Mail-Order Gourmet

Asher Blue Cheese

Sweet Grass Dairy, Thomasville, GA 
Not too sharp or stinky, this crumbly beginner-friendly blue won a bronze medal at the 2009 World Cheese Awards.

Buy It: $10 per 1⁄2 pound; sweetgrassdairy.com 

La Mancha Reserve Sheep's Milk Cheese

Locust Grove, Knoxville, TN 
Handmade in small batches, this hard-aged sheep’s milk cheese has the crystallization of Parmesan and the flavor of Percorino Romano.

Buy It: $20/lb.; locustgrovefarm.net

Crottin Goat Cheese

Caromont Farm, Esmont, VA 
Dusted with French tarragon, this creamy goat cheese is made by chef-turned-cheesemaker and goat farmer Gail Hobbs-Page.

Buy It: $10/lb.; caromontfarm.com

Shenandoah Sheep's Milk Cheese

Everona Dairy, Rapidan, VA 
Dr. Pat Elliott, “queen bee of Southern cheesemakers,” makes a Swiss-style sheep’s milk cheese that won bronze in the U.S. Cheese Championship Contest.

Buy It: $33/lb.; everonadairy.com 

Palmetto Cheese with Jalapeños

Palmetto Cheese, Pawleys Island, SC 
This spicy “pimiento cheese with soul” gets its heat and twang from extra-sharp Cheddar and jalapeños.

Buy It: $5; palmettocheese.myshopify.com 

Trefoil Cheese

Blackberry Farm, Walland, TN
A dramatically assertive washed-rind specialty, it’s made for stinky-cheese connoisseurs by the anointed artisans of this farmstead inn. Available April-November.

Buy It: $24 for 12 oz.; blackberryfarmshop.com

Try It Here: For their cheese course, Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta pairs Blackberry Farm Trefoil with toasted cranberry-walnut bread and persimmon conserve.

Green Hill Brie

Sweet Grass Dairy, Thomasville, GA 
This buttery take on Brie won top honors at the American Cheese Society—the “Super Bowl of cheese.”

Buy It: $8 for an 8-oz. round; sweetgrassdairy.com

Go “Fig”-ure Chèvre

Belle Chèvre, Elkmont, AL 
French-style goat cheese is sweetened with fresh figs. Owner Tasia Malakasis encourages singing while making cheese—she believes you can taste the love.

Buy It: $9; bellechevre.com

Sopressata Salumi

Blackberry Farm, Walland, TN 
Made by the inn’s famed artisans, this cured pork is spicier than salami, with a salty bite and nice fat balance.

Buy It: $17; blackberryfarmshop.com

Aged Kentucky Proscuitto

Colonel Newsome's, Princeton, KY 
Curing like her granddaddy did in 1917, The Ham Lady (aka Nancy Newsom Mahaffey) makes European-style prosciutto with a Southern accent.

Buy It: $12/lb.; newsomscountryham.com

Turkducken

Hebert’s Specialty Meats, Maurice, LA 
Calvin Trillin traced the history of this Cajun delicacy to an unnamed farmer who, in 1985, asked Hebert’s Specialty Meats to stuff a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. Held together with cornbread and pork sausage, it’s been a Southern specialty ever since.

Buy It: $79; hebertsmeats.com

Smoked Bacon

Benton's Country Hams, Madisonville, TN 
The world’s boldest bacon, sliced a quarter-inch thick, is smoked so thoroughly (30 to 36 hours) you can smell it through the UPS package.

Buy It: $6/lb.; bentonscountryhams2.com

Smoked Turkey

Greenberg Smoked Turkey, Inc., Tyler, TX 
Sam Greenberg carries on an East Texas tradition started 71 years ago by his dad, who cooked turkeys over a hickory fire in his dairy barn.

Buy It: $43 for 10 pounds; gobblegobble.com

Hickory Smoked Sausage

Conecuh Sausage, Evergreen, AL 
A 1947 recipe, our Test Kitchen’s go-to sausage has perfect levels of smoke and spice.

Buy It: $4/lb.; conecuhsausage.com

Pork Boudin

Poché’s Market, Breaux Bridge, LA 
Floyd Poché runs a fish camp/RV park/restaurant/market that sells Cajun specialties from smothered rabbit to crawfish étouffée. His boudin marries rice and pork with just-right Creole seasoning and a hint of clove.

Buy It: $8/lb.; pochesmarket.com

Wickles Pickles

Wickles Pickles, Dadeville, AL 
Trey and Will Sims started sharing their spicy-sweet, 70-year-old family tradition with the public a few years ago.

Buy It: $5; wicklespickles.com

Try It Here: Emeril’s in New Orleans piles Wickles Pickles (6) on the signature sirloin burger along with short-rib jam and coleslaw.

• See how our Test Kitchen uses Wickles

Pure Cane Syrup

Steen Syrup, Abbeville, LA 
Five generations of Steens have made this 1910 recipe, developed to salvage frozen sugarcane crops.

Buy It: $23 for 4 (6-oz.) bottles; steensyrup.com

Try It Here: At Catalan in Houston, chef Chris Shepherd glazes roasted Berkshire pork belly with Steen's Pure Cane Syrup.

Muscadine Strawberry Fruit Spread

Duplin Winery, Rose Hill, NC 
At the state’s oldest commercial winery, winemaker David Fussell, Jr., blends strawberries and muscadines.

Buy It: $7; duplinwinery.com

Crawbiddy Pepper Jelly

White Wood Farms, Metairie, LA 
Anita deBoisblanc’s mayhaws get a spicy kick in our hands-down favorite pepper jelly.

Buy It: $8; whitewoodfarms.com

Sweet Potato Butter

Cunningham Farms, Kyles Ford, TN 
Schuyler Cunningham uses a local farmer’s generations-old recipe: organic sweet potatoes, apple cider, cinnamon, and clove.

Buy It: $6; cunninghamfarms.com

BamaNation Hot Sauce

Crimson Fire Sauce Co., Tuscaloosa, AL 
Tide fan Rodney Andujar tweaked his hot sauce recipe 67 times before he got it just right. (A top contender was thrown out for being “too orange.”)

Buy It: $4; bamanationhotsauce.com

Honey

Savannah Bee Company, Savannah, GA 
With a sommelier’s palate for honey, Ted Dennard developed a tasting flight that includes orange blossom, acacia, and tupelo nectars.

Buy It: $14.75 for a 3-pack; savannahbee.com

Try It Here: Elizabeth on 37th gives a hometown nod to Savannah Bee Company with a roasted pork loin marinated in Tupelo Honey and ginger.

Satsuma Jelly

White Wood Farms, Metairie, LA 
A regional citrus (think tangerine with a Cajun accent) stars here.

Buy It: $4.50; whitewoodfarms.com

Old Fashioned Apple Butter

Mercier Orchards, Blue Ridge, GA 
This 1943 family orchard makes apple butter simply—with apples, sugar, and just enough spice.

Buy It: $5; mercier-orchards.com

Plum Preserves

Twin Oaks Farm, Bonifay, FL
Renee Savary preserves fruit from Florida Panhandle growers. Meet her at the Seaside farmers’ market.

Buy It: $8; twinoaksfarm.net

Organic Granola Mix  

Start with a granola base, and then choose fruits, nuts, or even gummy bears to create your own custom granola blend, which ships straight to your door from Miami.

Buy It: from $4.99; mixmygranola.com

Stone-Ground Grits

True Southerners know the difference between blah instant grits and the creamy stone-ground variety, like these from Charleston-based Food for the Southern Soul.

Buy It: $5.59 (2-lb. cloth bag); foodforthesouthernsoul.com

New Orleans Collection Chocolates

Sucré, New Orleans, LA 
These designer confections are inspired by the flavors of NoLa: chicory, bananas Foster, and candied pecans.

Buy It: $30 for 15; shopsucre.com

Caramels

Cynful Confections, Frankfort, KY 
Former Test Kitchen staffer Cynthia Briscoe crafts buttery caramels.

Buy It: $9-$11; cindy@cynfulconfections.com

Pecan-Crusted Cheesecake

Jubilations Cheesecakes, Columbus, MS
The New York-style Cheesecake Supreme has a pecan crust.

Buy It: $40; jubilations.com

Sea Is for Caramel Chocolate Bar

Sweeteeth, Charleston, SC 
Johnny Battles combines Colombian chocolate with sea salt and caramel. Our response: OMG! OMG! OMG!

Buy It: $5; sweeteethchocolate.com

Double Chocolate Moonshine Cake

Red Truck Bakery, Warrenton, VA 
Brian Noyes packs a wallop with dark chocolate and 160-proof Virginia hooch.

Buy It: $22; redtruckbakery.com

Salt & Pepper Chocolate

Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co., Nashville, TN 
Le Cordon Bleu London grad Scott Witherow stone-grinds cacao for this small-batch sea salt-and-pepper bar.

Buy It: $6; oliveandsinclair.com

Try It Here: At City House in Nashville, Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co. flavors the decadent Chocolate Torta di Biscotti.

Honey Caramel Popcorn

Catoctin Popcorn, Frederick, MD 
White Dutch clover honey adds a Southern twist to Brian Casey’s caramel popcorn.

Buy It: $10; catoctinpopcorn.com

Smith Island Cake

Classic Cakes, Salisbury, MD
Dana Evans ships Maryland’s official dessert nationwide.

Buy It: $27-$35; classicsmithislandcakes.com

Sorghum and Spice Cookies

Town House, Chilhowie, VA
Karen Shields’s take on a classic spice cookie blends gooey sorghum with coffee, allspice, clove, cinnamon, and black pepper.

Buy It: $9 per dozen; townhouseva.com

Apple Pie

Tootie Pie Co., Boerne, TX 
Tootie Feagan’s 6-pound apple pies can pass for homemade.

Buy It: From $29; tootiepieco.com

Chocolate Enrobed Moravian Cookies

This Winston-Salem bakery's traditional cookie dough recipe of whole eggs, wheat flour, pure cane sugar, and vanilla from Madagascar is enhanced with gentle flakes of chocolate and premium cocoa powder.

Buy It: $8.99 per package; salembaking.com

Signature FC Parisian Macarons

The famous Parisian Macarons are small round cakes with crunchy outside and soft inside, made with ground almonds, sugar and egg whites. Choose from an assortment of flavors.

Buy It: $28 (box of 12); payard.com

Lemon Pecan Bites

Made by hand in small batches in Madison, these buttery shortbread cookies are an ideal summer party snack or hostess gift.

• Lemon Pecan Bites, $11.75/8-oz. tin. willas-shortbread.com

Sparkling Wine

Afton, Virginia’s family-run Veritas Vineyard combines Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc grapes to make its clean and crisp Scintilla Brut.

Buy It: $30; veritaswines.com  

Cheese-and-Chive Biscuits  

Carrie Morey ships her mother’s signature handmade biscuits fully baked and frozen from her Charleston bakery. Just reheat them for a tender, buttery breakfast.

Buy It: calliesbiscuits.com; $35.90 (2 dozen)