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He cupped his hand and brought it over the jar, as if he were about to bring water from a stream to his mouth, but really he was encouraging its fragrance to waft his way. He inhaled deeply — and then jumped in his seat.
“White lightnin’!” Birnie exclaimed.
Birnie was one of five judges there to deliver verdicts in the store’s pickling contest.
This is the seventh time in eight years that West Lebanon Feed and Supply has held a pickling contest, and it usually receives dozens of entries, said Ira Richards, the store’s events coordinator. (A scheduled grilling contest was cancelled due to lack of entries: the store will try again next year, Richards said.) The homemade hot sauce was just one of them, along with jams and jellies, barbecue sauce, dilly beans, dill pickles, salsas and relish.
Pickling and canning the summer harvest is a preoccupation of many home gardeners and canners at this time of year. But putting your best efforts up for judging takes a different kind of mettle, as does weighing the virtues of umpteen entries of bread-and-butter pickles.
Five citizens brave and true signed up for the privilege, among them Birnie and his wife, Natalie, who live in West Lebanon and have judged before; assistant Lebanon fire chief, and White River Junction resident, Jeff Libbey, a first-time judge; and former state Rep. Laurie Harding, D-Lebanon, and her husband, Peter Mason, also first-time judges.
There were six categories in all: sweet pickles and relishes, dill vegetables, jams and jellies, salsas and chutneys, a sweet miscellaneous category, and a unique category.
The entries, which were anonymous, were judged on taste, of course, but also on texture and consistency, presentation and color. The winners in each category then went head-to-head for the Best in Show prize. Winners stood to receive a gift card to the store, a prize ribbon, and to have their photograph taken.
The judges were lined up at a table in front of the information desk, not far from the cash registers and opposite a display of spring bulbs for sale.
With each new entry Richards walked up and down the table showing it to the judges, as if he were a sommelier bringing out a choice bottle of wine for their approval before opening it. As palate cleansers between courses the judges could dip into bowls of oyster crackers, M&Ms or mints. Bottled water was at the ready.
When an entry didn’t pass muster, the judges held nothing back.
“Holy mackerel!” said Doug Birnie, after tasting one entry.
“It’s garlicky,” said Natalie Birnie, wrinkling her nose.
“Too much garlic,” said Peter Mason.
“You’re not kidding,” said Harding.
“My upper lip is sweaty,” Doug Birnie said.
But when it came time to praise, the judges waxed lyrical. A zucchini relish, which had warmth, spice and sweetness in equal measure, elicited something close to reverence.
“That’s got a beautiful flavor,” said Doug Birnie.
Harding tasted it: “Oh, bingo!”
“It’s almost like a jam,” said Jeff Libbey.
The judges were remarkably unanimous in what they liked, and what they didn’t. “When you taste something really good, it stands out,” said Mason.
Doug Birnie, who grew up in New Brunswick, Canada, said he could remember his grandparents exchanging pickle recipes with their friends and fellow church-goers. The residents of his small town gave pickles and jams as presents at Christmas.
As it turns out, the winner of Best in Show, for a luscious strawberry jam, also took top honors for her zucchini relish and bread-and-butter pickles. Jeannine Swensen, of Enfield, is a perennial winner in the contest, said Richards.
“I just like doing it and it’s a hobby,” said Swensen in a phone interview. She grows the fruits and vegetables she uses in her canned preserves, and gives away a variety of jams and pickles to family and neighbors.
“It makes me happy knowing they’re happy,” she said.
Nicola Smith can be reached at nsmith@vnews.com.