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How it all began....................

My father-in-law developed this seasoning over 60 years ago to give to his employees for use during the holiday season. He loved cooking and experimenting and since he was in food seasonings he had access to it all. When I started dating my husband he brought my mom a package of it and she had no idea what to do with it. There was no recipe so she made up one. There was enough seasoning in that package to make about 50 pans of dressing. My whole family loved it and mom made it all the time. When we married I started making it myself ad since there was so much in the pack I would put some in zip loc bags and pass along to my friends and people I worked with. Each year they asked for more seasoning and also some for their friends so I started having them run me about 10 pounds and I would pack it from my kitchen table.

After I had my 3 wonderful boys and got them in school I was started doing some craft shows with friends. Remember the “dip and drape” earrings? I made them too. I made Cornbread Dressing samples to share with people and fixed my little zip lock bags with a header on them to sell. Eventually I did some bigger shows with friends that had other products and we would sell them all. I decided to set up a website and see what happened when I asked people to share it and started a mail order business. It grew more.

Last September, my good friend Raven, www.Ravensoriginal.com was at the Gourmet Food Show Market in Atlanta and decided to enter a pan we had made for samples in a contest for Best New Product. She brought home a 1st Place Ribbon for the Best new Spice category. It really jumped my sales in a market I was not even looking at so I am just enjoying this ride and waiting to see where it leads. I still do a few local shows and have people who have been purchasing this for 20 years. I have become “phone friends” with others and look forward to their calls each year and finding out what is going on in their lives. They order from 2 to 40 packs to use and give to friends who have eaten it at their homes.

If you like it, please don’t keep it a “secret recipe”. I want you to pass it on…..

TRUE STORY….

June 28, 2008, I arrived in New Orleans with my family for a little R&R while they were doing some business stuff. 3 hours after we arrived I tripped on a crack in a sidewalk and messed up many things very well. My fist ambulance trip… Needless to say, it was an eventful trip and successful for them but not a fun one for me. When I got home I knew it was time for Raven to go to Atlanta Market the next week and she needed me to make some samples for her to take. I had a broken arm and messed up shoulder and couldn’t lift walk or do much of anything. My husband volunteered to try to make the Cornbread Dressing for me. Now, one must understand, he knows how to boil eggs for egg salad sandwiches and open a can of soup and that is just about it.

He actually made many recipes of it from cooking the cornbread ( a 5# bag of cornmeal) to baking and preparing it for samples while I sat at the kitchen table and directed him. I was totally flabbergasted and really knew at that time that it is possible for anyone to make this product from this recipe and make it delicious. He was very proud of himself. I am too!!!!

Suzy Purvis
THE SPICE CONNECTION, Chapter 3 Enterprises, Inc.