Is there anything better than a kitchen countertop spread with the spoils of a Saturday morning at the farmers' market? Every trip yields some new assortment of old favorites and newfound treasures. One week, you're tempted by the sun-warmed heirloom tomatoes and the Mason jars brimming with orange blossom honey. Another week, it's the slabs of milky Havarti cheese and the Red Haven peaches heavy with juice, enticing you to spend just a little more than you planned. Kentucky pole beans, silky ears of sweet corn, and sacks of stone-ground buckwheat flour may find their way into your basket on another visit.
Whether you shop with a list or purely on impulse, you'll always find the truest taste of home at the local farms, roadside stands, and produce markets in your community. These are the places that offer up the native flavors of the South and all its seasons. They are your portal to the fields, the waters, and the vines where your food is cultivated. Get to know the origins of what you eat and the people who produce it. Tammy Algood's "Farm Fresh Southern Cooking "celebrates this experience with delicious recipes that will enhance the natural flavors of your latest market haul and stories of the South's most dedicated growers and culinary producers.