10/26/07 Washington produce pavilion promotes state's produce

Farm and Ranch October 26, 2007 A coalition of Washington State businesses and commodity groups joined forces to exhibit at the recent Produce Marketing Association Conference held in Houston, Texas. The Washington State Potato Commission along with the Skagit Red Potato Growers Association, the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Committee, Basin Gold, Tatoes and the Washington Asparagus Commission were among those at the Washington State Produce Pavilion. Potato Commission Director of Trade Matt Harris says the pavilion offered more than just a feast for the eye for produce buyers. Harris: "This year the concept was developed to integrate not only displaying our great produce and talking about potatoes, or onions or asparagus but also having the availability to taste or sample dishes prepared using our produce. So we could effectively talk to buyers, bring them into our pavilion and then demonstrate the ease of preparation of our produce." And some of those recipes were intriguing. Harris: "We had a chilled yellow potato and asparagus apple soup. And so it combined that heartiness of potatoes with asparagus and then the light sweetness of apples. And that was surprising to most patrons of the booth." Another recipe was Italian Style Red Potato and Walla Walla Sweet Onion Griddle Cakes. That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today! Good health tomorrow! I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.