Here are some products from Alabama that you might enjoy.
Credit: Sara. D. Harper
Credit: Sara. D. Harper
Iced tea
Some wait for summer to enjoy iced tea, but we drink it all year, and it’s our beverage of choice for entertaining. Wes Willis and Golson Foshee founded Alabama Sweet Tea Co. in Montgomery in 2015, using a custom blend in their tea bags. The box includes a recipe for the sweet tea that the founders enjoyed at family gatherings. We brewed pitchers for three dinner parties and did a side-by-side comparison of them, unsweetened, to other Southern teas. Our guests all found Alabama Sweet Tea to be the most mellow. We’ll be serving their tea from now on, although we don’t make it as sweet as the way Willis and Foshee like it.
$4.29 per box of 24 family-size tea bags. Available at alabamasweettea.com.
Credit: Alexandra Stone
Credit: Alexandra Stone
Peach preserves and syrup
On their 80-acre Stone Hollow Farmstead in Shelby County, Deborah Stone and her daughter, Alexandra Stone Flowers, grow flowers and produce drinking and cooking vinegars, pickles, relishes, jellies, preserves and pie fillings. We tried their peach preserves and peach lemon verbena syrup. The preserves are made with just peaches, sugar and lemon, and their soft texture made them perfect for spooning into yogurt and over ice cream. Fairytale peach preserves, with a little whiskey added to the mix, will be available in June. The lemon verbena in the peach syrup is as herbaceous as it is lemony. The syrup made for delicious mocktails.
$16.50 per 8-ounce jar of preserves, $14 per 4-ounce bottle of syrup. Available at stonehollowfarmstead.com.
Credit: Nicole Smith Brooks
Credit: Nicole Smith Brooks
Butter cookies
When Irma Robinson created her variation of a family recipe for butter cookies (called “secrets”), friends David and Beverlye Brady Brooks persuaded her to let them make those cookies available through Auburn-based Mama’s Secrets. The cookie dough, which includes very finely chopped pecans, is rolled into one-inch balls, then baked and covered in finely powdered sugar. We couldn’t pick a favorite between the original, lemon and chocolate flavors. Next, we’ve got to try the cheese bites.
$10 per 4-ounce bag of cookies, $20 per 16-ounce gift tin. Available at Intown Ace Hardware in Decatur and mamassecretcookies.com.
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