ANDY’S MARKET An American Tradition

by Tracy McCoy

Years ago, as a Foxfire student I had the pleasure of interviewing Ed and Martha Roane about their store in Tiger, Georgia. Their offerings were vast for their day but would be considered basic to us. Flour in big cloth sacks & bags of sugar were traded for produce, butter, eggs, and meats brought in by locals for whatever their family needed. He spoke of how the day he closed he was owed hundreds of dollars by families who couldn’t pay their “tab”, but he said he never gave that another thought. Times were hard back then and he knew that many wouldn’t have had anything much to eat if they couldn’t pay later, even if later never came. The Roanes ran their store from the 1927–1984 and the Tiger community was fortunate to have them. There were many other grocery stores over the years and across our county, Bass Brown, Furman Vinson, Bill Passmore, and Butch Darnell all ran grocery stores in Dillard. Clyde Law and Paul Buchanan Sr. both had grocery stores in Mountain City. Coyle Hollifield, Claude James, J.H. Dickerson, Raleigh Garland, and Fred Elliott are a few who ran food stores in Clayton. Every town and even some communities had locations convenient for their residents.

Talmadge and Margie York owned York’s Grocery in a small woden frame building on Rickman Street and they hired a 13 year old boy to bag groceries, his name was Andy Hunter. Three years later the Yorks grocery went to Rick Mason. He built a new building on the lot and changed the name to Mason’s. Andy Hunter stayed on and has been walking through the doors at that location for 53 years! Andy bought the store from Rick Mason in 1984 and has run the store with his wife Deborah since then. The couple has employed dozens of students and local residents over the years and has been blessed with dependable, honest, hardworking folks. Most people know Andy’s Market has the best meats in town, fresh local veggies and local honey. With fresh local produce, well stocked shelves, their signature line of products produced right here in Rabun County and meats that are cut fresh daily, why shop anywhere else? Andy and Deborah have poured their hearts and souls into the store for nearly four decades! The only small family owned grocery store left in Rabun County, Andy’s Market is a treasure in our community.

Clayton Tribune readers have voted Andy’s Market the “Best Meat Market” and “Best Grocery Store” for 12 years running! Andy estimates that 95% of the products on his shelves are American made and when it’s possible the foods he sells are local or regional. You’ll find fresh vegetables and fruit from Shirley’s Farm, August Produce, Osage and Chatooga Belle Farm, in fact peaches will be available by the time you’ve got this book in your hands. The market’s fresh chicken comes from J&G Poultry out of Hall County, they offer beef from Providence Farmstead in Otto, North Carolina, their eggs come from Pendergrass Farms, honey

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Crock Pot Ribs

3-5lb rack of ribs cut in half or thirds Andy’s Market dry rub

Andy’s Market Sweet BBQ sauce

Rub the ribs with the dry rub and put them in the Crock-Pot on low for approximately 8 hrs. (Deborah has a timer on the outlet that cuts them off after 8 hours). After they are done, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove the ribs and set them on a baking sheet. Pour the sauce on the top. Cook for 10 minutes until the tops get crispy. Brush with additional sauce if needed. Enjoy!

Note: Deborah does her Boston Butt roast the same way, removing the fat by hand before adding the sauce and skipping the oven step at the end.

Biscuits (with Berries or for Breakfast)

2 cups Southern Biscuit mix Formula L

2 cups buttermilk

“This biscuit mix has everything you need in it but the buttermilk and it makes some of the best biscuits you’ll find” Andy said. If you need more than a dozen biscuits just double the recipe! You can top these biscuits with fresh peaches or blueberries (from Chatooga Belle Farm). They are also great for sopping the yolk of a couple fried eggs or topped with a heaping spoonful of (Blalocks or Snow Creek) sausage gravy or topped with local honey.

Note: Deborah uses a cup of Formula L, cup of whole milk and cup of sugar mixed well to top peaches, apples, or berries for a great cobbler!

Summer Berry Triffle

One pound cake or sponge cake (homemade or store bought)

I cup sliced fresh Strawberries

I cup blueberries

¼ cup sugar

2 cups vanilla pudding (homemade or store bought)

Whipped Cream (homemade or store bought Cool Whip®)

Cube the cake and set aside, if you are making homemade pudding and/or whipped cream do so now and set aside. Wash your berries and slice strawberries and mix with blueberries and sugar tossing well. In a glass bowl layer cake, berries and pudding over and over until all are used and top with whipped cream. This makes a very pretty and festive dish, perfect for summer celebrations!

comes from Blue Ridge Honey and Trillium Creek Farm and their signature line is produced for them by Hillside Orchard Farm.

“The thing I guess I am proudest of,” said Andy, “is that I’ve seen generations of families come through our door. Take for instance the Bleckleys, Doug and Ginger have been customers for years, their sons Scott, Bryan and Travis have all became customers. Today, the Bleckley boys have grown children shopping with us. That means the world and we could name many local families that have done the same. One that comes to mind is Mrs. Rubye Reeves, there are five generations of that family that have supported us. We must be doing something right.” The store runs with only six employees including Andy and Deborah. Their doors open at 7 am and close at 6:30 pm, if everybody is done shopping. They close on Wednesday, shut down at 6 on Saturday and have never been open on Sunday. Groceries are always bagged for you and unless you say otherwise they are carried to your car. The store is so clean and aisles are wide. I asked Deborah how they kept those floors so clean and shiny and she told me that Eagle Cleaning has cleaned and buffed their floors each week since the company first opened.

Knowing that Deborah and Andy work long hours I asked her to share with us a few of her recipes. She admitted she uses her Crock-Pot often, which is not only necessary but pretty smart! The Hunters have a philosophy that is two-fold, first they will never sell you anything that they wouldn’t serve their family and Andy says “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.” So, the ingredients you need to make the recipes they are sharing can be purchased in their store. So check these out and make your grocery list and head on down to the store. One more thing, if you grab a drink out of the machines on the porch when you leave, they’ll be the coldest you’ll find in Rabun County!

It is so important to support small family owned businesses every chance you get. We are blessed to have businesses like this one in our county. Another one that comes to mind is Tiger Drive-In, but that’s another story for another issue.