When Aunt Rachel, Aunt Sally, Granny Buff, Captain Davis, Doctor Matthews, and the Great Unknown are gathered, it’s a delicious bounty. The apples, whose names hint at their origins, are among the 400-plus varieties grown at the Southern Heritage Apple Orchard at Horne Creek Farm in Stokes County.
Enjoying black walnuts requires getting one’s hands dirty: collecting bright green fruit when it falls from North Carolina’s native trees, hacking into its hard outer husk (which reveals a messy black stain that’s popular among furniture makers), letting the nuts cure for weeks, and, finally, cracking the hard shell open. But, oh, the end results are sweet — especially when tucked into pie or pound cake.
Sure, there’s no wine in Cheerwine. But with its century-plus history, cheery red disposition, and heavy dose of carbonation, the cherry-flavored soda from Salisbury is more than worthy of a toast (and, since recipes exist for Cheerwine jelly, even on toast). So, here’s to the land of Cheerwine!
As Krispy Kreme’s neon sign alludes, what was a hit in 1937 is still “hot now” — light, glazed, yeast-raised doughnuts, served fresh. They’re just no longer ours alone. What began as a small operation in Winston-Salem now stretches well beyond the Foothills, with 357 locations worldwide and counting.
The mush in livermush might as well mean sentimental. Folks who grew up within a 100-mile radius of Charlotte are bound by a knowledge — and for some, a love — of the regional dish. Consisting of cooked and ground pig’s liver, cornmeal, and spices, the pâté-like loaf that’s often sliced, fried, and eaten on bread has its devotees, and at least two festivals: Mush, Music, & Mutts in Shelby, and the Livermush Festival in Marion.
Moonshine may be legal in North Carolina these days, but the spirit that made Wilkes County (once proclaimed the “Moonshine Capital of the World”) and surrounding communities famous still has grit, with high proofs and tall tales. Call Family Distillers in Wilkesboro, for instance, honors famed bootlegger Willie Clay Call, who federal agents dubbed “The Uncatchable.”
The Moravian cookie, with its neat, often-scalloped edges, looks something like an official seal — and for years it’s been working to get one. In 2023, the North Carolina House of Representatives introduced, for a second time, a bill to adopt the treat as the official state cookie, and with good reason. Millions of the thin, spiced cookies are baked in the Winston-Salem area each year and shipped around the world.
As the folk song goes, Pretty Little Susie is “way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.” And in North Carolina, that could be almost anywhere. Pawpaw trees — which produce a large fruit with a custardy pulp that’s often compared to a mix of mango and banana — are native to all 100 counties. But the fruit is celebrated in the Foothills. Last year, the Forsyth County Center hosted a Pawpaw Field Day, offering demonstrations on baking, planting, and foraging the fruit, so that folks besides just Susie could, as the song continues, pick ’em up and put ’em in their pocket.
Sometimes referred to as a first-frost fruit, American persimmons drop from North Carolina’s native trees when fully ripened. And, according to folklore, when sliced in half they offer insight into the wintery days ahead, depending on the shape of their seed: a fork indicates a mild winter, a spoon portends a season of snow, and a knife means very cold temps. All, you could say, predict perfect days for a bowl of warm persimmon pudding, spiced with two teaspoons of cinnamon, one teaspoon of allspice, and one teaspoon of cloves — as Francis Eugene “Gene” Stafford, who founded the former Colfax Persimmon Festival, called for in his recipe.
Some might debate the best fruit to put into the cobbler-like cousin called sonker — apples, blackberries, and peaches, among them. There are also variations on the recipe for its telltale sunken crust, from pie dough to a crumble. But one thing is for certain: The dessert is a signature of Surry County — which claims it’s the only place sonker is made, and boasts a Sonker Trail with seven stops to sample the dessert.
In North Carolina, we’re all in on the joke: the hot sauce we put on everything has nothing to do with the Lone Star State. Texas Pete has been firmly rooted in Winston-Salem since 1929 — its fiery hue akin to the surrounding area’s red clay.
Winding through the Foothills, there are plenty of places to unwind. In and around Surry County — especially well situated for producing European vinifera grapes — there are 18 wineries (featured on the Surry County Wine Trail), as well as a state-of-the-art viticulture and enology program at Surry Community College, which boasts its own Surry Cellars label.
Illustrations by Emily Wallace
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Split-rail fences don’t shout “keep out.” They lean, they shift, they invite. And in western North Carolina, they remind us that some lines are meant to hold, not harden.
Each May, spring climbs nearly 3,000 feet to the seat of Alleghany County. Here, as the rhododendrons blush, a beloved mountain town welcomes visitors with its food, art, and flourish of color and creativity.
Brief but delicious, soft-shell crab season is cherished by diners as well as the folks who work around the clock to put these native pinchers on our plates.
When it comes to poultry, the best is raised close to home.
