This month peppers from Appalachian Grown™ farms bring a little sweet and a little heat to ASAP’s Get Local campaign.
Area farmers grow such a variety of peppers from sweet bells to spicy habaneros to peppers for frying like padróns and peppers for stuffing like poblanos. Chefs at Appalachian Grown partner restaurants take full advantage of this abundance this month to celebrate ASAP’s Get Local campaign.
· The Hop Ice Cream Café will feature heat from Smoking J’s Fiery Foods in their chocolate and hot pepper ice cream, as well as using experimenting with pepper jellies in the month of September.
· Posana Café has an exciting event planned this month that will include Appalachian Grown peppers and other fall delicacies. For the sixth year, Posana will host a fundraiser to benefit ASAP’s Growing Minds Farm to School Program. On Thursday, September 24, Executive chef/co-owner Peter Pollay and his team are creating a special Appalachian Grown dinner menu featuring area farms and the fall harvest. All of the proceeds from the special menu will support ASAP’s efforts to enable children to have positive experiences with local food.
· The Park Ridge Café at Park Ridge Health will be using purple, red, orange, and yellow peppers from Leadford Farms in a chopped cucumber and feta-tomato Greek salad. Additionally, they’ll have a vegetarian stuffed pepper with white beans and a vegetarian chorizo with goat cheese and toasted pepita-cilantro pesto. They use local peppers in soups, sauces, and plenty of other dishes available throughout the month of September.
· UNC Dining Services will be using local peppers from Perez Farms in Henderson and Rutherford County, including hot peppers in a shrimp diablo as well as yellow bell peppers in their salad bar this month.
ASAP’s Farm Tour is on September 19–20. Farm Tour-goers can Get Local themselves by buying peppers from many farms participating in the tour including Smoking J’s Fiery Foods. Most of ASAP’s Get Local restaurants source from one or more farms on this year’s Tour. Visit Get Local restaurants to support these farms and purchase your Farm Tour ticket at asapconnections.org to visit the farms that feed you.
Visit ASAP’s website at asapconnections.org/getlocal to find details on what’s happening this month. You can also Get Local at home: Find each month’s featured food—and other seasonal products—at your neighborhood farmers tailgate market, roadside stand, or grocery store. Browse for markets, stands, and stores via ASAP’s online Local Food Guide at appalachiangrown.org.