanted "their" dish to win, though some were up against insurmountable odds. One young chef, for example, was crushed when a cheesecake-like dish she was assigned to make tasted great but had poor texture. "That one would have been a winner if the ingredients had been really pureed and it had been baked in a water bath, but that wasn't what the recipe said to do. We weren't allowed to fix 'em," said Barr. That was a tough lesson learned.

The contest piggybacks on classes Barr teaches in interpreting and developing recipes. (No matter how good "Chef" is, he or she can't always be on the line; the other chefs have to be able to understand his or her directions.) The day after the contest, she asked each student to report on what they learned and what they would have done to improve the quality of their recipe. Everyone had ideas.

"It is," said Barr, "a great way to learn. There was great interchange."

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.