Plate It Up Kentucky Proud is a partnership between the University of Kentucky Nutrition and Dietetics Program, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, and the Cooperative Extension Service. This program educates Kentuckians on locally grown produce and how to use them to provide nutritious meals for their families.

Whitley County has two locations for the local farmers’ markets, one at the Extension Office in Goldbug and one downtown Corbin. There are a variety of vendors who sell items from honey to garden greens. To kick off the 2018 market year, the Goldbug location held a special event to make the public aware of the new dates of the market. The Whitley County Cooperative Extension partnered to offer a Plate It Up Kentucky Proud sample to visitor and vendors of the Farmers Market. The recipe offered was Cucumber, Corn and Bean Salsa and recipe cards were given out.

All samples given out were well received and people commented on how great it tasted. An evaluation was given out to those who sampled to see if they would purchase some of the ingredients in the salsa, or even make it at home. Of those who sampled, 100% said they would purchase more cucumbers because of this recipe. Also, 100% said they would make this recipe at home for their families. Because of this sampling project, recipe cards have been given out to market customers according to what vendors are selling that is in season.