Three Generations of State Fair Food Ribbon Winners
Three generations of women won thousands of ribbons at the Iowa State Fair.
— -- This certainly qualifies as a family business.
Three generations of women – grandmother Olive Jean Tarbell, 83, daughter Robin Tarbell-Thomas, 53, and granddaughter Molly Thomas, 21 – have won thousands of ribbons between them entering in food competitions at the Iowa State Fair.
It all started with Tarbell’s grandmother, who won a blue ribbon for her cake before Tarbell was even born.
“I just watched and watched and I was learning and picking it all up and not realizing it,” Tarbell told ABC News. “When it comes to state fair time, everyone’s involved.”
That’s how it became irresistible for her daughter and granddaughter to compete, too,
“I grew up going to the state fair every summer,” Tarbell-Thomas said. “My grandma would make cookies and candy and get ready. It’s just something we did very year. We loved to be a part of it.”
Each woman has her own specialty, and they try not to compete against each other.
Tarbell said Tarbell-Thomas is a canning pro -– Gedney even used her recipe and put her face on their product -– but her favorite is cookies, while Thomas focuses more on updated recipes.
“Molly likes more a challenge. Something to be creative,” Tarbell said. “Last year she got into cake balls, which is the rage.”
Tarbell herself enjoys creating her own recipes.
“I like to look at older recipes, especially my mother’s or my aunt’s to update them,” she said. “It makes it become more my personal recipe. You get an idea, ‘Well heck I can switch that over and fix something to get more eye effect.’”
“Eye effect” is something the family is big on – anything to capture the judges’ attention. Tarbell recommended trying out different color chocolate chips, nuts and a drizzle on top to make your cookies stand out.
The Tarbells have another busy season ahead of them.
“I’m mixing up cookies right now to get ready to take to the state fair,” Tarbell said. “It’s a nice family story, and it’s just the way we are.”
Click here for the Tarbell family recipe for peanut butter cookies.
