History: Hardtack is best known in the United States as a staple ration carried by soldiers during the American Civil War. Hardtack has been used for thousands of years, serving as a durable food source for ancient Egyptian sailors, Roman soldiers, and naval crews around the world. click to get the Hardtack Recipe

Picking peanuts always takes me back to my childhood in eastern North Carolina. My nephew Barney and I spent countless afternoons playing hide-and-seek among the peanut fields. Back then, farmers dug the peanuts and stacked them on poles to dry before harvesting. The fields carried a rich, earthy scent that seemed to linger everywhere, a smell I still associate with those carefree days on the farm.

Harry Roberson leaning on his Peanut Stacks in Gold Point, NC, circa 1940 (Thanks to Hank Roberson for the use of his grandfather’s photo)

We loved to hide behind these stacks and to climb them, much to the dismay of my parents. All the children in the neighborhood joined us and we stayed out until way after dark. Sadly, the peanut stacks are gone. Click to see video of Peanuts being Picked

All Good Southern Cooks Have a Sweet Pickle Relish Recipe

Southerners Love Our Sweet Pickle Relish

We don’t buy the relish, we make it ourselves from old family recipes. Each family has its own recipe; some add peppers and onions. I like the simple one.  Often we just chop up last year’s sweet cucumber pickles. You just can’t make southern chicken salad without Sweet Pickle Relish. This recipe is the best!

As that famous Georgia bumper sticker says, “It is time to Brake for Boiled Peanuts.”

Just-dug peanuts – green peanuts – are one of the first signs that summer is quietly giving way to fall on the farm. And every year in early fall, we boil these green peanuts in the shell with lots of salt. They soak overnight, and the salt seeps through the shells to the peanuts. You crack the shell with your teeth and the peanuts are soft inside. They are a treat, but not for the timid. Boiled peanuts have a very unique taste.

Boiled Peanuts – a Southern Delight

In late August or September, you can find these green peanuts at farm stands and in some grocery stores like Piggly Wiggly.

Print Recipe

Boiled Green Peanut Recipe – Southern Style

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: boiled green peanut recipe, boiled peanut recipe, boiled peanuts

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 431kcal

Author: Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

• 2-3 pounds raw green peanuts in the shell (this is about 12 cups peanuts with shells) The peanuts are not green, just raw
• 1/2-1 cup salt
• 3-4 quarts water or enough to cover the peanuts - add more water as they cook

Instructions

• "Green" peanuts are not green; they are just young, raw peanuts. These peanuts are usually dug by hand several weeks before the farmer moves through the field with the machines that dig the peanuts. Here in eastern North Carolina, these green peanuts are ready late August or early September.
• Wash the peanuts, still in the shells, several times until the water has no grit in it. Pick over and remove any bad peanuts and discard.
• Put the peanuts still in shells into a large cooking pot. Cover with water at least 2 inches above the peanuts. Add the salt and stir.
• Bring to a boil. Lower heat and boil slowly for 1-3 hours, depending on how mature or old the peanuts are. If the nuts are really young and pink, it will only take about 1 hour of cooking. If they are older, it can take up to 3 hours. You might also have to add water to keep the water level above the peanuts. Keep cooking until the peanuts are soft inside. Cooking time varies according to how old the peanuts are.
• After they are done, they will continue absorbing the salt. If the salt taste is like you want it, then remove the peanuts from the salty water. They will keep in the refrigerator for several days.
• Refrigerate or freeze after cooking.
• It is much easier if you eat the peanuts outside. You can just spit out the shells.

Nutrition

Calories: 431kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 4744mg | Potassium: 562mg | Fiber: 7g | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 3mg

Click to learn more about Boiled Peanuts

 Sunnyside Oyster Bar is an eastern North Carolina tradition and folks from all over the country come to taste these special, just-shucked oysters. OPEN NOW September, 2026, at 5:30 every night.

Click to read more about Sunnyside Oyster Bar

A few years back, my friend Marion and I hiked up Jockey’s Ridge – the tallest living sand dune on the Atlantic coast. Back then, I made it to the top without much fuss. These days? I’d probably need a week and a good pep talk … but I’d still give it a go.

To See How you can learn Hang Gliding click here

There is a very small window of time when Sweet Corn, Okra, and Tomatoes are in season at the same time – Probably just a few weeks in late summer.

It always reminds me of late summer on the farm when we were harvesting or “putting in” tobacco. Those were long nights when my dad and Walter sat into the night poking wood into the fire to cure the tobacco.

If you have an overabundance of okra, let some of them stay on the plant until they are dried out. You can then make the cutest Okra Santa Christmas ornaments. 

Print Recipe

Corn, Okra, and Tomatoes Recipe

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American southern

Keyword: okra corn and tomatoes, okra corn and tomatoes recipe

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 97kcal

Author: Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet onion or 2 small onions peeled and chopped
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 2 cups fresh tender okra (about a double hand full)
• 6 large ripe tomatoes or a 28-ounce cans whole, peeled tomatoes - canned tomatoes are fine
• 3-4 ears fresh mature corn
• 1 teaspoon sea salt or regular salt
• Pepper if desired
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

• Melt butter in a large saucepan. Cook chopped onion for a few minutes until transparent, not browned.
• While the onions are cooking, blanch the tomatoes for half a minute. Drain and cool tomatoes. Peel, remove the cores and cut into chunks, making sure that you save the juice. If using canned tomatoes, cut the tomatoes into large pieces, saving the juice.
• Wash the okra. Cut stem ends off and cut into ½ inch round pieces.
• Shuck corn and cut corn off the cob. Older or mature corn works best for this recipe.
• Add the tomatoes and juice, okra, corn, salt, pepper and water to the cooked onions. Cook covered over medium to low heart for one hour or until the ingredients are all done.
• Serve with homemade cornbread.

Nutrition

Calories: 97kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 353mg | Potassium: 447mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1490IU | Vitamin C: 26.4mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 0.6mg

Click to read more about Corn, Okra and Tomatoes

Summer in coastal North Carolina means great watermelons. If you want a unique watermelon recipe, here it is – Watermelon Punch 

Refreshing Watermelon Punch

When I was growing up on the farm, my father planted three long rows of watermelons – each one stretching at least a city block. It was a sight, and it meant we had more watermelons than most folks could imagine.

By July and August, we’d drive the pickup truck straight into the field and load the back full of those big, striped melons. Then we hauled them to the house and laid them under the old pecan trees, the same ones still standing here at Big Mill B&B Extended Stay today.

Every afternoon, no matter how hot it was or how much work we had left, we’d stop, slice open a watermelon, and eat until we were cool and sticky with juice. Whatever we didn’t finish went to the cows and the mules – nothing was ever wasted on a farm. We didn’t feed the watermelon to the chickens. Mother said it hurt their faces.

Click here to get the Watermelon Punch Recipe

I first tasted Gazpacho in the sixties when I was a young student living in Spain.

Gazpacho is perfect for hot summer days.

It happened in a little café in Toledo, Spain, and I can still picture it – the café itself, the handsome young man, and the Gazpacho that made such an impression on me.

My own gazpacho recipe grew from one in Craig Claiborne’s New York Times International Cookbook, my favorite cookbook. And here’s a fun bit of trivia: Craig Claiborne, longtime food editor of the New York Times, was born in Sunflower, Mississippi.

Print Recipe

Gazpacho

Gazpacho - Chilled Tomato Soup

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Spanish

Keyword: gazpacho, tomato gazpacho, tomato gazpacho recipe

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 151kcal

Author: Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

• 4 cups tomatoes with cores removed 2 1/2 to 3 pounds* or 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups peeled cucumber cut into large chunks
• 1/2 cup cucumber diced into small pieces for garnish (reserved)
• 1 green pepper seeded and cut into chunks
• 1 small clove garlic peeled and minced
• 5 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar or white vinegar wine vinegar is more distinctive
• 1 1/2 slices bread or 2 slices French bread

Instructions

• Place tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups cucumber, green pepper, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and bread into a blender. Blend until pureed.
• Pour through a kitchen sieve and press with the pestle to extract the liquid. Discard the seed and skins - they make great compost.
• Chill and serve in flat bowls with the reserved, diced cucumber as garnish.

Notes

*You can also make this gazpacho with one 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes.

Nutrition

Calories: 151kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 43mg | Potassium: 343mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 925IU | Vitamin C: 31.1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 0.8mg

Fresh tomatoes grown on the Farm

The basket in the photo is a treasure. It was a gift from Miss Sadie, who owned the original Big Mill grist mill. Long ago, she carried this very basket up town every week with three dozen eggs to trade for coffee, sugar, and anything she couldn’t grow herself. The cotton seeds are still tucked inside — her clever way of keeping the eggs from breaking.

I grew the tomatoes in my Big Mill Cook’s garden, tucked into the orchard where our livestock once grazed beneath the apple trees. It’s a place full of stories, and this basket is one of my favorites.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast Extended Stay 252-799-8787