Here’s a handful of ideas shared by our beloved readers via phone calls, letters, and Facebook from our 2016 Taste 50 list.
Birmingham, Alabama’s We Three Beeks is comprised of Cary and Stephanie Norton and Jillian Woodruff, hobbyist beekeepers who were inspired to help rebuild diminishing honeybee populations. They started caring for their first hive in 2011 after taking a local class and have been enamored ever since. Their golden-hued honey can be found at farmers’ markets and shops all around Birmingham.
Cornbread + Buttermilk
In the days when buttermilk was a more reliable way to get needed fats and proteins than easily spoiled sweet milk, crumbling leftover cornbread into a glass of it was a go-to snack-or sometimes a meal!
Since opening its doors in 1946, Parker’s has become a Wilson, North Carolina, landmark. Fans are willing to wait in long lines to get a serving of the delicious barbecue; many of the 20,000 weekly customers have been coming to Parker’s for most of their lives, and don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
Ramps
These delicious wild leeks grow around the Appalachia region in the springtime, and nowhere are they more revered than in West Virginia. When late March rolls around, festivals pop up all over the state in honor of these pungent bulbs, which are prized by chefs and home cooks alike.
Divinity
The story goes that everyone who tried this glorious candy would take just one bite and, noting the heavenly texture, declare it divine. The cardinal rule of divinity making is to wait for the right weather-humidity is its mortal enemy.
This family-run tea company creates gourmet tea blends sourced as locally as possible. They gather from their garden and farm in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as forage for wild edibles to give their teas true local flavor. The handpicked teas are a hit everywhere they go, from farmers’ markets to festivals, where you’re bound to see folks walking around with Piper & Leaf drinking jars full of refreshing iced tea.
