HAWLEY — The title “Pudding Head” is up for grabs for the first time in five years on Sunday.
The title is bestowed to the winner of the Pudding Hollow Pudding Festival, which will start at 11 a.m. at the Hawley Meeting House.
The main purpose of the Pudding Festival is as a fundraiser for the historical society, Sons and Daughters of Hawley, according to organizer Tinky Weisblat, who also writes a food column for the Greenfield Recorder.
“Then the other thing is just to have a really good time and to show off our town,” Weisblat said.
According to local legend, the first Pudding Head, Abagail Baker, was crowned around 1780, and that’s about when part of Hawley was dubbed “Pudding Hollow,” Weisblat said.
The Pudding Festival made a resurgence in 2004, after Weisblat was inspired by an artist rendering of the original event on the cover of the cookbook that she authored. For the next five years, the event was held annually, until 2009, when it became a once-every-five-years event.
“People want to enter a pudding,” Weisblat said, “Some people do it because it’s fun. Some people do it because the prizes are pretty terrific.”
Weisblat procures the prizes, many of which are from local artists and craft food items. She advises anyone who enters a pudding to bring a cooler, in the event of winning an edible prize.
Casual pudding-makers be warned; there is often tough competition for prizes.
“I have neighbors who take this deathly seriously,” she said, adding that a lot of local home chefs are top-notch cooks.
Although pudding is the focus of the event, there will be other entertainment.
Puddings are due at 11 a.m. and there is a $15 fee to enter a pudding. A hard cider tasting of Headwater Cider will begin at 11:15 a.m. Lunch will be served around 12:30 p.m., and those in attendance are asked to make a donation for lunch.
At 1:30 p.m., the Pudding Parade — which Weisblat said is mandatory for those taking part in the pudding contest — will take place.
There will also be music, this year with a vampire theme. “The Vampire Song,” composed by internationally renowned Alice Parker and with lyrics by Weisblat will make its world premiere.
Finally, the judges will announce their top picks and spoons will be passed out to event goers, who can taste puddings at their own risk.
Three judges will determine the next Pudding Head: Dennis Picard, a living-history professor who specializes in puddings and ice cutting; Charlotte Rutledge, who manages the test kitchen at King Arthur Flour; and Kathleen Wall, a colonial foodways culinarian at Plimoth Plantation.
“The term pudding is extremely amorphous,” Weisblat said, adding that cottage puddings, like cakes with sauce, or dishes that may be called a casserole in other settings, are appropriate.
“The only thing is that it can’t be a recipe out of a cookbook or (from) a website,” Weisblat said. “It has to have a degree of originality.”
For those seeking inspiration for Sunday, Weisblat gave suggestions. Look at a few versions of a similar recipe, find the basic elements that they all have in common, and then ask yourself, “What twist do I want to put on this?” she said. An unspoken rule in the recipe world, she added, is that there should be three elements that are slightly different for a new recipe to be “born.”
For reigning “Queen Pudding Head” Leslie Clark, who learned about the contest from her neighbor Weisblat, her introduction to the tradition coincided with moving to Hawley. To her own surprise, Clark won and spent her first years in Hawley being called “Queen Pudding Head” around town and at work.
“I think it’s a wonderful way for the residents of Hawley and their friends to get together and enjoy good food, laughter, a little music,” Clark said. “That’s my impetus. But I also just enjoy cooking.”
Wary of the competition, Clark hesitated to share what her entry will be this year.
“I’ve had my idea in my head now for almost four years,” she said. “But (I) will say that it will involve raspberries.”
Reach Maureen O’Reilly at moreilly@recorder.com or at 413-772-0261, ext. 280.