This week, Georgia celebrated the state's small businesses on February 12! We’re celebrating by taking a moment to spotlight a few of our Georgia vendors on the Local Palate Marketplace. From breakfast goods to cocktail accessories and all-natural nut butters to premium meats, this collection of vendors has the goods that keep meals covered from morning breakfast to packed lunches to happy hour to dinner parties with friends.
Situated in Atlanta and known for its pancake mixes and line of uniquely flavored syrups, Barlow’s Foods has created a place for itself in the breakfast business. The company built its success on the simple idea that pre-packaged goods could rely on all-natural ingredients alone to deliver wholesome, made-from-scratch flavors. Founder Tiffani Neal began Barlow’s both out of her love for food and in honor of her late grandfather “Paw Paw” Barlow, a United States Army Veteran. Paw Paw Barlow’s vision was to create food made from fresh, real, and whole ingredients. A mission his granddaughter has carried on for him.
Found in Albany, Clark Stallings has spent every year canning jalapeños with his mother, gathering the peppers straight from the garden and using them for a sweet-and-spicy candied jalapeño recipe. However, during the pandemic, Stallings decided to try something new. As he says, “I don’t have as much patience as my mother.” Looking to bypass the tedious canning process, he pulled out the food processor and blitzed the candied version into a relish-like texture. He tried a little and was hooked.
He took news of his creation to Facebook Marketplace, and word reached friends and neighbors that this little family tradition had evolved with delicious results. Requests for a jar started coming in, and what started in the back garden can now be found in more than 100 retail stores east of the Mississippi River. Whether you’re looking for relishes, cocktail mixers, or marinades, give Gesus Palomino a taste, and you’ll see why their success is just heating up.
Exciting and unique creations from natural ingredients meant to feed the explorers of the world of all ages. Atlanta-based, Georgia Grinders creates hand-crafted non-GMO, quality-sourced nut butters. This couple run uses a 1970s family recipe to create their health-conscious butter. Jaime Foster, built on her Grandfather, Jim Hinsdale’s recipe, to action against his predisposition to cardiovascular disease. Hinsdale sadly passed at the age of 97 after a life of innovation and investment in health and wellness. Georgia Grinders launched their first product, NaturAlmond Almond Butter (2012), to help combat poor health and in memory of Hinsdale’s legacy. Georgia Grinders is here to be your new nutritious and delicious pantry staple to get you up and moving toward a better and happier you.
Co-founders Nicole Elliott and Meta Adler started Hostess Provisions with the idea of redefining the art of entertaining to be simple, elegant, and playful. The company’s founding principle is that a great party needs only a handful of qualities to be a success: mouth-watering food, smooth drinks, amazing friends, and a perfect hostess gift. Hostess Provision’s assorted spices and seasonings for easy-to-make dips and tea sandwiches makes food prep a cinch when guests are about to arrive. Through Hostess Provisions, Elliot and Adler handle party consulting, hostess styling, and a discerning selection of snacks you might need through every step of the party process.
In 2008, Rusty Bowers opened Atlanta’s first whole animal butcher shop. Bowers’ is focused on the philosophy of minimizing waste, encouraging simplicity and quality, and engaging with the community. In partnering with Charlotte and Wes Swancy of Riverview Farms in Ranger, Bowers committed to supporting local food, humane treatment of animals, and preserving the environment.
Since the beginning of their collaboration, the two have opened Atlanta’s first Farmers and Butcher co-owned meat market, Chop Shop. Riverview Farms practices certified Full Circle Farming, which means the land supports the livestock and the livestock builds soil fertility for crops. They were organic before it was cool. At Riverview, livestock roams pastures and woodlots in as natural a manner as possible. Pine Street Market sources most of its pork from Riverview Farms along with other farms around the state. At Pine Street Market, good meat is humanely butchered and responsibly sourced.
Growing up on her mother’s farm in Iowa, Regina Nekola Hild quickly learned to find joy in the process of creating food from scratch. Today Hild has a degree in culinary arts and is an ACF-Certified Culinarian. Regina’s Farm Kitchen provides artisan fruit jams and spreads for toast, charcuterie boards, cakes, cookies, flatbreads, and so much more. Hild even encourages adding your favorite jam to cocktails for an extra bit of excellence. Hild’s small-batch artisan spreads aren’t jelly–they are made using real and organic fruit with no preservatives or artificial sweeteners, gelatins, or thickeners. Each taste of distinctly crafted flavors will excite your palate.
Originally crafted in 1965 by founder Nat Hendricks’ father, during his time at Washington & Lee University, this clean bloody mary mix has been in the family for years. Over the years, the mix has become highlighted at special events. Sister’s Sauce is mixed and bottled in Georgia and inspired by the family’s love and connection. The mix is gluten- and fat-free with no MSG, additives, or high-fructose corn syrup. There are no secrets in this sauce, just delicious and classic bloody mary mix with the addition of tangy tomato juice, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire, horseradish, Tabasco, salt, and a little kick of pepper and garlic. This mix is ideal for a tailgate, soirée, or weekend brunch.
Transformed from an old coastal gas station, Griffin Bufkin and Harrison Sapp opened Southern Soul Barbeque in 2007 after cooking together at a variety of charity events over the years. Like other pitmasters, Bufkin and Griffin’s dedication to doing things the right way made them standout members of Georgia’s barbecue community, and just three years later in 2010, the King of Flavortown himself, Guy Fieri, brought his infamous Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to the island for a feature on Southern Soul Barbeque.
Today, Southern Soul Barbeque remains a bustling must-visit destination to anyone traveling up or down the Georgia coast and has been known to divert Florida travelers off their paths for a taste of their barbecue. If you can’t visit them on the road, bring the flavors of their St. Simons Island joint to your home grill or smoker with their collection of sauces and rubs.
This Georgia creamery is committed to three pillars: healthier animal, healthier soil, healthier earth. Balmy weather and the dairy’s location on the Floridian aquifer allows the owners to irrigate and graze their cows year round. Such resources set apart Sweet Grass from others in the industry, as they can continue milking the herd and making cheese throughout each season.
The nuances of the year-round cheese results in single products taking on different flavors throughout the year. The camembert-style Greenhill, for example, is a crowd-pleaser, yet its flavor shifts from subtle and mushroomy in the cooler months to bright and grassy during the summer. You can order it to your door, or visit Sweet Grass Dairy’s brick-and-mortar Cheese Shop in Downtown Thomasville, which offers tastings and experiences for the cheese in a neighborhood wine bar setting.
