FSM 394: From Kitchen to Fair: How Home Preserved Foods are Judged

Transcript [Music] I’m Susie Craig, this is Food Safety in a Minute. Every time you preserve food at home, shop at a farmers’ market or farm stand, or enter a county fair or festival, you are judging or being judged. The National Center for Home Food Preservation offers a 110-page guide titled Judging Home Preserved Foods, linked in our podcast resources. It outlines goals and methods, judge selection, product-specific criteria, suggested fair guidelines, and even sample score sheets. All judging begins with food safety, using tested, research-based recipes and procedures. If you enter a local fair, they will have additional guidelines. Understanding how judges are selected, how they evaluate entries, and the criteria used for home preserved foods can improve your results and confidence when entering competitions. From Washington State University Extension, this is Food Safety in a Minute. [Music] Resources National Center for Home Food Preservation. Judging Home Preserved Foods. nchfp.uga.edu/papers/tech bulletin/0Judging_Preserved_full.pdf. Accessed online 6/25/26.