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Education Tools for Fair Foods Judges and Contestants

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee
Fair judging
Kansas State Fair, Photo: KSRE Flickr

County fairs are almost here! As you plan to hire judges, please pass along to these judgeing tools to help them be an educated judge. Many resources can be found at https://www.rrc.k-state.edu/judging/index.html.

In particular, a new tool is available for contestants to calculate frosting and filling recipes for safety. This worksheet can be found at https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/item/frostings-and-fillings-worksheet_4H1171.

Encourage judges to review the videos and resources to learn more details about judging food exhibits. This also includes judging food preservation exhibits. Sometimes a foods judge will also judge food preservation. There are scorecards to help guide them in judging food preservation.

An educated and knowledgable judge can be a key partner in educating all exhibitors!

Temporary Food Stand Guidelines

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Fair season is almost here!  Here are some reminders from the Kansas Department of Agriculture for serving food safely in licensed food stands.

  • Food prepared in private homes may not be used or offered.
  • All equipment needed for the intended operation must be on hand.
  • Food contact surfaces must be protected from contamination by consumers.
  • There must be separate areas for taking money and preparing food.
  • Dishwashing must include washing, rinsing and sanitizing equipment.
  • A handwashing facility must be available with hot/warm water, soap, and paper towels.
  • Only one raw, potentially hazardous food that requires onsite preparation or cooking can be made or served.

For 4-H food stands, see https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3472.pdf

For more information, go to www.ksre.k-state.edu/foodsafety/topics/4h.html.

 

Freezing Foods for the Fair

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

To help save time and stress at county fairs, prepare food entries early and freeze them.  Most baked goods freeze well and can still be blue ribbon quality.  This includes cookies, yeast and quick breads, and cakes.  Here are some tips:

  • Bake the product as usual. Cool completely!  This helps prevent condensation inside the wrapping and development of ice crystals.
  • Use moisture-vapor resistant packaging. This includes freezer-safe plastic containers or bags, heavy-duty aluminum foil, and rigid containers.
  • Separate layers of cookies with wax paper or parchment paper.
  • If a cake or bread is to be frosted, freeze the product only and frost after it is thawed.
  • Make pie crusts ahead of time and freeze. Freezing whole prepared pies can cause the filling to soak into the crust.
  • Thaw all baked goods in the freezer packaging. They can be thawed at room temperature.  Remove from the freezer the night before the fair.  Once thawed, repackage into the proper packaging according to your fair rules.

Source:  Univ. of Georgia, www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/FreezingPreparedFoods.pdf

 

Temporary Food Stand Guidelines

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Fair season is almost here!  Here are some reminders from the Kansas Department of Agriculture for serving food safely in food stands.

  • Food prepared in private home may not be used or offered
  • All equipment needed for the intended operation must be on hand
  • Food contact surfaces must be protected from contamination by consumers
  • There must be separate areas for taking money and preparing food.
  • Dishwashing must include washing, rinsing and sanitizing equipment.
  • A handwashing facility must be available with hot/warm water, soap, and paper towels.
  • Only one raw, potentially hazardous food that requires onsite preparation or cooking can be made or served.

For more information, go to www.ksre.k-state.edu/foodsafety/topics/4h.html.

 

Ball® Fair Awards Program Discontinued

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

In an email from Newell Brands, Inc., it states:

“It is with deepest regret that we must inform you the Ball® Fair Awards Program sponsored by Newell Brands has been discontinued effective 2019. Thus we are not accepting registrations for the 2019 fair season and onwards. “

“This has been a difficult business decision for us to make and are very sorry for any inconvenience it may cause you. It was concluded we could no longer support this national program at its current level. Rather than disappoint hundreds of loyal food preservers with a lesser commitment, we have decided to step away at this time. Should you have any concerns or questions, feel free to contact our office.”

“For those fairs who have not yet submitted your 2018 registration form, fair book page, and winner’s and participant’s lists, we will honor our commitment to you for the 2018 program.”

“Please complete and present your outstanding documents by March 31, 2019 so that coupon awards can be mailed directly to the recipients.”

For questions, contact:

Mary Jo Harber

Fair Program Coordinator

FairInfo@newellco.com

 

Bread Sculpture Contest Returns!

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee
The 2018 winner!

If you didn’t get the opportunity to host or enter the State Fair County Contest last year, here is another chance! Once again, the Kansas State Fair will partner with the Kansas Wheat Commission and offer the Bread Sculpture Contest where you can send your County Fair Winners to represent you at the State Fair with their amazing creations!

There are some great “dough” prizes available, but first you “knead” to enter. All entries MUST be pre-entered with the Kansas State Fair by August 15th to participate. This contest is offered by the Kansas State Fair Foods Department located in the Domestic Arts Building. This is where entries need to be received, will be judged, displayed and released from. A $1.00 handling fee, per exhibitor, is due at the time of entry.

Complete details can be found at www.rrc.k-state.edu/doc/judging/breadsculpture.pdf

Additional questions may be directed to: cfalk@kswheat.com or
nicole.jaskoski@ks.gov.

 

 

Food Judge’s Training Tools

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee
Fair judging
Kansas State Fair, judging 4-H pies

Two videos have been created to help train foods and food preservation judges. Please send these to all foods and food preservation judges you hire for your fair.

The videos, plus extra resources mentioned in the videos, are available at:

www.rrc.ksu.edu/judging

The videos run approximately one hour each.

Also, please provide the judging scorecards for food preservation at your fair! These will help guide judges through the different kinds of exhibits.

 

Reference to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation. Paid for by Kansas State University