Hardtack Recipe – What is It?

Chloe Tuttle — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 21:00:31 +0000

History: Hardtack is best known in the United States as a staple ration carried by soldiers during the American Civil War. Hardtack has been used for thousands of years, serving as a durable food source for ancient Egyptian sailors, Roman soldiers, and naval crews around the world.

Hardtack was often described as tasting like cardboard. In earlier times, it was considered an essential survival food, especially during the American Civil War. Surprisingly, you can still buy hardtack today, including on Amazon, where some varieties are marketed with a shelf life of up to 30 years.

Every year on the first weekend in November there is a re-enactment at Ft. Branch, a dirt mound Civil War fort near Hamilton, NC. Some of the re-enactors who didn’t want to brave the elements, stayed with me.

I must admit that it doesn’t look very appetizing, but, I guess if you were hungry, it was good to have. I have a piece of Hardtack that one of my guests gave me 15 years ago. He also gave me the recipe.

Hardtack Bread

Course Bread

Cuisine southern

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 45

Servings pieces

Calories 86kcal

Author Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2-3/4 cups water
6 pinches salt
1 Tablespoon lard

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together to make a batter that does not stick to your hands, as dry as possible.
Roll out or press onto an non-greased cookie sheet to a thickness of ½ inch thick. Bake for 30-45 minutes.
Remove from oven and cut into 3-inch squares. Punch 4 holes into each cracker. Do not pierce all the way through. Flip and bake for another half hour or until crackers are dry. Turn oven off and leave hardtack in the oven until they are cool.

Note: Cooking times may vary. Hard tack can keep for up to a year.

Nutrition

Unlike Union soldiers, Confederates did not always have access to hardtack because it was made from wheat flour, a crop that was not widely grown across most Confederate states outside of Virginia and Georgia. Instead, Southern troops relied on staple crops such as corn and rice for their bread.

One common substitute was a simple cornmeal bread known as a “corn dodger” or “Johnny cake.” Made from cornmeal, salt, and water, these dense cakes were baked until they became dry and hard, much like traditional hardtack, making them suitable for storage and travel during the war.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast Extended Stay

Quiet rentals for traveling nurses & professionals in eastern North Carolina 252-792-8787

Looking for extended stay lodging in Eastern North Carolina? Big Mill Extended Stay offers quiet, fully furnished rentals ideal for traveling nurses, medical professionals, contractors, and guests relocating to the area. Our accommodations provide comfort, privacy, and Southern hospitality – perfect for short-term or long-term stays. We also have three RV rental spaces.

Picking Peanuts in Eastern North Carolina

Chloe Tuttle — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 18:00:28 +0000

Picking peanuts always takes me back to my childhood in eastern North Carolina. My nephew Barney and I spent countless afternoons playing hide-and-seek among the peanut fields. Back then, farmers dug the peanuts and stacked them on poles to dry before harvesting. The fields carried a rich, earthy scent that seemed to linger everywhere, a smell I still associate with those carefree days on the farm.

Harry Roberson leaning on his Peanut Stacks in Gold Point, NC, circa 1940 (Thanks to Hank Roberson for the use of his grandfather’s photo)

We loved to hide behind these stacks and to climb them, much to the dismay of my parents. All the children in the neighborhood joined us and we stayed out until way after dark. Sadly, the peanut stacks are gone.

Today, farmers harvest “pick” peanuts a little differently. After the peanuts are dug, they are left in the fields to dry naturally in the sun. Once they have dried, a peanut picker moves through the rows, lifting the plants and separating the peanuts from the vines. As the machine works, the harvested peanuts are collected while the dried vines are discharged out the back. Later, another piece of equipment comes through to gather and bale the leftover vines into peanut hay, creating a valuable source of livestock feed.

Peanuts Drying in the Fields in eastern North Carolina out the Kitchen Window at Big Mill B&B circa 1959

Folks often ask me what is upstairs in the Pack House loft. Well, it used to be full of peanut hay that was used all year to feed the mules. I remember the sight and smell of it as if it were yesterday. And, truthfully, sometimes you can still smell the peanut hay; just like you can still smell curing tobacco on hot August nights.

There are newer, fancier machines than this one, but these older versions are my favorites. These peanuts belong to Bill Griffin, my next door neighbor. This was taken in 2015.

If you know a peanut farmer, or if you live in the South, you probably know all about Boiled Peanuts. These are the young, not quite mature peanuts that we call Green Peanuts. Be sure to try my Boiled Peanuts Recipe for these salty treats that can be found at roadside stands all over the Southern USA.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast Extended Stay

Quiet rentals for traveling nurses & professionals in eastern North Carolina 252-792-8787

Sweet Pickle Relish – Southern Cooks Can’t Cook Without It

Chloe Tuttle — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:00:57 +0000

All Good Southern Cooks Have a Sweet Pickle Relish Recipe

Southerners Love Our Sweet Pickle Relish

We don’t buy the relish, we make it ourselves from old family recipes. Each family has its own recipe; some add peppers and onions. I like the simple one. Often we just chop up last year’s sweet cucumber pickles.

Southern Deviled Eggs with Sweet Pickle Relish

Sweet Pickle Relish is a main ingredient in southern chicken salad, potato salad, ham salad, and deviled eggs. One of our chefs here in this small eastern North Carolina town makes his own sweet pickles to use in recipes – it is a main ingredient in his famous chicken salad.

A Southern Sweet Pickle Relish Recipe: Easy Homemade Canning Favorite

Course Appetizer, Condiments

Cuisine southern

Keyword relish, sweet cucumber pickles, Sweet pickles

Servings servings

Calories 769kcal

Author Chloe Tuttle

Cost $30.00

Equipment

1 Hot water-bath canning pot
1 jar tongs
1 wide mouth funnel
1 chopper
9 half-pint canning jars
9 jar lids and rings

Ingredients

7 lbs cucumbers
2 cups pickling lime
1/2 gallon distilled white vinegar 5% acidity strength
5 pounds sugar
3 Tablespoons pickling spice
double piece cheesecloth
1 piece cotton string

Instructions

Wash the whole cucumbers and remove any dirt. Cut off and discard the ends. Then slice the cukes into rounds 1/2" thick.
Mix the lime and several cups of water in a large ceramic, stainless steel, or enamel container. Stir until well-blended. I wear a mask - the lime has a way of getting in the air.
Add more water to the lime mixture and stir. Add the cut cucumbers. Add enough water to cover the cucumbers. Using a wooden, plastic, or stainless steel spoon, stir to mix the lime into the water and cover the cucumbers. I wear gloves, you really don't want the lime on your hands. Be careful -- the cucumbers will break easily. Soak 24 hours or overnight. Stir several times to blend the lime. Use your hands or the spoons to stir the lime mixture. You can also soak for 2 days if something comes up.
After soaking overnight, drain cucumbers and rinse in clear water. Let sit in the clear water and rinse every hour on the hour for a total of 4 times. In other words, you will drain and put fresh water in the bowl 4 times. Do a final drain.
Pour 1/2 gallon of the 5% white distilled vinegar into a large stainless steel or enamel cooking pot (I use a big soup pot).
Start heating the vinegar and stir in 5 pounds of sugar. Using a piece of double cheesecloth about 6" square, tie up 3 Tablespoons of pickling spice and put that in the sugar-vinegar mixture. Cook and stir until the sugar is melted.
Add the drained cucumbers and bring to a boil and then turn burner off. Let stand overnight.
The next day bring the pickles to a boil and boil for 1 hour.
Take the sliced cucumber pickles out of the pot and drain in a colander, reserving the pickle juice. Remove and discard the spice bag. Move the pickles to a large plastic bowl. Working in batches, chop pickle slices into relish-sized pieces. Return the relish to the pot with the hot vinegar mixture, keeping the mixture warm.
Put relish in the jars and fill with the pickle juice, filling jar to 1/2" from the top. See below for instructions.
To process in hot water bath, see below.

To Process and Can the Relish

You will need a canning pot, large stainless steel or enamel cooking pot, wide mouth funnel, canning tongs, chopper, a big stainless spoon and several large colanders. You will also need 8 or 9 half-pint jars and canning jar lids and rings.
While pickles are cooking, fill the canning pot at least half full of water. Turn stove on high to bring to a boil.
Sterilize at least 8 half-pint jars.
Place the new lids in a metal bowl. Pour boiling water into the bowl to sterilize the lids.
Using the wide-mouth funnel, ladle the relish into the sterilized jars. Add the pickle juice to each jar, filling to 1/2" of top of jar. I use a wooden spoon handle to pack better
Wipe top of jar and place sterilized lid on jar. Add jar ring and tighten. Place seven filled jars in canning pot.
Process in boiling water bath for five minutes.
After five minutes, remove jars from the canning pot using the tongs. Place the jars on a heat proof surface and allow to cool. Do not move the jars until they are cool. People seem to want to pick them up.....just say NO.
Repeat for remaining jars of relish.

Nutrition

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast Extended Stay

Quiet rentals for traveling nurses & professionals in eastern North Carolina 252-792-8787

Boiled Green Peanuts – Southern Style

Chloe Tuttle — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 13:30:39 +0000

As that famous Georgia bumper sticker says, “It is time to Brake for Boiled Peanuts.”

Just-dug peanuts – green peanuts – are one of the first signs that summer is quietly giving way to fall on the farm. And every year in early fall, we boil these green peanuts in the shell with lots of salt. They soak overnight, and the salt seeps through the shells to the peanuts. You crack the shell with your teeth and the peanuts are soft inside. They are a treat, but not for the timid. Boiled peanuts have a very unique taste.

Boiled Peanuts – a Southern Delight

In late August or September, you can find these green peanuts at farm stands and in some grocery stores like Piggly Wiggly.

Boiled Green Peanut Recipe – Southern Style

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword boiled green peanut recipe, boiled peanut recipe, boiled peanuts

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 10

Servings servings

Calories 431kcal

Author Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

2-3 pounds raw green peanuts in the shell (this is about 12 cups peanuts with shells) The peanuts are not green, just raw
1/2-1 cup salt
3-4 quarts water or enough to cover the peanuts - add more water as they cook

Instructions

"Green" peanuts are not green; they are just young, raw peanuts. These peanuts are usually dug by hand several weeks before the farmer moves through the field with the machines that dig the peanuts. Here in eastern North Carolina, these green peanuts are ready late August or early September.
Wash the peanuts, still in the shells, several times until the water has no grit in it. Pick over and remove any bad peanuts and discard.
Put the peanuts still in shells into a large cooking pot. Cover with water at least 2 inches above the peanuts. Add the salt and stir.
Bring to a boil. Lower heat and boil slowly for 1-3 hours, depending on how mature or old the peanuts are. If the nuts are really young and pink, it will only take about 1 hour of cooking. If they are older, it can take up to 3 hours. You might also have to add water to keep the water level above the peanuts. Keep cooking until the peanuts are soft inside. Cooking time varies according to how old the peanuts are.
After they are done, they will continue absorbing the salt. If the salt taste is like you want it, then remove the peanuts from the salty water. They will keep in the refrigerator for several days.
Refrigerate or freeze after cooking.
It is much easier if you eat the peanuts outside. You can just spit out the shells.

Nutrition

Raw, Uncooked “Green” Peanuts at Piggly Wiggly in Williamston, NC

I grew up eating boiled peanuts, especially at the Tobacco Market auctions where everybody had a bag in hand. It was just what you did. That’s why I was so surprised, later on, to learn that friends who didn’t grow up in the South had never even heard of boiled peanuts – and couldn’t bear to eat them once they did.

These same folks usually had no idea that peanuts grow in the ground, not on some imaginary peanut tree. We all have plenty to learn, but down here, boiled peanuts have been teaching us for generations.

Peanuts Drying in the Fields in eastern North Carolina

After they were dug these peanuts were stacked to dry. When they were dry the Peanut Picking machine came through the field and picked the peanuts, leaving the hay behind. Later another machine would come and bale the hay that we fed to our animals.

Quiet rentals for traveling nurses & professionals in eastern North Carolina 252-792-8787 or 252-799-8787

Sunnyside Oyster Bar in Eastern North Carolina

Chloe Tuttle — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:00:00 +0000

Sunnyside Oyster Bar is an eastern North Carolina tradition and folks from all over the country come to taste these special, just-shucked oysters. OPEN NOW September, 2026, at 5:30 every night.

They shuck and steam the same way they did in 1935, when Charles Roberson, Sr. first opened his restaurant and called it Sunnyside. As soon as you enter the front door, you can smell that famous Sunnyside Sauce, and it is served hot.

One of the owners told me that only five people know the recipe. He grinned and said it has ketchup, vinegar, and one special ingredient you could buy at the grocery store if you only knew what to look for. He also laughed and said they paid almost as much for the Sunnyside sauce recipe as they did for the oyster bar. I do know that horseradish plays a big role. And no, he didn’t share the recipe. Not even a hint.

I remember going to the Oyster Bar back when my mother’s cousin, C.T. Roberson, owned it. Honestly, not much has changed over the years. Every season those bead-board walls were painted a bright, glossy white and trimmed in that same cheerful, bright green.

Today, the walls are still glossy white and the trim is still bright green – a look that’s become part of Sunnyside’s charm. It has changed just a wee bit, and I think that’s a good thing. Now you can enjoy a really good glass of wine with those fabulous oysters. You’ll spot a couple of pinball machines for the younger crowd, too.

But I do miss the old Wurlitzer.

The Oyster Bar at Sunnyside still follows the old rule: it’s only open during the months that have an “R” in them – September through April. That tradition goes all the way back to the days before refrigeration, when oysters spoiled quickly and folks had to pay close attention to the seasons.

Sunnyside’s oysters come from all over the country, depending on the weather. A heavy rain in Idaho can change the salinity of oysters in Louisiana – it’s all connected. Most oyster lovers want that perfect touch of salt, so the crew at Sunnyside keeps a close watch on weather patterns across the map.

I asked about the North Carolina oysters because we have plenty of oysters right here in the Pamlico Sound. Our local oysters are called “Little Salties,” and they often grow in clusters, still attached to one another. They’re all different sizes – that’s part of their charm – but it does make steaming them tricky if you want every single oyster to come out just right.

Some of the best oysters still come from Apalachicola, but Sunnyside also brings in oysters from Massachusetts, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and right here at home from Core Sound. Every batch has its own flavor, shaped by the tides, the storms, and the places they come from.

You can get Alaska King Crab at Sunnyside

You can get oysters raw or steamed, steamed shrimp, Alaska King Crab legs and scallops. A new concession is broccoli with cheese sauce. But don’t worry; you won’t see a trendy blooming onion or nachos in this oyster bar.

The oysters are steamed out back in galvanized buckets with gashes cut into them to allow steam to penetrate.

Your shucker will disappear through the back door and reappear with your peck (or more) of oysters. He then dumps them in the trough behind the bar where everyone sits. They can seat 32 oyster-eaters at a time. The shucker then deftly opens each oyster for you, just as they have done for years.Our shucker Nate has been shucking for 27 years right here at Sunnyside. Griff has been shucking for 38 years. He also has a day job with the city of Williamston. Four years ago, some folks did the math and figured that Griff had shucked 1.37 million oysters at Sunnyside.

If you are serious about your oysters, you might order a Red Rooster: this is an oyster on a saltine cracker, with a dollop of horseradish, a hot pepper soaked in vinegar and a lethal dose of hot sauce.

Not for the faint of heart is the Oyster Shooter: in a shot glass you have a slug of beer, an oyster, 2 Tablespoons of Sunnyside sauce and a dash of hot sauce – then down the hatch just like any other shooter. Oysters aren’t really beautiful, but don’t tell all those folks at Sunnyside.

Sunnyside Oyster Bar is on the National Historic Register. It has been highlighted in the Raleigh News and Observer, Southern Living and Down East magazine.

Sunnyside Oyster Bar, 1102 Washington Street, Williamston, NC. Tel. 252-792-3416

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They are open every day at 5:30 from September or October through April. Go early if you don’t want to wait for a spot at the bar. But the waiting is fun too.

Green Tip: The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has launched an oyster shell recycling program and I am thrilled that Sunnyside is participating. When these shells are reintroduced into the coastal waters, they help establish new oyster reefs, thus producing more oysters and making a habitat for other beneficial organisms in the sounds and brackish waters of North Carolina. Oysters also help keep our waters clean: one oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day. I guess it is our turn to build some shell mounds or middens.

Call for exact opening and closing dates.

Distances From:
Raleigh, NC – 102 miles
Greenville, NC – 27 miles
Manteo, NC – 89 miles
Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, NC – 3 miles (252)792-8787

View Sunnyside Oyster Bar in a larger map

Looking for extended stay lodging in Eastern North Carolina? Big Mill Extended Stay offers quiet, fully furnished rentals ideal for traveling nurses, medical professionals, contractors, and guests relocating to the area. Our accommodations provide comfort, privacy, and Southern hospitality, perfect for short-term and long-term stays. We also have three RV rental spaces.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast 252-792-8787

Ride the Wind: Hang Gliding on the Outer Banks

Chloe Tuttle — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:23 +0000

A few years back, my friend Marion and I hiked up Jockey’s Ridge – the tallest living sand dune on the Atlantic coast. Back then, I made it to the top without much fuss. These days? I’d probably need a week and a good pep talk … but I’d still give it a go.

Jockey’s Ridge isn’t just for climbing – it’s also one of the best places to try hang gliding. Kitty Hawk Kites has been teaching folks to fly there since 1974. And yes, anyone can do it.

Take a beginning Hang Gliding Lesson for $158.00. With this beginner hang gliding lesson, you will “take flight” just a few miles from where the Wright Brothers flew their first aircraft. Start with a 30-minute “Ground School” introduction, take a short break, and then begin the flight portion of your lesson. Don your helmet and harness, and head out to the dunes near Jockey’s Ridge – from there, take five training flights over two hours. Read more about – Beginner Hang Gliding Lesson

You start with Ground School, move on to a tethered flight, and then – if you’re feeling brave – you get to soar solo. It’s thrilling, a little wild, and absolutely unforgettable.

When you’re staying at Big Mill B&B Extended Stay, hang gliding at Jockey’s Ridge makes for a pretty unforgettable day – 94 miles from our front porch to the launch site – but the views, the thrill, and the bragging rights? Worth every mile.

Big Mill B&B Extended Stay to Jockey’s Ridge Hang Gliding School, 94 miles

To arrange Hang Gliding lessons and experience the freedom of flight over North Carolina’s sand dunes, contact Kitty Hawk Kites Hang Gliding School, Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Nags Head, NC (252) 441-2426

Big Mill B&B Extended Stay 252-792-8787

Quiet rentals for traveling nurses & professionals in eastern North Carolina

Looking for extended stay lodging in Eastern North Carolina? Big Mill Extended Stay offers quiet, fully furnished rentals ideal for traveling nurses, medical professionals, contractors, and guests relocating to the area. Our accommodations provide comfort, privacy, and Southern hospitality, perfect for short-term and long-term stays. We also have three RV rental spaces.