Stop by the information booth at the Olney Farmers and Artists Market and stock up on some Low Country cuisine! Continuing the theme of supplying specialties from the South, you can now buy sacks of Shrimp and Grits mix, which contain all the ingredients except the seafood to cook up a dish evoking the Gullah cuisine of Charleston, South Carolina. There are also sweet and hot pickles from Texas (excellent), and some hot sauce which you won’t catch me anywhere near an open bottle of; but several folks with asbestos palates tell me is terrific.
Why, you may ask, is a Maryland market carrying these traditional products from places like Charleston, South Carolina? Blame it on Britt, Janet Terry’s daughter. She went to college in that city of cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and pastel antebellum houses, not to mention a cuisine influenced by both French settlers and the Gullah Geechee culture of the barrier islands. Ever since, Janet has evoked memories of her visits by finding delicious things to share. (You may wonder why the Market has stopped carrying the deep-fried, eat-‘em-shell-and-all peanuts which were so popular for many years? Well, there’s a peanut shortage at the source. Stay tuned to the Market newsletter for latest developments on the goober front.)
If you want to know more about Gullah Geechee cuisine and how it influenced American cooking, there is a series streaming now on Netflix called “High on the Hog.” One episode features the “rice belt” area of the Low Country, and the cooks and restaurants serving the region’s traditional dishes.
The Shrimp and Grits sack, produced by Gullah Gourmet, contains packages of grits and sauce base. Adding water to each (separately) and cooking for the specified time yields a pot of cornmeal mush and some very tasty sauce. A pound of shrimp, sauteed in butter as the package instructions recommend, completes the dish. It’s rich, filling and delicious, and serves four. For fourteen dollars, it’s an affordable indulgence. Include a salad for a complete meal.
