April McGreger, author
of Sweet Potatoes,
will be the guest speaker of Culinary Historians of Piedmont North Carolina
(CHOPNC) at 7pm Wednesday, Jan. 21,at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill.
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| April McGreger |
By any measure, April McGreger has enjoyed an enviable start
to the new year.
Not that 2014 was too shabby, mind you. The popularity of
her Farmer’s Daughter’s Brand
pickles and preserves allowed her to give up long hours of working at farm stands
and convert part of her thriving business to a CSA-style subscription service. And the
daughter of Vardaman, Miss., the self-proclaimed Sweet Potato Capital of the World,
published her first book – Sweet Potatoes, a
volume in the Savor the South series from UNC Press.
But already this year, McGreger has been chosen to receive
two Good Food Awards – one for her Strawberry Honeysuckle Jam and one in the
pickles category for Sweet Corn and Pepper Relish.
“I've won other Good Food Awards, including their inaugural
year in 2011,” McGreger says. “Honestly, I think I’m even happier this time. They
get a ton more entries now, so I feel really proud that mine stood out.”
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| Blackberry Farm photo/Instagram |
It’s a feeling McGreger will have to get used to. On Jan.
10, she joined a roster of culinary all-stars to prepare a course in the Southern
Foodways Alliance Taste of the South event at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tenn.
She made a twist on one of the recipes from Sweet
Potatoes, a chestnut and sweet potato pudding with sour orange marmalade
and coffee cream.
“I had so much fun. It was definitely one of the greatest
honors – and one of the few things I’ve really wanted to do,” McGreger says,
adding with a laugh, “I guess it was a ‘bucket list’ item.”
In addition to making dessert for an A-List group of
Southern food lovers, McGreger led a preserving class during the three day
event. It didn’t occur to her until people started filing in that her students
would include some of the people she most admires.
“It was very surreal,” McGreger says, recalling when she saw
Birmingham chef Frank Stitt, Susan Spicer of New Orleans, and Ben and Karen
Barker of Chapel Hill take seats. “My first thought was, ‘What in the world can
I teach them?’ But everyone was very engaged and interested.
“They asked some really great questions so there was a lot
of great back and forth. It was amazing to have been in the room at all, but to
be leading the conversation left me speechless.”
Back home in Carrboro, McGreger has returned to the routine
of making products for Farmer’s Daughter Brand customers. While some people
assume winter is her down time, she is busy making sauerkraut and marmalades,
the latter using an assortment of regional sour oranges from Louisiana and
grapefruit and Meyer lemons from Texas.
“I really love citrus so I’ll be making all kinds of
marmalades this year,” she says. “It’s also prime time for krauts and pickles.
Jerusalem artichokes will be starting soon, and I’m making a beet-horseradish
relish. Things do come to a stop right before strawberries return, but I’m
still really busy right now.”
What little time McGreger has left to herself is poured back
into her business. Fans can expect to see updates to the website soon, as well
as new labels for Farmer’s Daughter products.
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