ALTAMONT – Six years ago, Adria Ermolenko’s turkey-Spam wontons took the first-place ribbon at the Altamont Fair – Dave Campbell still remembers them.

Campbell is a culinary instructor at Cobleskill, and has been judging the baking competitions at the fair since the 2001 Spam contest.

This year, in a Fleischmann’s Yeast competition, bakers united for a cause – breast cancer awareness.

For each entry, ACH Food Companies donated $10 to a breast cancer foundation.

There were only three entries this year.

At 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening, bakers and their families gathered with their creations and recipes in the Arts and Crafts Building.
"I try not to look in advance," said Campbell, who waited in a side room until he got the word that all the contestants and baked goods had arrived.

He sipped on water as he waited, and spoke to The Enterprise about being a judge. "I enjoy it quite a bit," he said. "Usually, the stuff is really good," he added.
He prefers the "non-sweet" entries he said, remembering the challenge of a Land O’ Lakes competition where he had to sample 21 cookies.
"I just had dinner maybe two hours ago," he said, indicating that he doesn’t generally arrive with an empty stomach. He just takes a "representative taste" of the entries, he said.
"I think it is neat to see this small-town atmosphere here," Campbell said of the fair, adding that he enjoys all the "corny" stuff too, like the diving pigs. "I look forward to it every year."

Poker-faced judge

He came out and introduced himself to a dozen or so onlookers. Before digging in, Campbell told a story of a previous competitor that had entered a type of pizza. Campbell had asked the man how he had kept it warm. The man answered that he had wrapped the pizza in aluminum foil and placed it on the engine of his car.
"Once we wiped the soot off, it was really good," Campbell joked.

The contest rules indicate a judging formula for Campbell to follow. For this competition, it was 40-percent flavor, 40-percent presentation, and 20-percent texture.

Campbell began with an Irish baguette, submitted by Colleen Moller. She presented the bread in a wicker basket with a bottle of wine and a pair of wine glasses.

Next, he sampled Ermolenko’s submission of ribbon rolls, cherry-flavored dough rolls arranged on a plate and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
He then tasted a raspberry-almond ribbon, submitted by Susan Bauer. It was shaped like the ribbon that symbolizes breast cancer awareness, and decorated with pink-frosting flowers, and the words "Love Hope."

Campbell didn’t speak or make any indicative facial expressions as he sampled. He simply looked over the contest criteria and marked his judgments on a clipboard.

After he judged three entries for a Fleischmann’s one-dish bake-and-rise contest, he announced the winners.

Moller’s baguette was third, Ermolenko’s ribbon rolls were second, and Bauer’s raspberry-almond ribbon came in first place.

Winners all
All three women received pink ribbons and a Fleischmann’s "Bake For a Cure" apron, as well as a cash prize.

Moller has been involved in baking contests at the fair for about 10 years, she said. She opted to enter an Irish recipe this year in honor of her heritage.

She always tries her recipes at home before entering them, and sometimes might change things a bit, she said, depending on her family’s suggestions.
Moller’s mother-in-law died of breast cancer, she said. "That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to do it," she said of entering the contest.

Bauer said that she used to enter her baked goods in the fair when she was a teenager. Her mother reminded her of that a few years ago, she said. Her daughters – Megan, 14, and Laura, 10 – entered a gingerbread house this year.
"They critiqued me," Bauer said of Megan and Laura.
Bauer has competed at the fair for the past three years, she said. "I took a special interest because it was for breast cancer," she said.
Ermolenko said she decided her entry "should be something healthy" in support of breast cancer awareness. Her ribbon rolls were made from soymilk, eight-grain cereal, and cherry preserves.
"I tried hard to make something healthy, that still tasted all right," she said.

She also entered a salmon-spinach brunch square that won the first-place ribbon in the Fleischmann’s one-dish contest. Her sister, Vanessa Keitel, entered almond-orange crumb.
"It’s all in good fun," said Keitel of competing against her sister.
"All of it was really good today," Campbell told The Enterprise after the contest, as everyone was enjoying the entries.
"You always feel weird doing it," he said of the sampling process. Everyone notices when you take a sip of water after a taste, or, if you take a second taste, he said.