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Six must-have local food items for your Memorial Day table

Posted by Jamie Oberdick on 05/25, 2016 at 08:58 AM

Six must-have local food items for your Memorial Day table

Asparagus is fantastic on the grill.

What a time to be a locavore. The farmers market season is now in full swing and we have the unofficial official start of summer, Memorial Day, coming up. There’s so many things that are grown and produced locally that this list could go on and on, but here’s six items that definitely deserve a place on your Memorial Day table. All of these can be found at farmers markets such as Bellefonte Farmers Market, Friday Downtown State College Farmers Market, North Atherton Farmers Market, and the Millheim Farmers Market.

- Local burgers: Nothing beats a good burger on the grill, and using local ground beef ups your game because fresh meat is the best meat. Cow-a-Hen Farm offers grass-fed beef that is delicious and can be found this Saturday at the Millheim Farmers Market.

- Local goat cheese: Whether you are putting it on a beef burger or a veggie burger, melty-creamy cheese makes the sandwich the picnic legend that it is. Why not really up your burger game by topping it with ChÃ¨vre goat cheese from Byler Goat Dairy, which can be found at the North Atherton Farmers Market?

- Fresh local greens: You can still eat healthy at a picnic; no holiday picnic should be without a salad. Right now is more or less peak season for greens, and there are a wide variety of them at every farmers market. Be adventurous! There are greens at farmers market like tatsoi, a tasty mild mustard, that you can’t find in the supermarket.

- Asparagus: This delicious spring vegetable is in season and is outstanding on the grill. Most produce sellers at farmers market have it, including Tait Farms and Mountainside Produce. There are a variety of grilled asparagus recipes online, and you can’t go wrong with grilled asparagus.

- Mushrooms: Cramer Farms mushrooms at the Bellefonte Farmers Market are delicious. Owner Diane Cramer cultivates oyster and shiitake mushrooms, and she also forages and sells wild mushrooms. Not sure what to do with them? Try this recipe, which works for any mushroom.

Tags: farmersmarket | picnic | MemorialDay |