Baking contests set for area fairs
Special baking contests will be featured again this year at the Jacktown Fair, July 19 to 23, and Greene County Fair, Aug. 7 to 13.
The special contests include the Pennsylvania’s 13th Annual Incredible Angel Food Cake Contest, the 29th Annual Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Contest and the PA Preferred Chocolate Baking contests.
Rules and regulations regarding the contests are available online at Jacktown Fair, www.jacktownfair.org and Greene County Fair, www.greenecountyfair.org. The contests will be held July 19 at Jacktown Fair and Aug. 8 at Greene County Fair.
For more information on the contests contact Melody Burns for Jacktown Fair at 724-428-3617 or Terri Laird for Greene County Fair at 724-966-7447.
The Incredible Angel Food Cake contest is sponsored by Pennsylvania Egg Farmers and Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs.
Entrants may not have won first place in this angel food cake contest at any other fair in 2016.
Prizes awarded will be first place, $25; second place, $15; and third place, $10. The winning cake will be eligible for competition at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January, where the winner will receive $500 for first prize.
When entering a cake, which must be made from scratch and using eggs produced in Pennsylvania, the participant must also submit the recipe.
Cakes will be judged on the following categories: flavor (smell, taste, flavoring), 30 percent; inside characteristics (texture, lightness), 25 percent; overall appearance (surface, size, color), 20 percent; creativity, 15 percent; and topping, icing or decoration, 10 percent.
The 2016 Blue Ribbon Apple Pie baking contest is co-sponsored by The Pennsylvania Apple Marketing Program, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs.
Both Jacktown Fair’s and Greene County Fair’s contests are preliminary competitions that lead to the selection of the final Blue Ribbon Apple Pie winner in January at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. The first-place winner at the farm show will be awarded a cash prize of $500. Other cash prizes will also be available for the top five entries.
The contest is open to any Pennsylvania resident. Only one entry can be submitted per person.
Entrants cannot have won first place in this Blue Ribbon Apple Pie contest at any other fair in 2016.
Judging will be based on the following criteria: flavor, 30 points; filling (consistency, doneness, moistness, flavor), 25 points; crust (color, flavor, texture, doneness), 20 points; overall appearance, 15 points; and creativity, 10 points.
The 2016 PA Preferred Chocolate Baking is co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s PA Preferred program and the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs. A state-sponsored agricultural marketing program, PA Preferred identifies and promotes food and agricultural products grown, produced or processed in Pennsylvania.
Contestants are encouraged to use as many Pennsylvania-produced ingredients as possible in their chocolate baking recipes. A list of producers can be found at www.pafairs.org under “Members-Baking Contest,” or search for local products at www.PAPreferred.com.
More than 100 fairs across the state will offer cash prizes for the best PA Preferred chocolate cakes and chocolate cookies, brownies or bars (youth division.)
The two fairs’ contests are preliminary competitions that lead to the selection of the final PA Preferred Chocolate Baking blue ribbon winners each January at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. First-place winners at the farm show will be awarded a cash grand prize of $500 for the winning chocolate cake recipe and $250 for the winning chocolate cookie, brownie or bar recipe.