Judging food at the Iowa State Fair

A year ago, I sat in a plastic folding chair in Room 3 of the Elwell Family Food Center at the Iowa State Fair. I had a notebook on one hand, a pen in the other, and my eyes trained to the judges sampling the chocolate goodies in front of them – including mine.

This afternoon, I entered Room 3 again, but not as a contestant. I was an Iowa State Fair food judge.

I assumed sampling the 10 entries in the Superior Whole Grain Bread with Red Star Platinum would be less nerve racking than competing in a state fair food contest. I was wrong. Yes, being able to try the delicious breads and rolls was great, but I was aware of the people watching me with every bite. I kept my voice low as I shared my comments with the writer next to me. I wondered if my thoughts were on par with my fellow judges. I worried outcome my opinion would have on the entrants.

We had four criteria to consider: Shape, crust, texture and flavor. Each one was worth 25 percent of the total score.

As someone who has never baked a perfect loaf of bread, I was probably more lenient on the misshaped loaves than my fellow judges. Texture and flavor were easy to render an opinion on, but crust proved tricky. Some of the breads were easier to slice into than others, but that didn't make a crust better or worse, in my opinion. I wanted chewy toughness; something that isn't easy to put into words, but I know when I taste it.

We ended up disqualifying two of the entries, including one that probably would have won if the entrant had followed the contest rule that states “All entries are to be presented on heavy, corrugated cardboard … The cardboard needs to be one inch larger than the baked item. Those larger will be disqualified.”

Follow the rules, folks. That's my takeaway from my first state fair judging experience. Follow the rules.

I'll be back at the state fair Tuesday for more food judging. It's a longer judging say for me, with four contests on the agenda: Cooking with Mr. Dee's at 10 a.m.; the Pillsbury Pie Baking Championship at noon; Foods Made with Honey at 1 p.m.; and Szathmary Collection of Historic Recipes at 2:30 pm.

I'll be at the varied industries building afterward, taking a nap on one of the Sleep Number Beds.