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Baking contests returning to Jacktown, Greene Co. fairs

4 min read
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Editor’s note: All contests will be held July 18 at the Jacktown Fair and Aug. 7 at the Greene County Fair. For more information about any of the baking contests, call Melody Burns for the Jacktown Fair at 724-428-3617 and Jean Scott for the Greene County Fair at 724-627-9756. Greene County Fair has an entry deadline of June 30.

The Angel Food Cake contest is returning to the competitive exhibit lineup at the Jacktown and Greene County fairs this year. The contest is sponsored by Pennsylvania Egg Farmers and the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs.

Entrants may not have won first place in this Angel Food Cake contest at any other fair in 2017.

Prizes awarded will be $25 for first place; $15 for second place; and $10 for third place. The winning cake will be eligible for competition in January at the state Farm Show, where the winner will receive $500.

The cake, which must be made from scratch with eggs produced in Pennsylvania, must be accompanied by the recipe.

Cakes will be judged as follows:

• 30 percent – Flavor, including smell, taste and flavoring;

• 25 percent – Inside characteristics, including texture and lightness;

• 20 percent – Overall appearance, including surface, size and color;

• 15 percent – Creativity;

• 10 percent – Topping, icing or decoration.

The Jacktown and Greene County fairs’ contests are preliminary competitions for the Pennsylvania Farm Show, where the winner will receive $500. Other cash prizes also will be available for the top five entries.

Rules for the contest are as follows:

• Open to any individual who is a Pennsylvania resident: only one entry per person.

• Entrants may not have won first place in the contest at any other fair in 2017.

• Entries must include at least 60 percent apples in the filling. They do not need to be “traditional” two-crusted apple pies, and they can have a variety of fillings.

• The entire pie must be submitted for judging in a disposable pie pan. All pans, plates and dishes are considered to be disposable and will not be returned.

• The recipe for the pie and pie crust must be submitted with the entry on an 8 1/2-by-11-inch sheet of paper. The recipe must list all of the ingredients, quantities and the preparation instructions. Entrant’s name, address and phone number must be printed on the back side of all pages. All recipes and pies will become the property of the fair or the Pennsylvania Farm Show and will not be returned.

• Refrigeration will not be available. Entries that require refrigeration after baking must indicate so in the recipe. Those entries will not be sold, auctioned or otherwise distributed for consumption after judging for food safety reasons.

• Judging will be based on the following criteria: flavor, 30 points; filling, including consistency, doneness, moistness and flavor, 25 points; crust, including color, flavor, texture and doneness, 20 points; overall appearance, 15 points; and creativity, 10 points.

A contest participant must be an individual amateur baker and a resident of Pennsylvania. The entry must be a layered chocolate cake made from “scratch.” The entry must be frosted, and the frosting also must be made from “scratch.” The cake recipe must feature chocolate or cocoa as a main ingredient.

The local fairs are preliminary competitions that lead to the selection of the final Homemade Chocolate Cake blue-ribbon winner at the state Farm Show, where the winner will receive $500.

The goal of this new PA Preferred Junior Baking Contest is to highlight Pennsylvania agriculture by featuring locally grown grains, fruit and vegetables, as well as locally produced dairy products and eggs in the contest entries.

Contest participants must be amateur bakers 8 through 18 years old and a resident of Pennsylvania. Entries must include three out of the five PA Preferred featured ingredient categories. A comprehensive list of products is available on the PA Preferred website.

Winners will have an opportunity to compete for $500 at the state Farm Show in January.

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