A fresh crop of artisans is giving the southern pantry a whole new shelf life. Here find our favorites, from puckery pickles to sweet-potato hot sauce
Jalapeno Raspberry Jam from Emily G's in Georgia is an upgrade of traditional pepper jelly, but it still goes great with cream cheese and crackers. $8; emilygs.com
Use Carolina Plantation heirloom cowpeas for an authentic Hoppin' John or a nutty bean salad. $5; carolinaplantationrice.com
Local runner peanuts, wildflower honey, organic coconut oil, and sea salt make for a pitch-perfect peanut butter care of Big Spoon Roasters in Durham, NC. $7-$12; bigspoonroasters.com
Bartenders in Nashville give their cocktails a sweet kick with The Bang Candy Company's Habanero Lime Syrup. Try it with bourbon or tequila. $10; bangcandycompany.com
Delicious, addictive, and altruistic to boot: Sugared pecans from Pecans! are handmade by at-risk youth in Greensboro, AL, with proceeds going toward scholarships. $5; pecansproject.com
Thanks to time spent in bourbon barrels, Houston's Revival Market sorghum syrup is a complex substitute for molasses or honey. $12; 713-880-8463
The "free-range" bees that make Tennessee's TruBee Honey get nectar wherever they please. The result is a nuanced product that changes with every season. $10; trubeehoney.com
Nashville's Olive & Sinclair makes must-have chocolate, from cinnamon-chili and buttermilk-white to single-origin baking bars. $6-$20; oliveandsinclair.com
The not-so-secret ingredient in North Carolina-based Cackalacky hot sauce? Sweet potatoes. $13 for three bottles; cackalacky.com
These stone-ground grits from South Carolina taste like grits should, which is why Geechie Boy Mill is a favorite of Charleston's top chefs. $5; geechieboymill.com
Phickles small-batch pickles from Athens, GA, are so wonderfully sharp they'll make your whole face pucker. $40-$55 for four jars; phickles.com
Photographs by Sivian Lewin