Garden & Gun (G&G) magazine today announced the winners of its thirteenth annual Made in the South Awards (MITSA), celebrating Southern-made products in six categories: Home, Food, Drink, Crafts, Style, and Outdoors. Among the award recipients were three local businesses – Life Raft Treats, Butcher & Bee, and Tekton Game Calls.
“Yet again the winners of the Made in the South Awards proved that talent, creativity, and passion are alive and well in the region,” said David DiBenedetto, G&G's senior vice president and editor in chief.
The iconic “Not Fried Chicken” Ice Cream Bucket from Life Raft Treats and the Smoked Onion Jam from Butcher & Bee were both runner-ups in the Food category. The “Not Fried Chicken” was created by Cynthia Wong, a local pastry chef that has been nominated six times for James Beard Awards. The tasty treat includes waffle-flavored ice cream wrapped around a chocolate cookie “bone,” all coated in crunchy caramelized white chocolate and a cornflake coating. The drumsticks are available individually at select stores across the South (including Whole Foods), or by the bucket nationally from Goldbelly.
Butcher & Bee’s smoked onion jam has been on the menu for more than a decade. According to G&G, it was originally created as a condiment for the restaurant’s roast beef sandwich, but customers now use it on multiple items. Plus, you can now purchase the jam by the jar. It’s made from onions taken from a smoker and then cooked down with sugar and water.
“You can put it on a burger, on fancier food, make it part of breakfast or part of dinner,” proprietor Michael Shemtov told G&G.
James Island’s Tekton Game Calls was a runner-up in the Outdoors category for their Custom Duck Calls. The product was created by lifelong musician, Joey D'Amico. He creates his custom calls from exotic woods—bocote and African blackwood and stabilized maple burl. He also has a line of production acrylic calls for hunters watching their budgets.
To learn more about the winners and finalists—and how to purchase their products—pick up a copy of the December 2022/January 2023 issue of Garden & Gun on newsstands Tuesday, November 22nd, or visit www.gardenandgun.com/
