Time for pie… why not have a pie bake off?

This year will be our 11th annual pie tasting contest with friends and neighbors. Every year on the third weekend in August when the berries are ripe and everyone is due for another feasting celebration we have a pie contest. Contestants take it very seriously. We have old family recipes,  experimental pies, and something one contestant calls a “yurt”- not sure what’s in that one but it’s about a foot high and packed with who knows what. There’s a trophy and second and third prizes for three different categories; “berries” , “fruit” and “other”.

Judges are reputable members of the pie eating community. ( P. I. E. stands for Pie Ingesting  Enthusiasts we’re on Facebook ) There are strict rules; You must love pie, judges cannot be an entrant or related to one and pies have to be homemade of course. So we don’t feel guilty eating all that pie we also make this a food drive for the food bank.

It’s a very easy event to do. You supply the utensils, decor, beverages, and ice cream.

Purchase a trophy and second place ribbons from http://www.crownawards.com they have pie inserts. Each pie is given a number so the bakers remain anonymous. There are three categories; berry, fruit and other.  Judges are given a scoresheet to judge on crust, flavor, and overall, with ratings from 1 to 5. Each judge gets one bite of pie. We add up the numbers and the winners are the ones with the highest scores. There is never a shortage of judges!

The Eclipse pie

Raspberry pie with white chocolate leaves