MONROE - The only thing people needed to bring to the 17th annual Chili Fest Saturday was an appetite.
And after a couple of hours it was obvious that people certainly came hungry for chili.
Chili flavors ranged from traditional to nontraditional, mild to spicy hot; everyone who cooked put in their own secret ingredient to make theirs the most popular.
It would probably be easier to find out the combination to the safe in Fort Knox than to find what special ingredient creative cooks use to make their chili their own.
"It's a secret," Rhonda Kolden smiled when asked for her secret recipe. "I can't tell you that."
She's been in the festival since it began and has taken home 14 awards for her chili. All she could say was that she makes her chili a little spicy but not hot enough to burn someone's tongue.
Karen Nufer, who along with Carolyn Hyland and Julie Kielty made chili for the Curves team, would only say they include "a lot of love" in their white chicken chili.
"We started working on it at 8 a.m. and we've gotten a great reaction to it," Nufer said.
Although she admitted there were a few extra items that made her chili, in her opinion, much tastier than everyone else's, Steph Culberson said the three types of meat she used gave it an added flavor.
"We use beef brisket, pork and double smoked bacon," she said.
But that's as far as she would go.
Of the almost 20 cooks at chili stands on the Square there wasn't one who wanted to divulge their special secret or provide too much information about their chili recipes. There was obviously a reason for their secrecy.
Many of the cooks have faced off for years, each one trying to get the edge on the competitors, each one trying to make their chili a little better each year.
But it was a friendly competition.
"Just say it's tangy and sweet," one cook said to another while she was being interviewed.
Regardless of who wins the chili cook-off, the people who come out to sample each variety are the biggest winners. The crowd was filled with people who anxiously went from one cooking stand to the next to sample some of the best chili made in Green County.
"This is the best I ever had," Sheri Schafer said as she finished her cup of chili.
And after a couple of hours it was obvious that people certainly came hungry for chili.
Chili flavors ranged from traditional to nontraditional, mild to spicy hot; everyone who cooked put in their own secret ingredient to make theirs the most popular.
It would probably be easier to find out the combination to the safe in Fort Knox than to find what special ingredient creative cooks use to make their chili their own.
"It's a secret," Rhonda Kolden smiled when asked for her secret recipe. "I can't tell you that."
She's been in the festival since it began and has taken home 14 awards for her chili. All she could say was that she makes her chili a little spicy but not hot enough to burn someone's tongue.
Karen Nufer, who along with Carolyn Hyland and Julie Kielty made chili for the Curves team, would only say they include "a lot of love" in their white chicken chili.
"We started working on it at 8 a.m. and we've gotten a great reaction to it," Nufer said.
Although she admitted there were a few extra items that made her chili, in her opinion, much tastier than everyone else's, Steph Culberson said the three types of meat she used gave it an added flavor.
"We use beef brisket, pork and double smoked bacon," she said.
But that's as far as she would go.
Of the almost 20 cooks at chili stands on the Square there wasn't one who wanted to divulge their special secret or provide too much information about their chili recipes. There was obviously a reason for their secrecy.
Many of the cooks have faced off for years, each one trying to get the edge on the competitors, each one trying to make their chili a little better each year.
But it was a friendly competition.
"Just say it's tangy and sweet," one cook said to another while she was being interviewed.
Regardless of who wins the chili cook-off, the people who come out to sample each variety are the biggest winners. The crowd was filled with people who anxiously went from one cooking stand to the next to sample some of the best chili made in Green County.
"This is the best I ever had," Sheri Schafer said as she finished her cup of chili.