Kuperus
Helps Showcase Fast Meals from the Sea at Jersey Seafood
Tailgate Party
New
Jersey Agriculture Secretary Charles M. Kuperus donned an
apron Saturday, October 23, 2004 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 more information about Seaburst
Farms, log on to www.seaburst.com.
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