Jam Off 2011 is over & won

Jam Off 2011 has been and gone – a great crowd this year at the New Dowse in Lower Hutt as part of the Craft 2.0 fair with Important Judges, An MC, and A Rival With Pink Hair … here’s how it went down (& here’s where it all started last year).

We started out the morning by getting the competition box out of the pantry and blind tasting the 4 contenders with Mother and Father who’d travelled down especially for the event.

We strapped The Mister and his jam into the back of the 4WD, perfect for a trip out of the city and up the valley.

Judging was taken very seriously by Al Brown (of Logan Brown fame) and Kelda Hains (Nikau Gallery Cafe).

There was a public tasting where the many supporters could try the various jams and leave their tasting stick in front of the jar they liked the best, while the judges decided on the top 5 for the public competition. The Mister had a jar in the line up and it seemed to collect a few sticks. It was great to see so many people getting into it!

The winner of the public competition was Don from Lower Hutt with some secretive plum jam that he was quite reluctant to tell anyone about – however he seemed pretty chuffed to win – the judges swayed by his use of a good old Agee jar!

Next up was a the competition between these 2 – a do-over of their ‘little’ competition last year!

A few nerves behind the scenes

A bit of ‘mine’s better than yours’ talk to put each other off … while the judges collaborated in the background …

The the winner was announced – The Mister!

Then there was the People’s Choice Award … The Mister’s jam got the most sticks!!! He was ecstatic!

But was disqualified!! WAAAAA – he objected!

The judges decided that there were just too many people from Xero there and that there was some conspiracy afoot to get the most sticks placed in front of his jar of jam – not true! People loved his jam!

A great-spirited afternoon and The Mister and Mrs Jam-off are still good friends.

Thanks friends, family, colleagues, ex-colleagues, board members, cafe owners and strangers who came along to take part and support The Mister. And if you were lucky enough to be given a jar of this year’s jam, treasure it if you’ve got any left, it’s award-winning stuff!