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“It just tasted like summer,” judge Mike Shannon said of Kern’s Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie.

Sweetly tart, her single crust pie wowed the judges.

Kern, of Bedford, used fresh strawberries and rhubarb from her “one and only rhubarb plant.” The original recipe came from an Indiana State Fair cook book of recipes from members of extension service county homemakers. It was a two-crust rhubarb pie. Kern added the strawberries and made it a single-crust pie.

“My mother always made an apple pie without the top crust, so I never like a top crust on a pie,” she said.

Kern didn’t put a crust on her winning pie, but she did add something extra. She took the leftover pie crust and spelled “FAIR” in capital letters.

“I probably make it three times in the spring,” she said.

Kern said her husband, Claude, likes rhubarb pie but her sons don’t. When she added the strawberries, it became a family favorite.

Kern enjoys cooking and baking and was active in the Lawrence County Extension Homemakers. This was her first time to enter the fair pie contest. In the 1970s, she won the Persimmon Festival pudding contest. Kern’s pie earned her $100.

Second place

Marian Pettyjohn entered two pies in the contest, but it was her Grated Apple Pie that earned her favor with the judges. Pettyjohn has a lot of experience pleasing palates. From 1988 to 2004 she was the head cook and namesake of Marian’s Cafeteria in Oolitic that she owned with her husband, Robert.

“I served a lot of it when I had the restaurant,” she said of the apple pie.

She’s made the Grated Apple Pie, which earned her a $50 prize, for about 45 years.

“I took several different pie recipes and made it my own. That’s why it’s kind of different,” she said.

Pettyjohn’s Sugar Cream Pie was also a favorite at the restaurant. She also entered that one in the contest.

Pettyjohn doesn’t cook as much as she used to, but she still enjoys being in the kitchen. She entered the fair’s bread contest in 2010 and won first place with her dinner rolls.

“I started cooking when I was about 13. That was 67 years ago,” she said. “I just loved to watch my mom and aunts cook.”

Third place

Bedford’s Amy Cieslik’s Mixed Berry Pie claimed third place. It was bursting with four types of berries and was a fruit-lover’s dream. She received $30.

Cieslik enjoys cooking. In 2007, her recipe for snickerdoodle cookies received second place in the Times-Mail cookie contest.

Judges Mike Shannon, Deb Munson, Orval and Sandy Huffman and Carol Johnson tasted 31 pies last Saturday. About a dozen were considered finalists before the top three were chosen. Contest coordinator Pat McKnight said entries were up over last year. Prizes were donated by Jerry Lambrecht, Dr. Jim Sowders and Reuter Insurance.

Times-Mail Staff Writer Carol Johnson can be reached at 277-7252 and cjohnson@tmnews.com.

Recipes

Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie

2 cups rhubarb (diced)

1 1/2 cups strawberries (sliced)

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup butter (diced)

1 3-ounce box strawberry Jell-o

1 prepared pie crust (see recipe below)

In a 2-quart mixing bowl, mix rhubarb, strawberries, flour, sugar and cinnamon. Pour into pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with butter and sprinkle Jell-o evenly over filling. You can add a top crust if you like. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Pie crust

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons Crisco shortening

3 tablespoons ice water

Mix flour, salt and Crisco with pastry blender or in a food processor. Add ice water and mix again. Turn dough out onto floured board and roll out to fit an 8- or 9-inch pie pan. The less you work with this dough, the flakier the crust will be. Fill and bake.

Cook’s note: This makes a single crust pie. This recipe was used for years by Ruel and Marie Steele. They shared it with their daughter-in-law Sally Steele before she married their son Brent because a homemade pie with a homemade crust is his favorite dessert. Sally is my niece.

— Sara Kern, first place pie

Grated Apple Pie

2 cups grated apples (any variety of peeled tart apples)

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup Milnot

2 teaspoons butter, cut in small pieces

In a mixing bowl, mix apples, sugar and cinnamon. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Cut up pieces of butter on top. Pour Milnot over all. Sprinkle more cinnamon on top. Bake 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

— Marian Pettyjohn, second place

Mixed Berry Pie

Crust

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1.2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup oil

2 tablespoons cold milk

Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking powder into ungreased pie pan. In separate bowl, mix oil and milk with fork until cloudy. Pour over flour mixture and blend well. Press resulting dough into pan; flute edge if desired. Prick with a fork and bake 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Filling

2 cups fresh blueberries, divided

water

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

2 tablespoons corn starch

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 pinch salt

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 cup fresh blackberries

1 cup fresh strawberries

Combine 1 cup blueberries, 6 tablespoons water and 1/2 cup sugar in saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. In a cup, stir 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons cornstarch until smooth. Stir into fruit mixture. Add lemon peel, juice and salt. Simmer, stirring until thickened. Pour filling into large bowl. Fold in rest of the fruit. Pour filling into crust. Cool, then refrigerate.

— Amy Cieslik, third place