GEDDES (AP) -- A pepper relish took the top culinary prize at the New York State Fair.
Debbie Murphy's dish beat out a lemon-chocolate pie, a braided bread and a half-dozen other appetizing creations.
The Post-Standard newspaper says Murphy adapted a friend's zucchini relish recipe to create her concoction of green and red peppers.
The grand champion says she doesn't like zucchini, so she "played with it until I got a pepper relish."
Murphy, who lives in Newport near Utica, was one of nine finalists on Labor Day, when the annual fair ends. It was her second try in the culinary competition and she plans to enter again next year, most likely in the baked goods division.
The finalists' recipes will be published in a $1 booklet at next year's fair.
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