Riverview Peach Pie Contest!

This past Sunday, I was a judge in the 2014 Perfect Peach Pie Contest at Riverview Farmers' Market . It was a great time and I was really grateful to be able to participate, taste all the pies, and enjoy the Riverview Farmers' Market.

        (peaches from Alstede Farms)


There were 10 pies in total, all homemade, and you'd think it would be easy to taste and judge 10 pies...but it was surprisingly difficult. What I really enjoyed about the way the judging worked was each pie is graded on a numerical scale in several categories based completely on its own merits - there's not a lot of comparison or pie vs pie. The effort and care that was put into all of the pies was evident and I loved seeing the different creations and flavor combinations the bakers came up with.

                                      (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners from left to right)

The pie that took 1st place was absolutely beautiful to look at and had the flavor to match. Made by Janet Jean-Gourley, the pie was called "Peach and Pistachio Pie with Mascarpone Cheese Filling" and it was delicious. A wonderfully flaky crust created a base for the lemon zest mascarpone cheese filling which was topped with layer after layer of Jersey peaches bursting with fresh summer flavor and then scattered with chopped pistachios.

There were three other judges: Kern Weissman of Riverview Neighborhood Association, Kenneth Fields of Orange and Olive Caterers, and Fidel Hernandez of Buster’s NYC Spatinental Cuisine and between bites of pie, we talked about our various food interests, our backgrounds, and different trends and interests in the culinary world. It was enjoyable and educational to get to meet all of them and Kern spent some time telling me about the Ogden Community Garden which has started producing some beautiful looking produce. If you have a chance, you should definitely check it out. 

Besides the peach pie competition, the entire market had tons of other peach tie-ins. Jersey City Veggie Burger had a special peach veggie burger that sold out before I got a chance to try it, Dark Side of the Moo was serving a special peach habenero salsa, Peace.Love.Pops had peach popsicles, and much much more.

The entire day was  lot of fun and I'm so glad I got a chance to spend some time at the market and getting to know the group behind the Riverview Market.  Thank you so much to everyone who participated, to Farms in the Heights, the Riverview Neighborhood Association, the New Jersey Peach Promotion Council, and all the volunteers and vendors who put so much effort into putting on a great event and for letting me be a part of it.

Start planning now for next year!