The congregation of Mt Olive First United Methodist Church has been cooking peanuts in their church kitchen since 1965. Since then, the operation has grown to a 15 member "Peanut Crew," and their salty, crunchy nuts are for sale in shops from New York City to Portland, and they are available in NC MADE gift boxes (of course!).
Cheese straws aren't unique to North Carolina but, here at NC MADE, we think Ritchie Hill Bakery in Concord does them best. Founded by Heath Ritchie and his sister, Beth, in 2010, their family recipe has been in use for over 100 years.
After having worked in restaurants for years, Chelsea Madison and Nick Barr knew they wanted to start their own business. Inspired by the abundance of delicious ingredients coming out of the Asheville area, they vowed to represent their hometown by incorporating at least 60% local ingredients in their condiments.
Michael Lloyd, founder of Num Num Sauce, is a Durham-based scientist who reformulated an old family recipe to start his sauce enterprise after being laid off from a pharmaceutical job in 2008.
On the Appalachian Trail, blue blazes lead to a water source. Jackson Anderson wanted his soda syrups to be the path you choose for refreshment, so he chose Blue Blaze Soda & Syrup Co as the name for his Asheville-based venture.
For Joanne Young and Randall York, their small business began as a hobby in their Charlotte backyard. Randall began keeping bees and soon realized he was producing more honey than he knew what to do with. The couple founded Cloister Honey and began selling at Charlotte area farmers' markets and festivals. Soon, national retailer Dean & Deluca took notice. And now, you can try Cloister Honey in our Plank Road Box.
Hickory Nut Gap Farm is owned and operated by the children of James and Elspeth Clarke, whose forebears started a farmers' cooperative in Fairview, NC, in the 1920s. This revolutionary "Farmers' Federation" gave western NC farmers more control over the marketing of their products and kept more profits local. The family now keeps this community spirit alive as Hickory Nut Gap Farm experiences a renaissance.
Every cocktail enthusiast loves to nail a complicated new recipe whether that may involve infusing simple syrups, acquiring heirloom citrus, or burning cinnamon sticks with a blowtorch. The folks at White Whale realize you don't always have time for all that, so they created three signature cocktail mixers featuring high-quality ingredients -- organic when possible -- some exotic, some grown close to home -- but always well-balanced, delicious, and easy to prepare.
Jessica DeMarco, founder of Copper Pot & Wooden Spoon, grew up surrounded by family food and farm tradition. She pursued a culinary career working in fast-paced restaurants, but was ultimately inspired to slow down as she experimented with traditional methods of preserving the bounty she found at western NC's farmers' markets.
Mark Overbay, founder of Big Spoon Roasters, tasted fresh-ground peanut butter while serving in the Peace Corps in Zimbabwe, where locals there roasted nuts over an open fire and ate the butter alone with a bit of honey and salt.
