The Queen of Tarts and pastry chef Nelleke Gorton shares life as food judge

With her eyes set on the Sydney Royal Easter Show, the agricultural and ex-CWA judge will soon be judged herself, but Nelleke said her own adjudicating experience and decades-long, finely-tuned palate may assist.

"Maybe she won't like it, but my hopes that they'll give us points for the Southern District," she said of one of her jams she was submitting along with a jelly, chutney, pickle, relish, and conserves.

However, the nerves shouldn't be warranted.

A copious number of champion ribbons for jams and scones, jellies and fruitcakes, sponge and butter cakes, chocolate, hang proudly within her note-filled office beside her real "office", her country kitchen in Tanja.

"When I judge, I always think back on what it feels like to be judged, and so it helps you in your own judging of items to be kind first of all, and to be helpful, like say what item could have been made better or make some suggestions," she said.

"I have to be skilled in how to make these items and so, I've had many years of making these items, I've also done my first judges diplomas like 30 years ago, and you keep up to date.

The courses included agricultural items and farm produce whereby Nelleke had to judge eggs and prepare meat as sausages, baked products and sweets, who completed the courses in South Africa when her geologist husband, Richard, was out searching for diamonds.

"I can never break an egg open without being able to judge it," she said with a chuckle, "because people don't think about those things."

Nelleke along with four other people from the Southern District Royal Agricultural Society have planned to submit six items each into the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

She said she was thankful rural shows weren't dying, as evident by Candelo, Moruya, Cobargo and the upcoming Bega and Bemboka shows, but she hoped she could inspire more people to dabble in making foods and growing produce for the shows around the district.

"A huge amount of people are going in all the different categories, so we'll have apples from our apple-growing area, we'll get wool, everything in our Southern district," she said, with the ingredients for her secret submissions picked and grown on her farm in Tanja.

"For me, [creating jelly], it's a two-day process, picking, cooking, then straining it over night and then making it into the actual jelly form the next day," Nelleke said.

Within her "office", there were no timber bench tops, rather a continuous stainless steel bench throughout, turning the kitchen into one large chopping board, her wine rack was converted into a rolling pin holder, and her bookcase was overcrowded with publications from bush tucker to French patisserie.

As she stood in her calming green kitchen, the windows behind her gazing over paddocks each holding future racehorse winners, she smiled with a polished glass of freshly made, possibly Royal Show winning, jam in her hand.

She twisted the tartan lid, and upon removing it she placed both jar and lid down on the stainless steel bench, the fragrant fruity notes of the homemade jam became present.

"Would you like to try to some?" she kindly asked with a smile, as she prepared a fresh teaspoon.