Historic Florida Churches

   The Florida Cracker Cookbook includes heirloom recipes and newly created ones. Following the path laid out by gastronomic pioneers we can see a pattern emerging that parallels our history. From a simple one-story cabin in the piney woods of the Panhandle, to a high-rise condo along the glistening waterways, Cracker cooking in Florida has evolved with our tastes and times. When supplies were limited and the workday arduous, black coffee with leftover cornbread might serve as breakfast. Today, the breakfast table is laden with everything from country ham and grits to biscuits with sausage gravy and so much more. This culinary quest guided by sixth-generation Cracker Joy Sheffield Harris will whet your appetite with recipes, stories, and menus that reflect the changing culture of Cracker cooking in Florida. NOTE: Granny Owen's Chocolate Pie recipe is inaccurate.  Take Aunt Eleanor's advise and use evaporated milk. 

 

   A Culinary History of Florida gives insight into how Florida become the culinary melting pot of the country.  It  goes beyond the Seminole Indians and European exploration, back to an ancient prehistoric culture when man first walked among mastodons and mammoths (long before walking on the moon and space ice cream was created).  Find out how our culinary history parallels our academic history.

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    Florida Sweets is more than Key lime pie, Kumquat Cake, and Citrus Candy. It’s not a cookbook but more of a travel guide to sweet places in Florida. Joy’s brother Pat shares some of his wit and wisdom about eating Florida Sweets, as a PS from Pat, at the end of each chapter and he wrote most of the dedication about their father.  From the Redneck Rivera to the Conch Republic, Florida Sweets shares a few recipes but mainly focuses on the history of many of Florida’s sweetest places.

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