Wanderliciousness

A network of winding backroads interlaces the foreboding geography of Southern Appalachia from Virginia to Alabama.

If you’re willing to wander those roads, you’ll find that the isolation of this ancient place has conspired with pastoral simplicity to create, foster and protect thousands of far-flung settlements that yet retain a distinct character and produce unique artisanal victuals found nowhere else in the world. 

My wanderings in search of deliciousness—my wanderliciousness, if you will—recently led me to a place in mountainous North Georgia, not far from the picturesque Bavarian-style burg of Helen, called Lucille’s.

The mountaintop inn and spa command stunning views of the surrounding terrain, and feel a world away from the world’s busiest airport just 90 miles to the south. 

Owners Charlie Anderson and her husband, Chuck, showed me around and told me a bit about the main building, very much peacocking its Prairie Style/Arts and Crafts architectural mashup. 

“We have been called the ‘Ritz of North Georgia,’” said Chuck, explaining that their main goal is for your blood pressure to drop 10 points when you walk in the door of the warm, woody inn where rooms top out at less than $400 in peak season—if you can get one.

“We just took a reservation the other day from somebody in South Africa,” he said. 

When they get to Lucille’s, they’ll be sated in the dining room or on the deck by a menu of mostly local products. Tomatoes, peppers and herbs are grown on the grounds, and when possible, produce is sourced from Fritchey’s Gardens in Clarkesville or Jaymore Farms in nearby Commerce. Eggs come from a farm down the hill and hand-made sausage arrives from a local producer they didn’t want to name for fear I’d buy the place out on my way back home. 

In spite of all that, it was something else entirely that grabbed me. 

“When people ask for jam that’s what we serve,” Chuck said of the half-spent jar of Unicoi Preserves on my table. “It very rarely comes back to the kitchen.” 

Charlie piped in. “The reason? It’s delicious.” 

Five miles and 15 minutes down the road, I sat in the Unicoi Preserves test kitchen, which also happens to be Suzy and Clark Neal Jr.’s actual kitchen. 

“Our company grew out of the desire to source things locally,” said Clark. “Then we started looking around in the pantry at things you fill the gaps with, and there was all this high fructose corn syrup and artificial dye. We’re taking all this care in how we source our food, why can’t we take the same care with some of the products in jars that we get?”

Thus Unicoi Preserves was born, named for a nearby state park, mountain and toll road, all aptly based on a Cherokee word meaning misty, or white. 

“We were selling at the local farmers market in White County,” Suzy said. “We tried a couple of different things, but what people were really looking for were jams and jellies.”

Unicoi, however, is neither jam nor jelly; jelly is made with fruit juice. Jam is fruit that’s been commonsensically jammed into a jammy consistency, while preserves are similarly and commonsensically larger chunks of fruit meant to be, well, preserved. 

“We’re none of those,” Suzy said. “We’re a spread. Our products are too low in sugar to qualify as a jam or jelly.”

Although some sugar is added to their product, it’s cooked longer to let the natural sugars in the fruit caramelize. But it still uses less sugar than a traditional jam, so the FDA said it was technically either a butter, or a spread. 

Whatever you want to call it, you can currently find five varieties of Unicoi Preserves: best-sellers Salted Caramel Peach or Strawberry Vanilla, their punchy Apple Cider Pepper, or the Vineyard and Vineyard Fire spreads—both fruit-forward, sourced from Georgia-grown Chambourcin wine grapes, with jalapeños in the latter.  

That great care is taken in Clark and Suzy’s kitchen is clear; aided by a test panel of close, lucky friends, they experiment with complimentary flavors to give their products complex and nuanced personality, like the faint traces of nutmeg in the peach, which contains no added caramel and took eight different iterations to perfect. 

Once the recipe’s dialed in, it’s handled by a private, local family-owned co-packer that scales it up to small handmade five-gallon batches that end up scattered throughout the Southeast—everywhere from local joints like Lucille’s to 150 Ingles Markets in six states. Clark guesstimates it’s about 3,000 pounds a year, all in all. 

“We’re not a one-note jelly or a jam,” Suzy said. “It’s really versatile.”

Think apple pie filling, shrimp and grits, or as the base for a barbecue sauce—low in sugar, these spreads won’t dominate your dish but will add character and a combination of flavors you can only find when you find yourself on the winding backroads of wanderliciousness.

Where to buy:

Unicoi Preserves, Cleveland, Georgia. unicoipreserves.com

Cedar Smoked Salted Caramel Peach Glazed Ham

Serves many

Prep time: A few hours

Cook time: A few more hours

You Will Need

• One 7-to-10 pound bone-in ham
• Two jars (8 oz.) Unicoi Preserves Salted Caramel Peach spread

To Prepare

1) Score the ham in a crosscut pattern and smoke low and slow over cedar planks in your customary manner for at least two hours.

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

3) Transfer ham to a large roasting pan and using a small brush, spread the spread generously over ham. 

4) Tent with foil and roast until internal temperature exceeds 150 degrees, or about 20 minutes per pound. 

5) Remove ham to clean surface and let sit for 20 minutes before slicing.