Canning Show 2013

     I do go on a bit about the Perth Royal Show (state fair equivalent here in Western Australia) but there is much to be said about the county fairs like the Canning Show. To be fair, I was never really big on county fairs back home. They seemed to be poor distant relations to the state fair rather than the local celebration that they actually are. My tune has changed a bit.  I still like huge playground atmosphere of the Big Show but my tolerance for crowds, noise and extraneous nonsense has lowered significantly.  A local show offers a manageable experience for those with very small children, crowd or mobility issues.
     The Canning Show, like other regional shows or county fairs, has a little bit of everything: rides for kids, buskers and entertainment, a  few animals, bakery and art competitions, cotton candy and worthless treasures to buy, hawkers selling wares and someone in a back room counting money.  Almost hiding is the hobbyist exhibition hall.  Various societies are happy to show off their lace-making, embroidery, model trains, little airplanes, taxidermy skills  and model police car collections.  They also dearly wish to boost their membership numbers from within the viewing public...if the public can make it up the hill to the hall.
     Of course my appearance at the Canning Show is, well, mostly about my canning efforts. Yes, I do go on a bit about that also.  This year, out of nine entries (including two photographic entries I was utterly mad to enter) I received two (2) First Place winners and two (2) Third Place winners in the Preservation division.

Judge didn't save much for me.

    The winners were Strawberry Jam which the judge used for a scone demo later (also known as "staff breakfast") I had just enough left in the jar to spread on one piece of toast when I got it back and  Red Cabbage ( I reworked a loser at the Royal Show into a big winner at Canning.)    Third place holders were the Apple Butter and Fig Jam.  The figs were raining from a neighbor's tree, so I caught a few and put them through their paces.  My first effort with that fruit and the PRS judges liked it also. 

    My cookie entries went nowhere. They tasted the gingerbread star but ignored the apricot  swirl and the fruited oatmeal.  Less far than those went were the brandied marmalade and OPAL-orange, pineapple, apricot and lemon marmalade.  Again, the judges at Canning didn't always agree with the PRS judges but that's OK.  I'm good with four winners.

    A big surprise for me  was when one of the executive committee (who helped empty  my strawberry Jam jar in the demo) asked if I would help teach a jam making class in January.  Gee whiz!  At first I thought, "There are MANY people who are much better than I am" and after more thought realized that my jam journey is more contemporary to the newbies who will be in the class than folks who have been around for a hundred years.  Presentation plans are forming in my head.

    As are plans for 2014's entries.  Mango jam is already first in the queue.

 

 

Cornish Pasties at the Canning Show

    This weekend was all about the Canning Show.  A regional agricultural show just six miles down Albany Highway from where I live, it is far more...accessible... than the Perth Royal Show.  Families with youngsters and oldsters appreciate the smaller grounds and fewer mazes to walk through. It's less expensive to get in.  The entertainment program includes more local talent and the public gets an eyeful of collections too small or out of the mainstream to warrant state fair attention. The Australian Model Ship Builders Society created waves with their display as did the Holden model auto club. Get up close to crafters doing origami, patchwork, machine knitting, spinning, leatherwork, hardanger (embroidered cloth with artful holes in it) and an apiarist talking about honey.  Not too many animals at this Show located on the grounds of the greyhound racetrack (guinea pigs and rabbits only) but one still can hop on a ride and buy a show bag.  The Canning Show really picks up where the Royal Show gets off. Because of their relatively immediate  registration time, the Canning Show can highlight areas the Royal Show cannot.
    Fruits, vegetables and flowers get center stage here. A gardener will know what the patch will produce one week out (as opposed to the two months lead time required for the Royal Show) and are eager to put it all on display. Just like at the PRS, the same names keep popping up on winner cards. Does anyone enter just one item?  Get a load of that giant purple turnip on the top shelf. A jack o' lantern could have been carved from it. Extraordinary amounts of silverbeet (maybe it's known as Swiss Chard in No. America) were on a table display next to rows of flowers.
   But why am I here? For the Cookery division.  The jam class is pretty limited and I don't hyper-decorate cakes or cupcakes.  I entered some cookies to camouflage my real target: the Cornish Pasty class. Pasties-the ultimate comfort food in our family and even served at my wedding.  Three Cornish pasties on a plate.   Not "party pasties" I was told at registration but full size pasties.  Friday morning I awoke at 5 a.m., propped up my Grandma's recipe and went to work peeling and chopping potatoes, rutabagas, carrots and onions.  Mixing the vegetables with ground beef by hand (the only way, so said my Grandma) and stuffing the dough. The smell of heaven baking wafted through the house and brought Kev downstairs much earlier than he normally would. Hands off- these are for judging! I delivered them still piping hot for pre-show judging.  Competitors bringing in frosted cupcakes took one whiff and rethought their breakfast plans. My entry was first on the competitors table.
    My entry was the only one with full size pasties. Everyone else, Junior & Senior division, had  cutesie-poo party pasties. No reflection on my Grandma, but my entry only garnered a red ribbon. Second place to a poofy, petite pasty with it's glazed crimped edge on top rather than on the side (OK, I'm over it now.) My mother-in-law explained later that a top crust is the Cornish way. No photo, all food was wisely covered by white fly netting.  All was not wasted, there were still a few at home. And my toughest judge approved.