They are the best of friends outside the cooking competition judging arena but as the Canberra Show looms closer, sibling rivalry will be to the fore.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Queanbeyan resident Carol Muscovich, 67, and her 66-year-old sister Robin Meres, of Sydney, have been competing in the Canberra Show for three years.
The two women each enter more than 30 individual homemade goodies to be judged, and every year the siblings go head to head in each category.
From jams and preserves to cakes, butters, sauces and pickles, the sisters enter multiple competitions to test their wares.
With less than 50 days to go until the judging begins, Robin has been hard at work preparing all her goodies.
Carol, on the other hand, said she was the less organised of the pair.
"I'll be cooking from now until February because there are some I haven't got," she said.
"Robin is usually organised and i'm usually still up all night the night before, and I don't get to bed."
Hundreds of certificates, trophies and ribbons have been collected over the years, but there is one in particular that has caused contention between the pair.
"The only thing she hasn't got is 'best jam'. I got that in the Queanbeyan Show," Robin said, adding "It's just friendly rivalry".
Despite other sibling similarities, their cooking styles differ.
"I'll probably slice mine [fruit] whereas you'll probably chop yours," Carol said.
"One might cook them for a little longer; it goes a little darker the longer you cook it."
Putting the rivalry aside, the sisters said they love the thrill of finding out who has been awarded a certificate.
Carol's brag book of awards shows last year she took home 19 honours: four first places, four seconds, seven thirds and four were highly commended.
Robin said hers looks very similar, and they hope to do just as well, or better, this time around.
Soon, in addition to the aroma of freshly cooked tomato relish that permeates Carol's apartment, there will be an expanding array of jams and sauces filling the kitchen table and ready to be shipped off to the show, which will run from February 27 to March 1 at Exhibition Park in Canberra.
