{"id":23580,"date":"2019-08-30T11:23:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T15:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=23580"},"modified":"2019-08-30T11:31:01","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T15:31:01","slug":"celebrate-labor-day-weekend-with-marylands-best-seafood-and-produce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2019\/08\/30\/celebrate-labor-day-weekend-with-marylands-best-seafood-and-produce\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Labor Day Weekend With Maryland\u2019s Best Seafood and Produce"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Blue crabs, sweet corn, melons and tomatoes are in peak season<\/em><\/h3>\n

ANNAPOLIS, MD <\/strong>\u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2014in partnership with the Department of Natural Resources<\/a>\u2014is encouraging Marylanders to celebrate Labor Day weekend with the best seafood and produce Maryland has to offer. September marks peak season for Maryland sweet corn, melons, and tomatoes, while peak season for blue crabs extends from now through October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of a better way to spend a long holiday weekend than sitting down with family and friends to enjoy some steamed Maryland blue crabs with fresh sweet corn,\u201d said Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. \u201cThis is also the best time of year for cantaloupes, watermelons and tomatoes. I hope all Marylanders will join us in celebrating Labor Day with some of the best food our state has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many Marylanders, crabs are much more than food,\u201d said Natural Resource Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio. \u201cCrabs evoke fond memories of special occasions and time spent with family and friends \u2013 which is one of the many reasons our department works so closely with the Maryland Department of Agriculture and other stakeholders to promote Maryland blue crabs as an iconic and sustainable choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monterey Bay Aquarium\u2019s Seafood Watch program recommends<\/a> blue crabs caught in Maryland with a trotline as the \u201cBest Choice\u201d for sustainably harvested crabs nationwide\u2014Maryland crabs caught in crab pots are considered the next best option.<\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s Best is a marketing program within the Department of Agriculture that promotes the state\u2019s agricultural and seafood products. In addition to playing a major role in the state\u2019s heritage, these industries are an important part of Maryland\u2019s economy. The dockside value of blue crabs totaled $53 million in 2018. The state\u2019s sweet corn and melon crops combined for more than $26 million in production, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

To locate your nearest farmers markets and produce stands, visit MarylandsBest.net<\/a>. More information on the state\u2019s seafood industry is available at seafood.maryland.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n

Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blue crabs, sweet corn, melons and tomatoes are in peak season ANNAPOLIS, MD \u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2014in partnership with the Department of Natural Resources\u2014is encouraging Marylanders to celebrate Labor Day weekend with the best seafood and produce Maryland has to offer. September marks peak season for Maryland sweet corn, melons, and tomatoes, while  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23580"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23588,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23580\/revisions\/23588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}