No. 103HELEN MARQUARDT — ColoBLUE93
Judges: “Excellent suspension, fruit distributed top to bottom, no float layer. Set slightly soft of ideal but holds a mound on the spoon. Color true. Flavor clean, sugar not carrying the fruit.”
Home Arts Pavilion — Judging Results
CANNED GOODS DIVISION · JAMS, JELLIES, SOFT SPREADS, PICKLES & RELISH
Judged Wednesday morning, 7:40 a.m. to 11:05 a.m. · Posted 11:20 a.m.
PAVILION OPEN 9 A.M. – 9 P.M. DAILY
SUPT. B. OSTERGAARD
SHEET 1 OF 2
Judges this morning: Mrs. Arlene Pfaff (Nevada), Mrs. Donna Kotek (Zearing), and Miss Ruth Ann Bergstrom (Extension, Story Co.). Three women, three spoons, and the big north window, which is the only window in this building that tells the truth about color. Every jar in this division was scored on the standard hundred-point card printed below. Not on whether the judge liked it. On the card.
JARS MAY BE PICKED UP SUNDAY 6 P.M. – 8 P.M. AT THE NORTH DOOR. BRING YOUR ENTRY TAG. WE DO NOT HOLD JARS OVER.
HEAD TABLE, 10:50 A.M. Best of Show sits under the box fan on the left. Please do not lift the jars.
Scorecard Key — 100 Points
APPEARANCE — jar, pack, headspace, clean rim, clear liquid, no floaters, label placement20
COLOR — natural to the fruit, even top to bottom, no darkening at the shoulder15
TEXTURE & SET — correct set for the class, fruit held in suspension, no weeping, no syneresis at the edge, pickles firm and not translucent25
FLAVOR — characteristic of the fruit, sugar and acid in balance, no scorch, no metallic finish, spice not covering40
TOTAL100
BLUE — 90 and above ·
RED — 80 to 89 ·
WHITE — 70 to 79 ·
below 70, no placing.
Ties are broken on the FLAVOR column, and if the flavor column ties as well, on TEXTURE & SET. It has never gone past that here.
DISQUALIFICATION, BEFORE THE LID EVER COMES OFF: headspace out of range for the pack; a chipped or sticky sealing rim; a ring left on and rusted to the lid; a jar not sealed; PARAFFIN OF ANY KIND, which has not been accepted in this or any class since the rules changed and will not be accepted next year either. A disqualified jar is set at the end of the table with a yellow slip and its exhibitor is welcome to come ask me why, and several of you have.
Fresh spoon every single taste, rinsed between, and Ruth Ann keeps the water glass at her elbow — that is why judging runs three and a half hours for sixty-one jars and not one hour. If you were watching from the rope and wondering what was taking so long, that was what.
DEMONSTRATION AT TWO O’CLOCK at the demonstration table, back of the pavilion: Ruth Ann on testing a set without a thermometer, and on why your strawberry floats. Bring a chair from the stack if the benches fill, they will.
Class 14 — Soft Spreads, Strawberry
No. 111DORIS SWEHLA — State CenterRED86
Judges: “Flavor the strongest on the table. Loses in appearance: headspace generous by better than a quarter inch and a fruit float at the top third. Rim clean.”
(Doris has taken second in this class four years running and I will not be the one to tell her about her headspace. Her jam is the best jam on that table and the card does not have a column for that. Doris, the fruit floats because it goes in hot and the syrup goes in hotter — stand it five minutes and stir it down once before you fill and you will take this class next August.)
No. 106MARY JO TIEDEMANN — RhodesWHITE78
Judges: “Weeping at the edge, approximately 1/8 in. of free liquid standing when the jar was tipped. Deducted under Texture & Set. Color and flavor otherwise agreeable.”
(A spread that weeps loses points even when it tastes better than the one above it. That is not a judge being fussy, that is twenty-five points sitting right there on the card in ink. Weeping is under-cooked pectin or too little acid, and it is the most fixable thing in this whole building.)
No. 109L. OSTRANDER — MelbourneNO PLACINGDQ
Judges: “Paraffin seal. Not opened, not tasted, not scored.”
Class 14 — Entry No. 118, continued
MISS BERGSTROM’S CARD FOR NO. 118 IS NOT IN THE STACK. It is somewhere in this pavilion and I expect it is under the tea towels. The other two judges scored it 92 and 89, and until the third card turns up I am printing this entry with its columns open. If you would like to know what the work is actually like, run the sliders. The point weights are the real ones off the key above and the thresholds are the real thresholds. Nothing you do here changes the ribbon on the jar.
No. 118
EVELYN “PUD” KRAMBEER — Wapsie · strawberry preserve, half pint
TOTAL SCORE
00
OF 100 POSSIBLE
PLACING AS SCORED: NO PLACING
Class 17 — Jelly, Grape (Wild or Cultivated)
No. 124CARLA VOSSBERG — ZearingBLUE95
Judges: “Quivers and holds. Cuts clean, does not run at the cut. Free of cloud, no crystals. Full twenty on appearance, the only one today.”
No. 127ANNAMAE FRICKE — ColoRED88
Judges: “Slight cloud through the lower half, consistent with squeezing the bag. Flavor excellent.”
(Do not squeeze the bag. I know. I know it takes all night. Do not squeeze the bag.)
No. 131GRACE OLDENKAMP — State CenterRED88
Judges: “Tie at 88 with No. 127. Broken on the flavor column: 34 against 36. Second red awarded to No. 127, third to this entry. Set firm to the point of stiff.”
(Two reds in one class because the arithmetic said so, and the tie-break is written right there in the key where anybody can read it. Nobody has to take my word for anything in this building.)
Class 22 — Dill, Whole
No. 152DEBBIE THORESON — RhodesBLUE91
Judges: “Pack uniform, cucumbers of a size, all stem ends down, no floaters. Brine clear. Firm through the center on the cut.”
(The pack is worth real points and it is worth them in every pickle class. Judges look at the jar a good while before anybody unscrews anything. Grade your cucumbers by size the night before, it is the cheapest twenty points at this fair.)
No. 158JANELLE BRUNS — MelbourneWHITE74
Judges: “Over-processed. Translucent through the outer wall and hollow at the core on the cut. Brine cloudy with sediment. Flavor of the brine itself is good and correct.”
(Nothing hides a hollow center. You cut it and there it is. Time your processing and pull them out when the timer says, not when you get back from the mailbox — and Ruth Ann is going to say all of this again at TWO O’CLOCK with a knife and a cutting board, which is better than reading it off a purple sheet.)
Class 24 — Dill Spears
No. 166TIFFANY ARENDS (AGE 14) — ColoBLUE94
Judges: “Spears standing straight and cut to a uniform length, shoulders even below the headspace line. Brine clear to the bottom. Firm, audible snap. Highest appearance score in the pickle classes.”
(Fourteen years old. Fourteen! This class has gone to a grandmother every year I have been superintendent and I have been superintendent nineteen years. Arlene measured those spears twice because she did not believe the first measure. Tiffany's mother says she cut every one against a ruler taped to the counter. GOOD. That is the job.)
No. 169MARGARET SIEVERS — NevadaRED87
Judges: “Two spears short of the pack, leaving a gap at the shoulder. One floater. Texture and flavor excellent.”
Class 29 — Bread and Butter
No. 181VIRGIE PLOEGER — ZearingBLUE90
Judges: “Slices even in thickness, onion in proportion, turmeric not heavy-handed. Crisp. Syrup clear.”
No. 185RUTH HELLICKSON — State CenterRED83
Judges: “Slices vary from scant 1/8 to near 1/4 in. Deducted appearance. Spice balance good, mustard seed evenly distributed.”
Class 31 — Fruit, Whole Pack
No. 201BETTY LOU NIEHAUS — RhodesBLUE92
Judges: “Halves uniform, cavity side down, syrup covering the top layer entirely. Color even top to bottom, no darkening at the shoulder.”
No. 207GOOSEBERRY, WHOLE — R. Tolliver, WapsieENTERED
No. 212SHIRLEY DEPPE — MelbourneRED85
Judges: “Syrup slightly thin for the class. Pack good, headspace correct at 1/2 in.”
Best of Show — Canned Goods Division
No. 124CARLA VOSSBERG — Zearing · grape jellyBEST OF SHOW — 95
(It is sitting on the head table under the box fan as I type this, because the north window is warm by eleven and jelly under glass in that window will slump by three and I am not having the Best of Show slump in front of the whole county. Come look at it. Do not lift it. The fan stays.)
JAR PICKUP IS SUNDAY, 6 TO 8 P.M., NORTH DOOR, WITH YOUR TAG. Sheet 2 — relish, salsa, tomato products and the open class — goes on the board at half past one, right after Donna gets her lunch. Ribbons went on the jars at ten past ten. Premium checks come from the treasurer’s office in the round building, not from me, and not this week.
Scorecards for every entry are in the gray box at the end of the head table, filed by number. Yours is in there. Take it home, read the deductions, and come see me if a line does not make sense — I have got a stool behind the table and thirty seconds between now and lunch.
Typed in a hurry between judging and the noon whistle. Errors are mine and I am not retyping the stencil. DEMONSTATION DEMONSTRAION DEMONSTRATION AT TWO O’CLOCK.
HOME ARTS PAVILION · B. OSTERGAARD, SUPT. · DUPLICATED IN TRIPLICATE, ONE FOR THE BOARD, ONE FOR THE POST, ONE FOR THE STACK BY THE DOOR
JARS SCORED BY THE PUBLIC AT THIS TABLE: 0