Because you were looking for another excuse to visit the White Rock Local Market, Sarah Perry and her minions are facilitating three chef demonstrations this weekend. The event is sponsored by Go Texan, the organization that slaps cute little Texas labels on products in an effort to get consumers to shop locally. Go Texan recently gave Perry a $1,000 grant to showcase restaurant chefs and specialty crops by hosting cooking demonstrations.
The Grape's Brian C. Luscher will kick off the chef demonstrations at 9 a.m., followed by a 9:45 a.m. demo by Parigi's Janice Provost. Liz Plimmer of The Tamale Co. and Carol "Cita" Castillo from Cita's Salsa will wrap things up 10:30 a.m. Each demonstration will showcase fresh fruits, vegetables, proteins and other products available at the market, in the hopes that you'll be inspired to go home and do some cooking too.
So what's in season now?
Sweet potato greens, apparently. While the leaves of sweet potato plants have not been popular, they're edible, and Heather Rinaldi from the Texas Worm Ranch is leading the charge on the sweet potato green revolution. If you're somehow not sick of greens (after a looong spring season of kale, kale and more kale) check out their nutritional information and get your sautee pan ready.
Cantaloupe and watermelon are in full force, as are cherry tomatoes, currant tomatoes and Amish paste tomatoes. There are all sorts of peppers, cumbers for slicing and cucumbers for pickling, too. And finally, there are blueberries, but not too many. Blueberries are on they're way out, so if you want one last goodbye you better get to the market early.
