Eat in All 50 States Without Leaving the Valley of the Sun: Georgia

Georgia is a southeastern U.S. state whose diverse terrain spans coastal marshland and beaches to wide stretches of farmland. Atlanta, its sprawling capital, is the birthplace of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida, on the east by Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, on the west by Alabama, and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina.

The majority of the state is primarily a humid subtropical climate. Hot and humid summers are typical, except at the highest elevations. Agriculture has played a dominant role in the English colonist, led by General James E. Oglethorpe, in Savanna. One of the major goals of the colonist was to produce agriculture commodities for export to England. To achieve this objective, Oglethorpe sought the advice and counsel of Tomochichi, leader of the Yamacraw tribe. The Indians were skilled in hunting and fishing, and especially in the cultivation of corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and fruits of several kinds. The colonist learned agricultural practices from the Native Americans, and this collaboration was profitable from the very beginning. They produced enough corn the first year to export some 1,000 bushels to England. They also began establishing enterprises that would produce silk and wine, which were especially in demand in England. In 1735 Queen Caroline of England wore a dress made of imported Georgia silk to celebrate her fifty second birthday. By 1742 Georgia silk had became an important export commodity, and by 1767 almost a ton of silk was exported to England each year.

Widespread farms produce peanuts, corn, and soybeans across middle and south Georgia, The state is the number one producer of pecans in the world, the region around Albany in Southwest Georgia being the center of Georgia's pecan production. Georgia is also in the top five blueberry producers in the United States and a leading producers of Peach.

Georgia peach industry has a long tradition. The first peaches were planted in the state in the eighteenth century, and the first commercial production occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. In 2014 Georgia ranked third nationally in peach production, behind California and South Carolina. That year, Georgia produced 35,500 tons of peaches. In 1851, Georgia was being the first to ship and sell the peaches successfully outside of the South. The method of shipping peaches were in champagne baskets, rather than in pulverized charcoal, helped to preserve the flavor of the fruit and contributed to more success and profit. Peach export expanded considerably in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, resulting in an all time high production of almost 8 million bushels by 1928. Since then production has decreased to about 2.6 million bushels annually. Nearly all peaches grown in Georgia are sold in the wholesale fresh market, with a small percentage sold at roadside markets.

Georgia's cuisine includes a variety of different foods ranging from seafood, corn on the cob and chicken and dumplings to Brunswick stew, friend chicken and cornbread. Other well known and loved foods in the state include pecans, peaches and peanuts. The state prepared food is Grits, properly known as hominy grits, is a food made from corn that been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization, which is ground into a meal and then boiled. Nixtamalization typically refers to a process for the preparation of grains, in which the grain is soaked and cooked in the alkaline solution, usually limewater, and hulled. Grits are usually served with other flavorings as a breakfast dish, usually savory. It is popular in the Southern United States, where it maybe found as an evening entrée when made with shrimp. Grits should not be confused with boiled ground corn mazie which makes "hasty pudding" or "mush". While a Shrimp Grits can be found in the menu of the Blue Hound Kitchen and Cocktails in Phoenix, AZ, the way of preparation, the taste and the authenticity of this item maybe under question for the natives or those who lived in the state of Georgia. Therefore, the alternative signature item was chosen for this journey and that would be Cobblers.

Cobblers are an American deep dish fruit dessert or pie with a thick crust (usually a biscuit crust) and a fruit filling such as peaches, apples and berries. Some versions are enclosed in the crust, while others have a drop biscuit or crumb topping. The world largest Peach Cobbler can be seen and tasted at the annual Georgia Peach Festival. This huge dish is 11 by 5 feet (about 3 by 2 meters) and eight inches (about 20 centimeters) deep. The recipe requires 75 gallons (285 liters) of local peaches, 90 pounds of real butter, 32 gallons (about 122 liters) of whole milk, 150 pounds of wheat flour, and 150 pounds of sugar. The giant cobbler is prepared in brick oven constructed specially for the cobbler. For a baking pan, the chef utilize clean school bus floor panels. This process takes 5 hours to complete and starts with dividing the ingredients into five work stations that are manned by eight people. All of the ingredients are mixed in large, clean trash cans and stirred with boat paddles. Festival attendees bring their own containers and can take home as much peach cobbler as they can handle. If one is truly craves a taste of Georgia's Peach Cobbler, Bootleggers in Scottsdale, AZ punches up their peach cobbler with smattering berries, making it one of the best cobblers in the state of Arizona.