Media Continue to Rave About Durham

This week Durham has caught the attention of several major national publications like The New York Times, Garden & Gun, Bon Appetit, and The New Yorker with its spate of notable restaurants and features.


Garden & Gun readers lauded popular Durham burger restaurants Bull City Burger and Only Burger as having the "South's Best Burgers."

The New York Times visited Durham's Central Park District in "A Corner of Durham, N.C., Comes to Life." Places featured included The Pit, Geer St. Garden, Fullsteam Brewery, Cocoa Cinnamon and Motorco Music Hall.

Durham's Rose's Meat Market and Sweet Shop was recognized among Bon Appetit's "50 Nominees for America's Best New Restaurants 2014." The publication was particularly impressed with the spring onion sausage wrapped in puff pastry and the hot pastrami with fried potatoes. The top ten will be announced August 19.

The New Yorker profiled a Durham-based photography project, which documented the Durham Bulls' 2013 season in a book, "Bull City Summer." North Carolina writer Sam Stephenson led the project that focused on the world-famous Triple-A team.

See more Durham accolades or visit all of the places in these articles.

Fall Finds at Durham Farmers' Market

Market Finds
This week Durham Farmers' Market-goers will begin seeing the season's first fresh ginger!  Fresh ginger looks a little different than ginger you see in the grocery store.  It has a very thin, edible skin and has little pink nubs on it.  Fresh ginger is less fibrous than other ginger and it has a somewhat milder taste.

Shoppers will also find locally grown peanuts and the first popcorn of the season. Popping corn is a different variety of corn from the type that you eat on the cob, in fact, it is a very ancient type of corn.  The varieties of corn that are good for popping have strong hulls that are impervious to water.  The kernels contain a certain amount of moisture and oils that make it good for popping.

Results from The 2011 Chef Challenge
In case you missed it last week, the Chef Challenge was very exciting.  And the secret ingredient, according to all of the chefs, was a real challenge... Okra! All the chefs put together amazing dishes that featured okra.  For an in depth coverage of the Challenge, read Bryan Christopher's (one of the judges) post on his blog Searching for Sicily. 

Chef Billy Cotter of TOAST defended his 2010 Chef Challenge Champ title and became the 2011 Champ! Thanks to Chefs Andy Magowan of Geer Street Garden and Josh DeCarolis from Dos Perros for competing.  Also, a big thank you to the judges, Johanna Kramer, Bryan Christopher, Heather Greer Klein and Ross Grady.  Thanks for Frank Stasio for serving as our emcee, Tom Dawson for creating the trophy and WXDU for the use of their sound system.


Fresh this Week
Fruit:  Apples, Pears, Scuppernong Grapes, Watermelon, Peaches 
Vegetables:  Peanuts, Ginger, Popcorn, Asian Greens, Arugula, Beans, Longbeans, Beets, Butterbeans, Cherry Tomatoes, Corn, Collards,  Cucumbers,  Dandelion Greens, Eggplant, Garlic, Gourds, Herbs,  Mustard Greens, Kale, Lambs Quarter,  Lettuce,  Okra, Onions, Pea Shoots, Peppers, Potatoes, Purple Hull Peas, Pumpkins, Salad Mix, Shiitake Mushrooms, Sweet Potatoes, Swiss Chard,  Summer Squash,   Tomatoes,  Winter Squash, Zucchini
Flowers:   Asiatic Lillies, Celosia, Dahlia, Gomphrena, Gladiolus, Lisianthus, Sunflowers, Tuber Rose, Zinnia
Meats: Beef, Bison, Chicken, Duck, Goat/Chevon, Lamb, Rabbit, Pork
And: Fall Vegetable Seedlings, Honey, Chicken and Duck Eggs, Flour, Yellow & White Cornmeal, Grits, Pecans, Wines, Fresh and Aged Goats and Cows Milk Cheeses, Baked Goods, Pasta, Beer, Wine, Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Preserves, Wool, Landscaping Plants
Crafts: Hand-dyed Clothes, Jewelery, Baskets, Pottery, Stained Glass Art, Woodwork, Photographs, Soaps

Pollinator Day at Durham Farmers' Market

Pollinator Day at the Market 
Saturday June 25th
Join the Durham County Master Gardener Volunteers and their friends the Master Beekeepers to learn how honey is made. The Master Gardeners will have information about attracting pollinators to your garden.  Look for them under the White tent on the Central Lawn.

 
Chef in the Market, Andy Magowan, Geer Street Garden
June 25th, 10am
Andy Magowan, formerly from Piedmont is now chef and owner of the new restaurant, Geer Street Garden.  Andy will join us on June 25th with a taste of his Geer Street Garden.

Free Yoga in the Park
For more info about Yoga in the Park, check out their blog.

The 2011 America's Favorite Farmers' Market Contest sponsored by the American Farmland Trust has started. Show your support and vote here.


Fresh this Week
Fruit:  Melons, Cantaloupe, Peaches, Blueberries, Dewberries, Blackberries, Loganberries, Black Raspberries and Strawberries
Vegetables:  Corn, Arugula, Beets, Braising Greens, Chinese Cabbage, Cabbage, Cherry Tomatoes, Collards,  Cucumbers,  Dandelion Greens, Eggplant, Fava Beans, Fennel, Garlic, Green Beans, Green Onions, Herbs (Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Dill, Chives, Mint),  Kale, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Radishes, Okra, Onions, Pea Shoots, Peppers, Potatoes, Roma Beans, Salad Mix, Swiss Chard,  Summer Squash, Greenhouse Tomatoes,  Turnip Greens, Zucchini
Flowers:  Agrostemma, Asiatic Lillies, Campanula, Dahlia, Delphiniums, Larkspur, Lisianthus, Snap Dragon, Sunflowers, Zinnia
Meats: Beef, Bison, Chicken, Duck, Goat/Chevon, Lamb, Pork
And: Honey, Chicken and Duck Eggs, Flour, Yellow & White Cornmeal, Grits, Pecans, Wines, Fresh and Aged Goats and Cows Milk Cheeses, Baked Goods, Pasta, Beer, Wine, Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Preserves, Handmade Chocolates, Wool, Landscaping Plants and Vegetable Transplants
Crafts: Handmade Clothes & Jewelery, Baskets, Pottery, Photographs and Soaps