Blue ribbons please bakers

By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
The two first place winners in the Allen County Fair pie baking contest claimed no special secrets to their creations. Both Brenda Cash and Mary Ann Ritter were surprised at their feat, however.
“This is my first time,” Ritter noted of her win. “I’m so excited.”
Cash had only ever received reds for her efforts, she noted.
“The joke is I don’t have blue-ribbon pie,” she said. Until now.
Both women had had entries in previous contests. Neither had any thoughts they would win this year.
Judging was based on appearance, texture and flavor, said facilitator Linda Garrett.
Not in that order, said Gerald Jacobs, one of three judges.
Flavor, he said, comes first.
For him, Cash’s pie stood out.
“Pie No. 1 for me was it,” Jacobs said. “The filling was not runny; it stood up nice. The pecan taste came through. The mixture between flavors was really balanced — it won my heart.”
The pie was baked using a recipe Cash had acquired years ago from a family friend, she said.
“This is Ray Wilson’s pecan pie recipe,” she said.
“I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to ask people for their recipes, so when my mom said she really liked the pie I said, ‘I’ll get it for you.’”
The effort paid off.
“I haven’t made it for a long time,” she admitted. For the fair, she baked two. Her husband tasted the first, she said, “and declared it fit.”

RITTER didn’t note where her pie recipe came from, but she did say she uses light corn syrup and adds vanilla to the mix — “pure vanilla, not imitation,” she explained.
“The sheriff wondered what else I put in it,” she said. “That was it.”
Allen County Sheriff Tom Williams, along with Ray Shannon and Jacobs, judged the entries.
His qualification, he said, was “a life of eating pie.”
The other men noted similar experience.
“I’ve been married 60 years to an excellent baker,” Shannon said.
Jacobs said his late wife “made wonderful pies.” Since she died five years ago, though, he said, “I don’t eat much pie.”
Jacobs noted he was one of the original judges when the contest began eight years ago. He’s the only judge who has come back each year.
Entry numbers were up slightly this year, he noted.
“Usually we get four (pies),” said Garrett. This year, there were six.
No word yet on next year’s flavor choice, but Ritter said of her win, “This will inspire me for next year.”

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