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Featured Food The Eater

A GUIDE TO EATING


by Kirk Ross
Locavore delights
Forget Daylight Savings Time, the big temporal shift for the eat-locals throughout this area takes place this weekend with the change to earlier hours at all the area farmers’ markets.
This semi-official start of the new season coincides with the jump in hothouse and hoop-house production as well as the time for seedling and plant sales to get home gardens started.
The early hours are also the only guaranteed way to get first crack at the early greens, tomatoes and other goodies.
Here’s the breakdown in schedule changes:
• Carrboro — Starting April 2, the Saturday market starts at 7 a.m. sharp and runs to noon. The Wednesday market starts on April 13. Hours are 3:30-6:30 p.m.;
• Chapel Hill (formerly South Estes) Farmers’ Market — Starting April 2, market hours expand to 8 a.m. to noon. The Tuesday market opens in May;
• Hillsborough — Starting April 2, the Eno River Farmers’ Market hours expand to 8 a.m. to noon. The Wednesday market opens in May.
In Carrboro, the start of the season also is the traditional time for new vendors. The market just announced the additions to the roster.
One particularly exciting addition is to Wednesday’s market. That’s where Sam Suchoff, chef and owner of The Pig, will be manning a push cart and serving what was described in a recent press release as “ready-to-eat artisanal charcuterie.” Evidently, that includes mortadella, cotechino and other handmade sausages.
Also coming to the Wednesday market are Ecology (gourmet and medicinal mushrooms), Porcino (fresh artisan pasta, pizza dough, sauces, biscotti and focaccia with vegan and gluten-free items as well) and Roxboro’s Rolling Hills Farm (rabbits, pheasants, pasture raised chickens and capons and chicken eggs).
Saturday market additions include Melina’s Italian Kitchen (fresh pasta and sauces and ravioli stuffings) and Big Spoon (fresh-roasted nut butters).

Name change
As noted above, the new name for the market based near A Southern Season at University Mall is Chapel Hill Farmers’ Market. The official name change from the rather awkward South Estes Farmers’ Market officially takes place on April 2. The market has a new website as well at thechapelhillfarmersmarket.com

CSA research
April usually means the window is closing for several local CSAs. If you’re interested in buying a share in a Community Supported Agriculture program, you can now review the farms and their specifics at several places on the web.
Start by plugging your zip code in at localharvest.org/csa
Chatham County’s ag extension office also maintains a list of CSAs at
chatham.ces.ncsu.edu/growingsmallfarms/csafarms.html