When he entered
the large, brightly lit room, Rob Ward stopped a moment to savor the heady
scent of butter, apple, almonds, citrus, chocolate and cinnamon. Along the walls
of the room were over 300 pies lined up like beads on a jeweled necklace. With a broad smile he nodded hello to fellow
pie lovers as he threaded his way through 19 tables to table number six, where
he would sit for the better part of three hours tasting over a dozen cherry
pies. For the seventh year in a row, Ward would judge, along with 100 others,
the amateur division of the American Pie Council’s National Pie Championship in
Orlando, Fla.
Over two
decades, the National Pie Championships has grown from a series of small
regional pie competitions to a single large national event held every April. At the 2013 event, pies were judged in five divisions:
commercial, independent/retail bakers, amateur bakers, professional chefs, and
junior chefs. Competitors and judges
came from over 40 states. Nearly 1,000
pies were judged by 200 volunteer judges over three days of competition. Gift
baskets were awarded to the winners of various pie categories and the Best of
Show winner in each division received a cash prize.
It is not
difficult to understand what brings bakers to the competition. They love to
create an original recipe they hope is worthy of recognition and prize
money. Most competitors enter pies in many
different categories and return every year hoping for fame within the pie
community. Winning pie recipes are published on the American Pie Council’s website.
A new cookbook, America’s Best Pies, edited by Linda Hoskins the executive director
of the APC contains 200 of the best recipes from past competitions.
But what brings
people like Rob Ward back year after year to judge those pies? There are no
prizes or accolades for the judges. They pay for their own transportation and
lodging. No one writes stories about them in the local paper. They give up a
weekend to sit inside a windowless, air- conditioned convention center eating
pie until their loose-fitting clothes aren’t so loose fitting anymore. So why
do they do it? The answer is simple. It is their passion for pie.
Ward recently
retired to Sarasota, an easy two-hour drive to Orlando. But for the first six
years he judged at the National Pie Championships, he would close his lucrative
orthodontic practice in Illinois for several days. He would fly at his own
expense to Orlando from Chicago and judge pies for three days. He said his wife
would often ask him why he wanted to make the effort to judge for free and
without recognition. He said his answer
was always, “Because I can”. He loves
the camaraderie of the judges, seeing good friends year after year, and tasting
many different pies.
His favorite pie
is cherry, preferably a double crust, the category he judged at this year’s
championship. But his earliest memory of pie was his grandmother’s apple
pie. He would sit on a well-worn stool
in her kitchen in a small house in upstate New York. “I was around eight or
nine watching her work her magic … I still have that stool.”
His enthusiasm
for the pie championship was so great that one year he took the idea home with
him. He and his wife lived on a
close-knit cul-de-sac north of Chicago. He hosted a friendly neighborhood pie
competition where everyone brought their favorite pie, whether they baked it or
bought it. With Johnny Cash’s song Pie
in the Sky playing in the background they sampled pies, Ward “judged” each pie,
and everyone got a prize. It was the talk of the neighborhood for years.
Across the table
from Ward sat a trim, talkative woman who has driven from nearby Jupiter for a half dozen years to judge the amateur
division. A red, white, and, blue “I Love Pie” sticker stood out on her bright
red jacket. She is an avid baker who
bakes pies, cakes, cookies, and breads almost every day. When her tablemates
asked how she keeps so trim and fit, she replied “I give away most of what I
bake, to the local fire and police stations and my neighbors.” She just loves
to bake, especially pies. There were at least several people at her table who
expressed the desire to be one of her neighbors.
Like several
other judges around the table, she was disappointed there weren’t more classic,
double-crusted cherry pies in the competition. She considers herself a
purist. If it says it is a cherry pie,
it should have lots of cherries. Her opinion of the cherry cream pie that got
high marks from several other judges? Not enough cherries, too much cream
cheese, she marked it down for that. But
with six judges with different tastes and opinions, the pie still won third
place. The winner? Mamma Mia’s Cherry
Pie. It had lots of cherries and no
cream cheese.
Judging at the
pie championship requires more than just the love of pie. It also requires organization, attention to
detail, and confidence. There were six
judges at a table with each table judging an entire category of pie. There were typically 12 to 25 pies in a
category. A score sheet was filled out by each judge giving points for
appearance, overall taste, balance of taste, mouth feel, crust quality,
creativity, after-taste, and more.
During the tasting process for each piece, no communication between
judges was allowed. But in between pie
slices, conversation was often lively and varied. “Didn’t you think it tasted like lavender
soap?” “What was that spice? Whatever it was, there was too much of it.” “What
was that golden cherry? It was perfect.”
Judging attracts
pie lovers of all ages. A frail, silver-haired woman with a whisper of a voice
has judged at the pie championships for so long she couldn’t remember how many
years, at least 11. She spoke of a sweet
potato pie from her childhood in the backwoods of Louisiana during the 1940s. Her
delicately, weathered hand tapped on the small round pin on her lapel that
announced, pie judge. The family’s housekeeper would make the pie. She said, “I never saw her use a recipe and I
have never been able to make that pie”. The closest she has come was from a
recipe she found in a southern cookbook from 1764.
Sitting at the
raisin pie table, Judy Hynes proudly wore her American Pie Council Pie Police
t-shirt. She drives an hour from DeBary, Fla, all three days of the competition.
In addition to judging, she volunteers at the American Pie Festival in
Celebration, Fla, that runs concurrently with the National Pie Championship. The most demanding job? “The pie slicing tent
at Celebration, hardest job ever.”
Her earliest memory of pie is her mother’s
peach pie. She prides herself on her
lemon meringue and chocolate pies. In past competitions, she has entered pies for
judging, but never won. But, her days as a competitor will soon be over. Her
son is marrying into pie royalty. This
summer he will marry the daughter of Rich and Linda Hoskins the founders of the
American Pie Council and the National Pie Championships. When asked whether there will be cake or pie
at her son’s wedding reception, she said, “That is so funny. Pie of course!”
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