It’s fair to say that competitions at the Iowa State Fair are fair. I submitted three entries in the Food Division, anticipating that one of the three might be rejected because there was a small bubble in the jelly about a half-inch from the bottom of the jar.
This year, I entered a black raspberry jelly, a strawberry jelly, and a strawberry-rhubarb jelly. I didn’t have time or materials to submit other products like in the past, such as salsa, pasta sauce, and my blue-ribbon winning caramels. I wanted to enter a lemon meringue pie, but time ran out. Of course, I have already won a blue-ribbon for the caramels, why would I want to disgrace my reputation for entering the category again and taking the chance of coming in second, or God forbid, not placing?
In the past I have made black raspberry jelly almost every year, but have submitted a sample as an entry into the Fair judging only once, in 2023. I won a white ribbon that year (3rd place). I attempted to score higher this year with what I considered to be a far better product. Unfortunately, it was rejected. I failed to include the date the jelly was produced, as required in the rules.
Rules were meant to be broken, right? Not at the Iowa State Fair. Right there in the rules, it clearly states:
All canned products must be canned in compliance with the current USDA guidelines for safe canning. Any entries not complying with these guidelines will be disqualified. The method of processing, headspace, processing time, date of preparation, altitude and county name (not county number) in which the product was canned must be included on the recipe. Do not put any of this information on the entry tag. If an entry has been processed in a pressure canner, the recipe must include whether a dial-gauge or weighted-gauge canner was used and the pounds used. If using vinegar, 5% must be used. No use of an instapot in canning. (All emphasis – underlined and bold – are in the original rules provided by the State Fair.)
I have to admit; After spending a quarter of a century reading legislation, the underlining and bold lettering in the rule may have confused me. In the Iowa Legislature, underlining and bold lettering are methods of indicating changes by amendments. I went back to the 2023 Fair rules and the only changes from 2026 were that the last two sentences were added; 5% vinegar as a must and a ban on instapot canning.
I attended the judging and watched as black raspberry jellies were judged first. There were four entrants in this category. I witnessed the judge checking the rulebook at one point in her procedure. She must have discovered that I failed to include the “date of preparation” in my recipe. She read off the top three winners and said she had to reject the fourth entrant because the submission lacked the important requirement of date preparation. I knew that was me only because I was not one of the top three winners of the four entries.
Past experience taught me to measure precisely the quarter of an inch headspace at the top of the jar. Headspace regulation was imperative in all my past entries. I was proud of getting that rule down to precision. Previous judges have brought rulers from home just for checking that very important rule. I noticed not one of the three jelly judges measured head space.
Ironically, I used the same recipe for black raspberry jelly this year as I did in 2023. I had no production date on that recipe, either. Further, I left after the black raspberry judging because I knew that I failed to meet the production date requirement in my other two jellies.
With me during the contest judging was my nine-year-old granddaughter. The disappointment of my failure to follow rules exactly did not discourage her from wanting to enter a contest next year in the kids’ categories. She already knows what she wants to bake for her entry next year at the Iowa State Fair. I am very proud of her!
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