First of all, if you happen to know the name of the purple and white speckled beans you see above please, please, please let me know in the comment section below. I absolutely must grow them next year.
Yesterday I had an appointment in Puyallup, so I decided to pop by the Puyallup Fair while I was in town. Admission was free up until noon with a donation of a canned food item.
For the most part, I’m not into big crowds, fried food, long lines for rides and people trying to sell rain gutters or hot tubs. But, display a few vegetables and farm animals, and I’m show up.
My favorite part about the whole fair was the fruit and vegetable displays.
I keep telling myself that one of these days I am going to enter a vegetable in the fair to be judged.
Holy smokes! Take a look at this giant kohlrabi. How do you even cut into it, let alone eat it?
What does it take to be a blue ribbon winner anyway?
How are you suppose to know what the judges are looking for?
Perfect fruits and vegetables? Unusual ones? Do you get bonus points for heirlooms?
Can you bribe a judge with a free case of free zucchini?
These are all important questions I need answered before I enter something next year.
Have you ever won a blue ribbon at a county fair before?
What does it take to win?
Mavis needs to know!
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.
Carin says
Everything looks yummy!
the beans look like they could be either cranberry or rattlesnake beans.
michele says
it looks like the beans i saw them cook on chopped the other night. dragon tongue beans
Dawna M. says
For our local county fairs you have to contact your local county extension office for rules and entry forms. State fairs usually have forms you can download from their websites.
Our state fair has an unusual/odd category for fruits and veggies. My mom had a siamese twin cantalope that she could have entered, but she cut off too much of the stem (needed to have at least 1 inch of stem left on it)
Zoe says
I was just making a list yesterday of what I want to enter in our local fair….mostly just canned goods along with a few sewed items and baked goods.
You’ll need to get a rule book from whatever fair you want to enter in. They vary from fair to fair. Usually the judges look for uniformity, color, size, etc. when judging fruits/veggies.
Mavis says
Have you ever entered anything before Zoe? What did you enter?
Zoe says
Yes! I love sewing and always enter as much of that as I can. Also canned fruits/veggies/jams/relishes/etc. Sometimes flowers. Baked goods, too. I have winning cherry pie and angel food cake recipes. Might try some bread this year. We’ll see what time allows as all the baked things need to be done last minute!
Mamalala says
Those beans look like dried out salami. I bet they taste good though. 😉
Sheila Smith says
Tons of them in 4-H years ago. Clothing construction, cake decorating, crafts, My steer. My brother got the grand champion beef steer for the UP State Fair in the Upper Peninsula. We love the fair. got to have my corn dog and caramel apple every year.
http://upstatefair.org/?fairevents
Kat D says
They look very much like dragon tongue beans. Lose the fun coloring when you cook them, though, and end up more of a wax bean color.
elisabeth says
I second that. I think the green/buff/cranberry colored beans are dragon’s tongue. eat them as snap peas from or cooked (whereby they lose their color) or let them grow longer and eat as shelled, or let them dry on the pod and use them in winter.
Sakura says
Those beans came in a bsh mix I planted in July. Mine turn Green when you cook them. The mix has green, yellow, and purple beans. Sorry, I don’t know the name.
Krista says
The beans look like borlotti to me.
Lissa says
Sorry, I’ve never entered veggies in a fair. I did win a purple (1st place) for poetry at the open competition of my local county fair in NE for poetry and a purple at the NE state fair in 4H for my snickerdoodles. I make a MEAN snickerdoodle!
Elizabeth says
They certainly look like cranberry bean pods. I have never grown them.
Elizabeth F says
We did 4H. It is fun and the children learn a lot. One daughter did foods and sewing, the other did foods and art. If you want to get the best possible award for your cookies, either chocolate chip, snickerdoodle etc, use a scoop. The judges love the uniformity.
Contact your county extension agent and see what you need to do for next year to get some vegetables in for judging. You could do foods too, what with canning and baking skills. I don’t know if all fairs work the same but the judging time is just before the fair opens and is kind of time intensive depending on how many entries you have ( times how many children.) But really good experience for children.
Beckybeq says
I think they look like dragon tongue beans. No winning in food categories, but I got a 3rd place for a tied quilt I had made for my mother-in-law.
Jen J says
You peaked my curiosity, so I went online to find the state fair competition rules for my state (VA). I had no idea there were so many categories! I’m definitely going to get my (super crafty) kids to enter some stuff next year (we missed this year’s deadline – yesterday).
Susan says
The beans look like they are Cascade Giants. They are available through the Ed Hume seeds (Fred Meyer,etc)
Diane says
My vote for the purple beans is ‘Romano Purpiat.’ I grew these (bush beans) this season, and they were WILDLY productive – still producing a few. When you put them in boiling water or in the steamer basket, they turn the same beautiful jade green they are on the inside if you cut them fresh. They have a very ‘beany,’ hearty taste, but are tender and keep pretty well in the fridge after harvesting. I’m growing ’em again next year!
The red-speckled beans could be any one of several varieties of ‘cranberry beans,’ usually grown as a shelling bean. I grew a variety called ‘Flambo’ this season, and the pods aren’t dry yet, but we had some fresh the other night with bacon, onions and garlic, and they were delicious – creamy and mild-flavored.
AlysonRR says
I don’t know about fruits and veggies or canning, but my kids participated in our county fair for the first time this year (alpaca and goat), and they were told they “qualified” for state fair.
So from my understanding, you have to win certain combinations of ribbons at the county level in order to enter the WA state fair in Puyallup.
This was our first experience entering. I asked about the judging and was told that it was “the Dutch system” (?) – essentially, each entry is judged against particular judging criteria for 1st/2nd/3rd place ribbons in their class (for animals, it’s divided by breed, age, age of exhibitor, etc.). Then the Champion and Reserve Champion rosettes were awarded to the best and second best in each class (chosen by comparison between the blue ribbon winners). Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion rosettes were awarded to the best and second best in the breed.
But again, I don’t know if this is the same for anything but livestock (very similar for artwork, though, as my daughter was given a blue ribbon and Reserve Grand Champion for her drawing “Four Seasons of Alpacas”). We found the experience very interesting and plan to enter again next year. If they’re lucky enough to qualify again for state fair we’ll go – our club decided we didn’t have enough experience exhibiting yet 🙂
Hope that helps
Mavis says
Tell your daughter way to go! So awesome she won a BLUE ribbon! 🙂
AlysonRR says
We came back with seven blue, three red, two champion, and four reserve champion ribbons between the two of them. This mama was so proud of their hard work!
Mavis says
Wahooooo! How awesome is that? Way to go!
AlysonRR says
P.S. I saw the exhibitor guidelines for the WA State Fair somewhere on their website. For alpacas, there were more requirements than were listed in the exhibitor guide – potential exhibitors were asked to contact the head of the department.
Helen in Meridian says
I have never entered anything in the fair, BUT I think at Albertsons at Customer Service Desk they always have the fair catalog of rules and categories.
Karinna says
Those beans look like borlotti AKA cranberry as someone stated above.
Dale Ann says
I love entering items in the county fair! I’ve won blue ribbons with my pumpkins, carrots, peas, beans, cucumbers, art, and one of my topiaried rosemary plants. My daughter and grandchildren have won blues and reds in the vegetable and art categories over the years as well.
Erin in MI says
Late to the party, but I think they are Italian Rose beans. 🙂
Danielle says
I grew a variety of bean called “Italian Rose” that was supposed to look the one in your photo. However, they ended up being green with reddish specks. I also grew “Dragon’s Tongue”, they are pale yellow with purple specks all over….very good tasting bean. Be aware that they do lose that beautiful color when you cook them.
Sonoma Garden girl says
Hi Mavis, I think those cool looking red speckled beans are Dragon Tongue beans. I have always wanted to grow some. I have Gold Rush beans, that are a shelling bean like a cranberry bean. They look like a regular green bean on the outside. Ok, and the purple ones could be Royal Burgundy or Violet Podded String-less. I grew a variety from Oregon several years ago, when you cook the purple beans they turn green. It’s weird.
Anyway, love your blog. I just started my blog. I have been gardening for 10 years in Sonoma County, CA. I love cooking with my garden’s produce, and I love your recipes.
Is that Pak Choi you just planted? I have grown the red Pak Choi this time of year with great success. Love your baby chicks! so cute. I have three hens about a year old. Love my hens.
Take care,
Jo Ann
Mavis says
Yes, I grow the Pal Choi for my daughter, she love it. And I agree, gardening and chickens rule! 🙂 Us inner farm girls have to stick together.
Sheryl says
If they turn yellow when cooked, I would say your purple speckled beans are
Dragon’s Tongue beans
Lisa says
My kids and I have entered the fair each year for a long time. We moved to a different state a year ago, and haven’t entered our new one yet.
They were home schooled, so entered all sorts of things. Baked goods, art, dioramas, books they wrote, sewing projects…
I mostly have entered baked goods, some crochet, some photography, and my pastels a few times.
Since we moved I have had the space for more vegetable gardening, but I have to take it one step at a time. So far two 4 x 8 beds, a 4 x 4, a 2 x 4, an apple tree, an herb garden, some container plantings, things like that. My winter project is a raspberry bed. All my beds have to be raised, as I have clay soil that sits under water in the winter.
I just found your blog today, and love all the photographs you include! I love looking at photos of vegetable gardens!