SQLFlowPlatformTest.java

    String statement = "select *\n"
      + "from \"example\".\"sales_fact_1997\" as s\n"
      + "join \"example\".\"employee\" as e\n"
      + "on e.\"EMPID\" = s.\"CUST_ID\"";

    Tap empTap = getPlatform().getDelimitedFile( ",", "\"", new SQLTypeResolver(), DATA_EMPLOYEE, SinkMode.KEEP );
    Tap salesTap = getPlatform().getDelimitedFile( ",", "\"", new SQLTypeResolver(), DATA_SALESFACT, SinkMode.KEEP );

    Tap resultsTap = getPlatform().getDelimitedFile( ",", "\"", new SQLTypeResolver(), getOutputPath( "dynamic" ), SinkMode.REPLACE );

    FlowDef flowDef = FlowDef.flowDef()
      .setName( "sql flow" )
      .addSource( "employee", empTap )
      .addSource( "sales_fact_1997", salesTap )
      .addSink( "results", resultsTap );

    SQLPlanner sqlPlanner = new SQLPlanner()
      .setDefaultSchema("example")
      .setSql( statement );

    flowDef.setAssemblyPlanner( sqlPlanner );

    Flow flow = getPlatform().getFlowConnector().connect( flowDef );

    flow.complete();

Ignore the getPlatform() stuff, that's part of the Cascading test harness for JUnit.

so yes, in case you just realized, you can write Hadoop independent tests in Cascading, even when using SQL.