Greater Midwest Foodways: State Fair Contests in IL, IN & OH

Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance

Family Heirloom Recipes Competition

Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance is dedicated to celebrating, exploring and preserving unique food traditions and their cultural contexts in the American Midwest. By hosting public events, developing archival resources and generating publications, the GMFA uncovers the distinctiveness of a region that is as varied in tastes and traditions as it is in its geography from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains. Whether indigenous foods like Wisconsin cranberries and Minnesota walleye, iconographic flavors like the wheat and corn from across the prairies, immigrant cuisines from early Europeans to 21st-century newcomers, or fish boils and fine dining in small towns and big cities, the GMFA promotes and chronicles the diversity of the region’s culinary character.

PRIZES: 1st place - $150., 2nd place - $100., 3rd place - $50


JUDGING CRITERIA
Taste 50%, History 40%, Appearance 10%

CONTEST REQUIREMENTS
• Enter your best scratch family heirloom recipe suitable for a family or community dinner. Recipe should be from before 1950.
• Each entry must be created from one recipe.
• Entrants must be at least 18 years of age, one entry per person.
• Every ingredient must be listed in exact measurement (no rounded teaspoons, etc.) type of ingredient (example: self-rising flour) must be specified. No mixes may be used. Follow general proper recipe procedure, listing all steps of preparation, pan sizes, temperature and baking time.
• Entries must be submitted with 1) recipe and contestant’s name, age at time of contest, address, phone number and email address typed on an 8 1/ 2” x 11 sheet of paper, and 2) On a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper type a brief story of who passed the recipe down to you, ethnicity, if relevant, number of years the recipe has been in your family and any interesting information about your recipe..
• By submitting your entry, you accept official rules and agree to be bound by the judges’ decisions, which will be final. You also agree that your recipe and history narrative will become the property of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance, which reserves the right to edit, adapt, copyright, publish and use without compensation to you.
• By participating, contestants also understand and accept the right of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance to use contestant names, photos, history narratives and recipes for publicity without compensation.
• Each winning entry will be in a display case (18” x 18”). Your product should be displayed simply, but attractively, with the use of props, such as a photograph, placemat, napkins, glassware or maybe flowers.
• Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance is not responsible for lost or illegible recipes, nor is the fair.
• Taxes on the prizes are the responsibility of the winner.
• Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance website is GreaterMidwestFoodways.com. (Recipes from the web site are not eligible for entry in this contest.)

Ohio State Fair:
Competition: Saturday, July 31, check-in 5:30 – 6:30 pm

- Premium book: http://www.ohiostatefair.com/osf/downlo ... itions.pdf see pages 2-4 in .pdf
- Application form, deadline is June 20th:
To apply and pay online: http://ohio.fairmanager.com/
To print out form for mail-in application: http://www.ohiostatefair.com/osf/downlo ... veform.pdf

Illinois State Fair:
Competition: Sunday August 15, check in: 9 - 10 am, awards noon

- Premium book: http://www.agr.state.il.us/isf/premium/general.pdf see page 102
- Application form, deadline is July 15th,: http://www.agr.state.il.us/isf/premium/ ... ryform.pdf

Indiana State Fair:
Competition: Tuesday August 17, check in: 1 – 3 pm.

- Premium book,: http://www.in.gov/statefair/fair/compet ... dbook.html see page 35 and 36 of pdf (hardcopy: pages 179-180)
- Application form, deadline is July 1: http://www.in.gov/statefair/fair/compet ... dbook.html

Hi,

A gentle reminder to our Indiana residents, your application dated no later than July 1st is right around the corner.

Those considering the Illinois State Fair have until July 15th.

Regards,

Hi,

Final date for applying to the Illinois State Fair is an application postmarked July 15th.

Regards,

This is a nice resource Cathy! When I retire, I'm going to do some of this...it's fun! I did a chili cookoff at the DeKalb County (Sandwich) Fair about five years ago...won 2nd place!

Two weeks ago was the Ohio State Fair.

This Sunday is the Illinois State Fair. We will begin judging at 10 am. The winner will be announced at noon. If anyone is around, please say hello.

Tuesday is the Indiana State Fair. We will begin judging at 3 pm. I have no idea what the format will be.

There is a day in between, dare I say Moonshine is a favored destination?

Regards,

First prize at the Illinois State Fair

Greater Midwest Foodways, Illinois Winners wrote:Grandma Bushon's Blackberry Dumplings
Carol Meadows, Springfield, Illinois

My husband recalls one of his fondest memories as a child was going to Centralia to visit his grandma in the summer.

He tells of waking in the morning to the smell of fresh baked bread with honey from her bees. Picking blackberries along the side of the railroad tracks where they grew wild, bringing them back to the house where grandma would make a cobbler, pie or dumplings.

My husband tells that her mother (his great grandmother) died at an early age (around the turn of the century) and she along with her brothers and sisters were placed in a orphanage. While she was in the orphanage she met the boy who would become her future husband. She ran away from that horrible place and worked for others.

She didn't go to school, nor did she learn to read and write though up until the time of her death this was her fondest wish. My husband would read articles that she clipped out of the newspaper and placed in a shoe box that she thought might be important or might mean something. She asked my husband if he would teach her the A, B, C's and how to read but she passed away before he was able to. To keep her recipes alive her daughters would write down the ingredients she used and any other information needed to duplicate the recipe. Grandma's recipes are still prized by family members.

She was deeply religious and believed everything had a purpose. In the summer you would find her in the garden picking the odd bug and turtles off the plants. If you asked her why she didn't just kill the bugs she would tell you they were all God's creatures and everything had a purpose. So she would load bugs and turtles in a bucket and empty them in the ditch. The next day you would find her in the garden repeating the process.

Even though she could not read or write she was a great cook and made sure that her children learned to read, write, and cook. I obtained her recipe for Blackberry Dumplings from her daughter Lilly Ragan who in her own right was a fantastic cook. Grandfather Meadows died when the children were young during the great depression. She later married Grandfather Bushon. If you speak to family members about grandma, the stories they recall are filled with love and admiration.


Grandma Bushon's Blackberry Dumplings
Carol Meadows, Springfield, Illinois

Ingredients:
3 cups water
2 bags frozen blackberries or 2 quarts wild blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons soft butter
1-1/2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk

In a large no stick pan place blackberries, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Place over medium heat and cook until sugar dissolves and berries start to boil. Stir to make sure berries do not stick. In a bowl place soft butter, flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend together with a pastry blender. Add milk and mix well. Drop a spoon at a time into the boiling blackberries. Cover berries and dumplings and let cook for 15 minutes do not take the lid off the pan or the dumplings will fall. Turn off heat and remove lid.

Serve dumplings and berries (while berries are still hot) with vanilla ice cream. If you are in a hurry instead of making dumplings from scratch you can also use the dumpling recipe on the Bisquick box