Let me preface this by saying that we have moved a lot in the past ten years. However, all of the moves before this last one were throughout the state of California. This last one landed us in Georgia! I was expecting a culture shock, but I wasn’t expecting much of a change in the produce offerings. But, I was way off! Here is my recap of my attempts to find the type of produce that I was used to in California over the past two years in Georgia (living about 30 minutes southwest of Atlanta).
Luckily, I decided to write this after my second summer here, because there were way better offerings during the second summer! I am not sure if that was due to the trucking shortage in 2022, or what might have been the cause.
Table of Contents
We first arrived at the end of September, headed straight to Costco and I was elated to find some California grown peaches and plums available, just like at my previous Costco in Southern California. The only two differences I noticed at first were that the green kiwis were sourced from New Zealand (instead of California), and the mangoes were sourced from a different company and were almost mini mangoes. It was a very hopeful start.
However, as California stone fruit season wound down, there were not many options! I would normally focus on mangoes and pineapples, but the “mini” mangoes were so small that it did not make sense to cut them, and it was not worth the flavor. So, I had a long first winter of apple and banana fruit bowls!
New Foods I Have Tried in Georgia
“Locally grown” for Georgia does not always mean the produce comes from Georgia, as most of the “local” options are from Florida or South Carolina. As a result, I have tried produce that is grown in the southeastern region of the U.S., those imported from different regions, as well as new cultural treats to this region. The list of new produce/products that I have tried here are below:
- Boiled Peanuts
- Georgia grown peaches
- South Carolina grown peaches (commonly marketed as ‘Southern Grown’ peaches)
- Pineberries
- Muscadine
- Florida grown strawberries
- Green kiwis from New Zealand
- Handpies
- Mandarins from South Africa
- Plums from South Africa
- Wagyu ground beef
My favorites were boiled peanuts (freshly sourced at local events, not from the grocery store), pineberries, and the Wagyu ground beef!
Produce Finds that Just Aren’t the Same in Georgia!
- Berries – In California, we are lucky to have strawberries year-round from the western region of the United States or from Mexico. Here, since they source “locally”, that consists of strawberries from Florida. We were pleasantly surprised by our first opportunity to try pineberries (the white looking strawberries), but other than that, none of the strawberries we bought that were grown in Florida were even comparable to what we were used to. The only way they were eaten was by covering them in sugar and eating them with ice cream! (However, the first Georgia strawberry season we had here, we did have a U-pick farm near our house that had delicious strawberries, even if they had a shelf-life of ~2 days!)
- Mangoes – For the first year we were here in Georgia, we had terrible luck finding mangoes that were good once you cut into them. It was either an issue with the interior quality or they were just too small that by the time you cut around the seed, there wasn’t much else! We went from mangoes every week in California to basically relying on frozen mango for a year or more here.
- Peaches – In Georgia, there are “Georgia Grown” peaches (as you would expect, right?!), then there are “Southern Grown” peaches that have all been in my experience from South Carolina, and then you have “California Grown” peaches. At the traditional grocers, they will highlight Georgia grown, and then they will also have them all stacked together in a “peach” display, which is crazy to me because they are so different from each other! I tried to support a lot of the Georgia grown peaches at first just to try, and because they were significantly cheaper, but they were not worth the money, as they all went into the freezer to be used for smoothies. And hey, I could have missed out on the best Georgia Grown peaches there are, but I tried them from different growers at the grocery stores, from the farmers market and from a U-pick farm, so I feel like I got pretty good exposure to them before forming my final opinion! The “Southern Grown” peaches were hit or miss, but when we went to South Carolina and bought some there, they were pretty tasty.
After experiencing a summer full of random afternoon rain/thunder/lightning storms, I now have a better idea of why there is not more produce grown here, especially on a commercial level!
Foods I Have Had to Learn to Make Myself
It all started when I could not find the Thanksgiving butter flake rolls that I look forward to all year! We travelled to Florida our first year here for Thanksgiving and scoped out the grocery stores in Florida, Alabama (you cross through Alabama to get to the beaches we went to), and our local ones here in Georgia, and I could not find them anywhere and no one knew what I was talking about, so I decided I was going to find a recipe online and figure out how to make them on my own! After some initial success with those, I just kept going and now I have turned into a bread maker!
- All types of bread – Basically any type you can think of! My normal sandwich rolls (just basic French rolls), all the way to the rolls I am used to for Thanksgiving either don’t exist here or the quality cannot compare.
- Tortillas – The generic small ones for tacos exist at the grocery stores, but the big ones for burritos are only available at a wholesale market that is 30 minutes away, so I learned how to make my own tortillas too!
- New desserts – After making everything from scratch for the other bread-related items, it is hard to not make everything from scratch! Everything from cinnamon rolls to pies to homemade granola and energy bars!
This has been a real blessing for my family and me to take things back to the basics, and to really get to enjoy better tasting food with ingredients that we don’t have to question.
U-Pick Farms
I have never had the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy a U-pick farm before, mainly because most farms are larger farms in California, or they do not allow the public on-site. However, in Georgia, it is totally different!
The majority of produce farms in Georgia (excluding the large blueberry and nut operations in the southern portion of the state) are small, family-owned operations that run as U-pick farms. The smaller ones are just U-pick or you can buy already harvested fruit, while the bigger ones often also have amusements for children and really make an adventure out of a farm visit!
The U-pick farms we visited in Georgia were for strawberries, peaches and apples.
- Strawberries – We visited Adams Farm, which was a small farm within 10 minutes of our house, and they had strawberries that tasted how strawberries are actually supposed to taste! (Unfortunately, Adams Farm went out of business by the time strawberry season rolled around again!) We also tried Southern Belle Farms, who advertise themselves as having the sweetest strawberries in the state, and those were hard for us to finish.
- Peaches – We tried Gregg Farms, and you had to pick the largest container of peaches ever. It was really fun for the kids because we were able to find a tree with low-hanging fruit for them to pick, so they were able to fill that whole container on their own! Again, the peaches were just okay, but it really made for a fun experience! (Unfortunately, during our second year here, over 90% of the Georgia peach crop was lost, so we did not have a chance to go back and visit this farm during our second summer here.)
- Apples – There is a whole selection of U-pick apple farms in North Georgia (just about an hour north of Atlanta) that are full of apple picking, while the main attractions are all of the kids activities. And, in the case of the farm we visited, the wet pig races! We went to Hillcrest Orchards, watched some wet pig races (one for the books, really!), the kids played on what felt like 100 different attractions, and picked some apples. There were no markers on the trees, so I kind of just went and randomly picked the ones I thought would be good, and really enjoyed trying all of the random ones when we got back home!
Grocery Store Options
The two main grocery chains around the busier parts of Georgia are Kroger and Publix. And quite often, you will find one across the street from the other!
Based on our experiences very early on, we became massive Publix fans. They have a well-maintained produce section, a great assortment of fresh-cut produce that is cut fresh right in front of you, a full deli, and every worker we have encountered has always been really nice and helpful. I cannot even tell you how many times people told us to “have a blessed day!” while leaving there. There is no need to, but really, what a nice thing to say!
Just to give you an idea, this is how exciting Publix gets around the holidays. This is exciting on its own, but with two small children, this is like the greatest thing of all time!
Of course, there was also a Costco that we frequented, but not as often, because it was 30 minutes away, instead of the competing Kroger and Publix 3 minutes away! But Costco is a necessity for us when it comes to buying produce and meat (best quality/price), as well as frozen produce and bulk butter and eggs.
Another really cool place that we discovered was the Atlanta Farmers Market. This is not a traditional farmers market that is small, with a few local growers. This is a huge wholesale market, where regular people come to shop outdoors, as well as where buyers come to shop in bulk. The downfall is that everything is outdoors, so it is subjected to the elements, which can be everything from pigeons and cats trying to access the produce, to all of the fruit rapidly losing shelf-life by being out in the Georgia summer humidity. The things we purchased most often there were tortillas (the only place anywhere in Georgia that I could find 12″ tortillas for burritos) and 40-pound boxes of oranges (that they would bring me from refrigerated coolers in the back). Those oranges saved us when we were not able to find much good produce, and we would juice the oranges instead for some delicious fresh orange juice!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do Georgia grown peaches compare to California grown peaches?
They don’t! In general, California grown peaches are larger in size and a lot tastier in flavor. I would choose a California grown peach any day!
How do the Florida oranges taste?
If you try to buy a Florida grown orange in a Georgia grocery store, it will be greenish in color and not very tasty (except for some specific mandarin/tangerine mixes you find that will be orange in color and have a lot more of an exciting flavor profile). But, let’s just be clear that most oranges you buy at the grocery store are not that great in flavor and do not even come close to comparing to oranges you pick off a tree yourself.
I even tried going to a fruit stand on the way to Florida hoping to find some good, fresh Florida grown oranges, and was shocked to find they were selling California grown oranges there instead!
Where does Georgia source its produce from?
Most of the “local” produce to Georgia that you find at the grocery store is from Georgia (e.g., corn, tomatoes, peaches), Florida (e.g., berries), North Carolina (e.g., peaches and some strawberries), California (e.g., peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums/plum mixes, cherries, grapes, strawberries), and imported from other countries (e.g., mangoes, pineapples).
Is the Atlanta Farmers Market worth trying?
Yes, the Atlanta Farmers Market is definitely worth visiting! It is hard to find a market like that that is available to the public, is open 7 days a week, and contains such a large variety of products and suppliers.
I don’t like that it is open to the elements, but it is great if you are looking to buy in bulk (and can get product from the cooler), or are looking for items that are not easily found elsewhere.
What is the best grocery store in the Southeast?
Publix. They have it down with the hospitality (everyone is extremely polite, and they even give kids free cookies!), the fresh-cut fruit, and keeping their deli up and running.
What is a Georgian specialty food?
There aren’t many. I have asked multiple people and the only two things people can come with are boiled peanuts and banana pudding.
I have not tried the banana pudding yet, but the boiled peanuts can be pretty good!
Conclusion
After a meek looking first year, things are only looking up! I remember mentioning the peach situation to someone and saying how I wish it would be easier to get a California grown peach that tastes good, and they asked me why I couldn’t just buy canned peaches instead. As shocked as I was to hear that, I think it really helped to put things into perspective for me on how others view food availability based on what they are used to.
I think this was a good experience to help put into perspective how different the food supply can be, even throughout the United States. Although the food was not as expected, great things and experiences have come from it!
I agree, Publix is a good grocer considering it’s large size and service areas. Glad to see you making the best of the area!
Peanuts are a Georgia crop and I see you found the famous Goober peas! They are best warm, but I’ll eat them anyway served (seasoned or not, war or cold), super heathy treat and easy to pack. Be warned they can be kind of messy.
Cheers! 🙂