White Foods: Tasty and Healthy?

These days, we hear a lot about how healthy it is to eat colorful foods.  Purple potatoes are praised for a lower sugar content, farmer's markets offer a veritable rainbow of colorful heirloom tomatoes, radishes are marketed as Easter Egg colors and even some big box stores offer carrot bunches that do not include a single orange one.  While I admit I often grow foods because the color choices intrigue me, like the deep orange-red eggplants now in season, when it comes to taste, sometimes color is not always an indication of how delicious the food might be.

Beautiful eggplants look like baby pumpkins

When my daughter was about seven years old, she only ate white foods.  Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, bananas, grits, all foods lacking in color were appealing to her.  Worried about her health, I mentioned my concern to her pediatrician, who assured me she was healthy and the all-white-food diet was a phase.  The stage lasted longer than I anticipated, but the pattern broke when our family dined at a restaurant that only served purple potatoes and she was faced with the choice of trying the purple potato mash or going hungry while the rest of her family enjoyed a meal.  She decided to try "just a bite," but after one taste, the kid cleaned her plate.  Following the purple potato success, red tomatoes became another favorite, succeeded by green beans, orange carrots and soon, I no longer worried about my daughter's diet.  

Recently, while reviewing farm notes, I noticed something that made me smile.  In addition to how certain plant varieties perform each season, I include comments about flavor.  For example, my notes for Cream Sausage tomatoes include, "One of the most delicious cooked tomatoes, intense tomato flavor."  Cream Sausage is a paste-type tomato that is creamy white.  I flipped through pages, smudged with farm soil and rain drops, and found my notes for my grandmother's white cucumbers.  "One of the best-tasting cucumbers, excellent for sandwiches and cold soup."  

Cream Sausage tomatoes make the best soup

As far as potatoes go, the purple ones may be healthy, but our family's favorite baking potato is Purple Viking, which, despite the name, has a brilliant white, buttery smooth flesh.

Within Purple Viking's colorful skin is bright white flesh

As I read my notes about summer squash, "Chef customer reports his favorite is the white one," and watermelon, "Small yellow fruit is almost white, but very sweet, with a nice crisp texture," I remembered worrying about my daughter's childhood food preferences.  Perhaps if I had known about the delicious white heirloom plants I now grow, we would have avoided unpleasant family meal discussions.  As a matter of fact, we all probably would have enjoyed a "white diet."  

When choosing heirloom seeds to grow or shopping at your local farmer's market, try some white foods.  Sometimes, it is not all about color!

This small yellow melon is almost white

 

White summer squash was a chef customer's favorite

 

Support Local Food with Fun Times!

Raise your hand if you like any (or all) of the following:  lively musical performances, thrilling amusement rides, delicious foods, craft brews, laughter, happy people.  If you did not raise your hand at least once, there is probably no reason to continue reading this blog and you can go back to whatever boring task engages you; however, if you want to enjoy yourself while you support North Carolina agriculture, read on . . .

Celebrate Local Food!

As most communities enjoy cooler temperatures and summer crop harvests slow, growers and local food supporters can look forward to celebrating our state's delicious bounty at numerous events.  Here is a sampling of where and when to join the fun.  

The Carolina Jubilee Festival
Sponsored by Charlotte local non-profit Carolina Farm Trust, the Jubilee is a two-day live music event, scheduled for October 16-17 on the grounds of beautiful VanHoy Farms, in Harmony, NC.  In addition to an extensive line-up of musical talent, local foods, beer and wines will be featured and vendors and organizations with focus on clean energy and promotion of eco-friendly products will be on hand to showcase their services and wares.  All profits go to Carolina Farm Land Trust to help preserve North Carolina's farms for future generations.  Campsites are available or attendees may purchase single day tickets.   For more information and to purchase tickets, visit Carolina Farm Trust

NC Agricultural Fairs
For thrilling rides, heart-throbbing competitions, agricultural product displays and treats like cotton candy and hot funnel cakes, plan to visit one of the many fairs held throughout the state.  In addition to Raleigh's NC State Fair, October 15-25, where you can cheer racing potbellied pigs, ducks and pygmy goats, many other fairs offer unique events and opportunities to meet real farmers.  For the full schedule of fairs, visit NC Department of Agriculture 

Central Fair prizes won by Karen Glasscock

PepperFest, Sponsored by Abundance NC Foundation
From the first tantalizing whiff of roasting peppers, visitors to the 8th annual PepperFest, held this year on Sunday, September 27th, at Chapel Hill's Great Meadow Park at Briar Chapel, will be in for all things pepper, from sweetly mild to blisteringly hot.  Chefs, farmers and beverage makers will showcase talents and The Stacks and Brett Harris will perform live music.  DIY workshops in Aquaponics and Beekeeping will inform adult attendees while children will enjoy Pepperpalooza activities.  For more information and to purchase tickets, visit PepperFest 2015 

Plethora of Heart & Sole Gardens Peppers

Dining Al Fresco With A Drone

During summer harvest season, I devote most waking hours to keeping weeds at bay, picking crops, washing fruits and veg, preserving food and saving seeds to plant the following year.  Those tasks do not allow for a lot of play time, but recently, I scheduled a late afternoon restaurant delivery in a nearby town and, as it happens, Richard also had an appointment in the same vicinity, so we decided to relax on the restaurant's patio and enjoy a pleasant weather evening.  

After seating us and delivering drinks, our server left to submit our food order to the kitchen.  Since it was a little early for the dinner crowd, we shared the patio with only a few other diners.  Enjoying the brief respite from busy lives, we chatted as a high cloud cover brought cool relief from the day's earlier high temperatures.  As I scanned the sky, checking to be sure there was no imminent rain headed our way, I noticed a small flying device approaching the patio.  Bobbing, gliding and occasionally hovering, I realized the object was a drone.  My first drone sighting and it looked as if the machine were stalking us as its prey.

Dinner below, drone above

After the initial surprise of the unwelcome visitor, Richard and I soon spotted the drone's operator, standing in an adjacent parking lot.  Since we had pointed at the intruder and I snapped a couple of photos of it, the operator knew we were aware of its presence and after he retrieved and packed the drone away, he walked into the downstairs restaurant.  As he crossed below our table, he called to us, "I hope that wasn't too intrusive!"  Since we had nothing nice to say, we said nothing.  Later, our server explained to us that the downstairs restaurant owner hired the drone operator to take some "test photos" for advertisement and he commiserated with us about feelings of privacy invasion.  

As we left, I wondered if perhaps this situation is something that diners will face more often in the future.  As we enjoy dining al fresco, will we be targets for anyone who wishes to photograph our private events, our food or, for Pete's sake, eavesdrop on private conversations?  Just something to consider when we ask for that table under the stars. . .