Interview: Meet Foy Edelman…and other cooks from across North Carolina

Whether you have a sweet tooth or a mouth full of sweet teeth, Foy Edelman has a recipe to satisfy that guilty pleasure. With more than 220 recipes in Sweet Carolina, the native North Carolinian offers a wide variety of goodies from kitchens all across the state. You can meet the contributing cooks and listen to them talk about their recipes at Edelman’s website, talkingcookbook.com.

An excerpt from our own interview with Edelman:

Q: What kinds of desserts and candies can we find in Sweet Carolina?

A: You’ll find authentic, tried and true favorites. Almost fifty cakes are included. To top off your cakes, there are recipes for icings, fillings, or sweet sauces. Pies are just so easy to make and as popular as cakes among the North Carolinians I met. If you want portable desserts, you can try recipes for cookies, bars, and squares. If you’re in the mood for puddings and custards, you’ll find a variety of recipes. Cold desserts include America’s favorite, vanilla ice cream, as well as flavored ice creams, sherbet, and a frozen strawberry pie. The candy recipes are all delicious and range from no cook mints to fairy kisses.

Q: Do you have a favorite recipe? Why is it your favorite one?

A: All the recipes are my favorites, but I have to admit that I associate most of them with particular seasons and enjoy them more during those times. The minute I see the canopies go up in early spring on Wake County corners, my taste buds wake up and get ready to enjoy fresh strawberries. Marie Bachelor’s strawberry pizza is a tasty way to kick off the fresh fruit season.

When the magnolias pop open with huge, fragrant blooms, I bake blueberry biscuits, cake, and pie. When the crape myrtle blossoms look like huge chunks of watermelon, I reach for Barbara Michos’s open face peach pie recipe or make sour cream peach pie. During the dog days of high summer, what’s better than homemade ice cream or sherbet? And you can’t go wrong with a lemon pie.

In the fall, any of the apple desserts are just right. It’s also a perfect season for pear pie. When the weather begins to cool off and I can get local sweet potatoes and pick up persimmons, I enjoy sweet potato and persimmon puddin’. And as the holidays approach, magic pumpkin pie, fruitcake, and apple stack cake are just right on my table.

When the hardwoods have lost their leaves and nature begins to showcase evergreens and hollies, I prefer brownie cupcakes, egg custard, nutty fingers, and shortcake cookies. During the winter, I enjoy making fudge, jet age brownies, and heavy, rich desserts, pound cakes, cheesecake, and layer cakes.

You just can’t go wrong with chess pies, bread pudding, and cookies all year long.

Click here to read the full interview.

There is also an audio interview, which you can listen to here.

Don’t forget to check back for more interviews from our authors!