(COLLINGSWOOD) – New Jersey Agriculture Secretary
Charles M. Kuperus today donned an apron to help local
chefs make quick, grilled seafood recipes at the Collingswood
Farmers Market’s “Jersey Seafood Tailgate
Party.”
“Seafood is the perfect meal for fall events, such as tailgate parties
before a big game,” said Secretary Kuperus. “Seafood is quick and
easy to prepare, nutritious, and delicious, especially when it’s Jersey
Seafood.”
Three New Jersey chefs, Nunzio Petruno of Nunzio Ristorante Rustico,
Mark Smith of The Tortilla Press, and Vincenzo of Villa Barone -- all
in Collingswood -- demonstrated a variety of quick, easy and delicious
ways to prepare New Jersey’s bounty of fish, shellfish and Jersey
Fresh produce for informal entertaining.
“When you come to an event like this and experience the richness of the
Garden State’s seafood bounty, you realize just how much our fishing and
aquaculture industry adds to the quality of life in New Jersey,” said Secretary
Kuperus. “The industry provides a delicious supply of fresh, local seafood,
creates employment and income for many of our residents and contributes to the
state’s identity as a producer of quality food.”
Among the aquaculture featured at the event was a tank of farm-raised
tilapia -- a fast-growing, mild-flavored fish. The fish were part of
the first tilapia crop grown at Cumberland County College in Vineland,
the site of the state’s first commercial scale recirculating aquaculture
system. The facility, a demonstration project for prospective fish farmers,
will produce about 100,000 pounds of tilapia annually. Recirculating
systems are environmentally sound, self-contained processes that filter
and reuse water, replacing only a small percentage of water each day.
“New Jersey’s aquaculture industry is important to the state’s
$64 billion food and agriculture complex,” said Secretary Kuperus. “Through
events such as the ‘Jersey Seafood Tailgate Party,’ residents can
taste farm-raised Jersey Seafood for themselves and gain a better understanding
of fishing and aquaculture.”
George Saridakis of Seaburst Farms, a Woodbury, New Jersey producer and
marketer of aquaculture products, one of the few seafood vendors at community
farmers markets in the state, is a regular vendor at the Collingswood
Market. He offered farm-raised clams and oysters, in addition to boneless,
skinless tilapia fillets.
For information on aquaculture and Jersey Seafood, visit the Jersey Seafood
website at www.jerseyseafood.nj.gov. |
