Recipes from Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Coastal Living, All You, Real Simple, and Health
Get Free Recipe Newsletters

You've Got To Taste This

Delicious discoveries, tasty new products, must-cook recipes, and fun food finds

« Died and Gone to Heaven Honey-Cinnamon Vinaigrette | MAIN | Going Crazy over Goat Cheese »

September 26, 2008

Mad About Mayhaws

By Emily Shepherd

My husband is somewhat of a jelly aficianado.  Grape, strawberry, pepper...he loves them all.  Knowing this, one of our friends decided to let us in on the marvelous secret of mayhaw jelly.  We were given a jar that he'd brought back from a business trip to southern Georgia (one of the few native areas for mayhaws), promised that "if you love jelly, you will LOVE mayhaw jelly!"

Our friend was right.  Mayhaw jelly is delicious!  It features an unusual blend of both sweet and tart flavors, which is a nice change from super-sweet jellies, such as the aforementioned grape and strawberry.  One of my favorite ways to enjoy it is as part of a good ole PB&J sandwich, but it's also quite tasty on toast, crackers, or biscuits.

Unfortunately, mayhaw jelly IS a little hard to find, since mayhaws grow only in certain areas of the southern United States.  We ordered a case of jelly (that's right, a case) from Cedar Head Farms, a company in Colquitt, Georgia (incidentally, also the self-proclaimed "Mayhaw Capital of the World"), and have been sharing the "mayhaw love" with various friends and relatives.  Unless you live near the wetlands of Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia, where mayhaws thrive, you'll probably have to do the same.   Check out these companies to order your own jelly:

Cedar Head Farms: (229) 758-9249

Cajun Grocer

Local Harvest

Posted at 08:00 AM in New Products |
Comments

Wow, Linda, using mayhaw jelly as a yellow cake filling sounds DELICIOUS! I'll have to try that over the holidays or for my husband's birthday. Thanks for the tip.

Posted by:Emily Shepherd | October 22, 2008 at 08:40 AM

I grew up in southwest Louisiana and my mom used to make Mayhaw Jelly. It was soooo good. On a recent trip back home, I had to stop by one of the local grocery stores and they sold the jelly in a pint size jar. It is distributed by Grant Fruit Processing in Pollock, La. The web site is www.grantfruit.com. Mayhaw Jelly is great as a filling in a homemake yellow cake with no frosting. Only the jelly between the layers. Talk about good.

Posted by:Linda Johnson | October 21, 2008 at 11:28 AM

Thanks for that, Emily. Conjured up memories of my grandfather, a local farmer in south Georgia.

Posted by:Jennifer | October 01, 2008 at 05:27 PM

Now I have to find some Mayhaw Jelly to try! We were at a local farmer's market this summer ... local is Little Rock ... where we tasted Muscadine Jelly for the first time, made by Bear Kingdom. It was so great we had to buy it by the case, which is now waiting in the closet for Christmas to arrive. My family is going to love this jelly!

Posted by:ArkJudy | September 29, 2008 at 07:51 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.