By Deirdre Parker Smith

deirdre.smith@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE – The Market at the Mill will kick-off its seventh season Friday, May 6, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the China Grove Roller Mill, 308 N. Main St.

The Market is sponsored by the Historical Society of South Rowan and supported by the China Grove Town Board.

A new feature of the market will be Third Friday at the Mill, starting on May 20.  Music and food will be featured  from 6-8 pm on the third Friday of each month, May through September. The Efird Family singers will entertain with bluegrass and gospel music on May 20. For more information, call 704-857-2466.

The Market at the Mill also has new hours this year. It will be open from 4 to 6 p.m. every Friday, May through September. Vendor fees are $10 per week or $50 for the season. New vendors are being accepted.   

The offerings include a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, grape juices and jellies, eggs, honey, baked goods, plants and flowers. It is a great place to find  produce and other interesting items and to sit on the porch to visit with friends and neighbors.

For more market information, call 704-433-3912. 

Kannapolis market

KANNAPOLIS — The Kannapolis Farmers Market will open a week early – this Thursday – in time for you to enjoy an abundance of ripe strawberries as well as other fresh spring produce.

The market will be every Thursday, 4-7 p.m. at the corner of Vance Avenue and Dale Earnhardt Boulevard. The market continues through September.

Returning vendors offer fresh, local produce, as well as cheese, ice cream, honey, baked goods, spices, jewelry and crafts. New vendors this year include Rocking Bee Farms and Honeysuckle Hill Bee Farm providing honey, soaps, lotions, candy, candles and bee pollen.

For customers’ convenience, the market accepts credit cards, WIC, and SNAP/EBT. In addition, loyalty cards are available to earn credits to use at any of the vendors. Free tote bags will be given to the first 200 customers who fill up their loyalty cards.

Best innovations

It’s another list — Best food innovations from every state, making its way around the Internet.  North Carolina’s at least makes sense —pulled pork. So does Maine’s — the lobster roll.

Alaska’s is king crab – but pulling a shellfish out of the sea is hardly an innovation.

Alabama’s is white barbecue sauce, but no recipe is offered. It looks pretty much like mayonnaise.

Florida’s is the Cuban sandwich, a delicious dish that has even made it to Salisbury.

Idaho has the potato, naturally, but again, is a potato an innovation?

Iowa gets to claim sliced bread, which was a big one — best thing since sliced bread.

Maryland gets the crab cake — delicious.

For some odd reason, Nebraska gets credit for the reuben, which was surely a New York deli thing first. New York is stuck with Buffalo wings, which is OK, but …

Chocolate mice is the item for New Hampshire — wha? What about maple syrup?

The Philly Cheese Steak does not represent Pennsylvania, oddly enough — just Philadelphia. Maybe the list makers don’t know that’s a city.

South Carolina gets boiled peanuts. That works. Texas is brisket and Virginia gets country ham.

What’s puzzling is how many states are stuck with a fast food joint as their “innovative food,” like Taco John’s for Wyoming. Arizona has Pizzaria Blanco and sadly for Colorado, it’s Chipotle. Georgia gets Waffle House and Kansas, White Castle. It’s Dunkin Donuts for Massachusetts and Domino’s Pizza for Michigan.

Connecticut gets simply, burgers. And Illinois, brownies.

These Internet lists can be mighty puzzling.

White barbecue sauce, by the way, is mostly mayonnaise and includes horseradish and lots of black pepper, usually. It may also contain mustard, corn syrup, vinegar, lemon juice or hot sauce.

I don’t think our pulled pork would be amused.