Here are three ways to experience the flavors of North Carolina.
Onion and garlic seasonings
A lively sense of curiosity is shown by Sarah Wickers and her team at Well Seasoned Table. The company in Candler, North Carolina, makes wild-harvested seasonings, infused sea salts and sugars, and herbal beverages. An example is their spiced pawpaw sugar, flavored with wild pawpaw fruit, persimmons and spicebush berries. We appreciate that each jar or package is labeled with the farms and foragers who provide the ingredients. Their most popular product is Magic Garlic Dust, made from local organic garlic, black garlic and edible flowers. It pairs perfectly with their newly introduced Magic Onion Dust, made with smoked red onions, white onions, black garlic and sage. These easily will become the most versatile seasonings in your kitchen.
$15.50 per 2.2-ounce jar of Magic Garlic Dust or Magic Onion Dust. Order at wellseasonedtable.com.
Credit: Aubrie McGuffey
Credit: Aubrie McGuffey
Snow Day tea
Jessie Dean founded Asheville Tea Co. in 2015 to blend the tea culture she experienced through her global travels with the Appalachian herbal traditions of her western North Carolina roots. Today, the company sells tea bags, loose-leaf tea and pouches for cold brew in more than a dozen blends, including elderberry yaupon, featuring herbs and botanicals from Southeastern farms. We tried Snow Day, a blend of just three ingredients: cacao nibs for hints of chocolate, soothing dried peppermint and marshmallow root and leaf for sweetness. The peppermint and marshmallow root come from area farmers. We used a peppermint stick to stir the tea, adding just a bit more sweetness. This tea is flavorful, but subtle. It’s not overwhelming, like that peppermint mocha you might get at your local coffee shop.
$15.95 per box of 20 tea bags. Order at ashevilleteacompany.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Vegan furikake
Owner Malcolm McMillan has built Blue Tape Provisions of Charlotte into an online marketplace that offers a half-dozen global seasonings, including Somali xawaash and Jamaican jerk. We were intrigued by his Japanese-influenced vegan furikake, made with smoked nutritional yeast, instead of dried fish. We loved the crunchy sesame seeds, chile flakes and dried salted collard greens added to bowls of ramen and a rice bowl with eggs and avocado slices. Our guests thought it was perfect when we came full circle by sprinkling it on sauteed collard greens to ring in the new year.
$11.95 per 1.2-ounce container. Order at bluetapeprov.com.
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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
