From August 26 to September 6, Syracuse hosts New York's biggest exhibit of the best of the state - the Great New York State Fair. But Syracuse amateur cooks and bakers who want to show off their skills at the fair's daily competitions have only three more weeks to enter this year's culinary division contests. New York state fair culinary division entries are due online or must be postmarked by July 12, 2010.

Each year in the Art and Home Center section, the fair offers daily theme and special competitions. Home cooks from around the state deliver their entries each morning in divisions that range from cake decorating to home-canned preserves, family favorites, kid-friendly recipes, bread baking, pie making and special diet recipes. Several of this year's contests, including King Arthur Flour, Wilton, the Great American Spam Championship and a day of regular classes on Sunday, August 29 offer chances for child chefs to show off their kitchen skills.

Local and national vendors including Wegmans, Wilton, Hormel Foods Corp., Empire State Potato Growers, Inc., Fleischmann's, Agnew Communications, Inc., Pillsbury, Spam and King Arthur Flour sponsor special classes throughout the fair. First place winners of the Pillsbury, Fleischmann's and Great American Spam Championship special contests are automatically entered in the national contest to compete with other first place winners from state fairs throughout the US for additional prizes.

Regular and special class culinary competitions begin on opening day and run for 11 days through the Sunday before Labor Day. All recipes, except those submitted for cake decorating, are tasted and graded in categories such as taste, appearance, texture and in some classes, originality or ease of preparation. From the first place winners of the regular classes held each day, the judges determine the best overall recipe of the day. On Labor Day, the winners of the one best regular class recipe from each day face off to determine the Best of Fair recipe and grand prize winners. In 2009, Kathy Wood from Fabius, NY won Best of Fair with her home canned Red Pepper Relish.

Regular classes offer ribbons and cash prizes from $10 for first place through $7 for third place, and ribbons for recipes that earn honorable mention. Special classes offer prizes that range from aprons, coupons and cookbooks to gift certificates and cash prizes.

The state fair culinary competition is limited to New York state residents. Entry fees are $7 per entrant to the culinary division, plus $1 per regular class and $2 per special class. Culinary entrants can enter up to four regular classes and five special classes on one entry form. The fair accepts online entries, or the entry form can be printed and mailed to the Entry Department, NY State Fair, 581 State Fair Blvd., Syracuse NY 13209. Payment must be enclosed with mailed entries.

Entries for the Flower division, which includes a set of canning classes, are due online or by 4:30pm on August 4. Entries for the Home Brewing and Amateur Wine Making divisions in the Agriculture – Farm Products section closed on May 31 and June 9, respectively. For more information about the Culinary division classes, contact the NY State Fair entry department, 315-487-7711. Check Syracuse Food for more New York State Fair culinary competition updates as they become available.
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