from the garden

Cooking with Local Ingredients

At Urban Sprouts, we want to connect students to local produce, whether it’s food from the school garden, persimmons and lemons from someone’s backyard, or fresh finds from the farmer’s market.

At Aptos Middle School, the lettuce, arugula, and radish from our school garden were ready to be harvested and tossed into a salad.

Students washed, chopped, and combined local fruits and vegetables with a sesame salad dressing and a persimmon vinagrette. Although some students were more interested in the cooking than in the eating, it was a first step towards creating healthy (and colorful) dishes using many local ingredients.

Additionally, students at Ida B. Wells Continuation High School learned how to whip up persimmon ice cream using only five ingredients (lemon, vanilla, sugar, buttermilk, and persimmons), and without a fancy ice cream maker. Thank you, Ms. Bressack, for donating the delicious persimmons from your backyard!