Local bakery, Nana B’s, has won one of the top prizes in an Ontario-wide butter tart competition in Midland, Ontario. The competition is part of the very popular Butter Tart Festival, hosted in Midland every year, which draws people from the United States, Quebec, and as far away as Vancouver, B.C.
This is the first year that Anne Barr, owner of Nana B’s in Merrickville, has travelled to the festival and entered the competition. The contest was split into home-bakers and commercial bakers, and there were two categories: traditional and all-Ontario ingredients. Out of 60 entries in the commercial baker stream, Anne won the top prize in the all-Ontario category for her maple rhubarb apple butter tart. “It was very unexpected and a complete delight,” Anne says beaming.
Not only were all the ingredients from Ontario, most of them were from the Leeds-Grenville area. The wheat for the flour was grown in Gananoque and milled in Delta, the lard was sourced through the Two Rivers Food Hub, the maple syrup was from Franktown, the eggs from Lynn, and the butter from Stirling. Anne even picked up the rhubarb she used from an honour-system roadside stand in North Augusta. The only ingredient that was from outside Leeds-Grenville was the salt, which was from Goderich, Ontario.
Anne says her experience at the festival was wonderful, and winning the top prize was just the icing on the cake. “It was a really happy kind of experience,” Anne says. “It was a great celebration of people who make butter tarts.” According to Anne, it was also a celebration of people who like to eat butter tarts. By 2pm, the festival had already sold 175,000 butter tarts to eager visitors with a serious sweet tooth.
Anne says she will be offering her award-winning butter tarts, made with the premium ingredients, at a special price. She will also be making the apple-rhubarb maple butter tart with regular ingredients, so anyone can sample the flavour that won her the title in Midland.
