(bright music) - [Narrator] From the soil of our family farms to your table, there's something special about Georgia.

Something you can taste in every bite.

(bright music) Fresh flavors, local farms, unforgettable experiences, Georgia has it all.

Support local, taste the difference, and make memories along the way.

Look for the Georgia Grown logo wherever you shop.

Or visit georgiagrown.com.

(bright music) - [Announcer] Community, learning, working, playing, celebrating, doing life is always better together.

At GPB, we aim to provide you with the tools to be able to do life together well.

Our mission to educate, inform, and entertain inspires everything from our wide range of programming to our stimulating radio conversations, to our fun in-person events, we've got something for everyone.

Visit gpb.org/community to learn more about our upcoming events, - The fascinating and ever-changing world of agriculture.

(bright music) Let's hit the road here in Georgia and meet the farmers, producers, makers and bakers who keep us all fed and keep us coming back for more.

Straight ahead at the "A Fork in the Road."

(bright music) ♪ I came from the mud ♪ ♪ There's dirt on my hands ♪ ♪ Strong like a tree ♪ ♪ There's roots where I stand ♪ - Georgia farmers, artisans, merchants and producers, we depend on these men and women every day of our lives through the choices we make in the food we consume.

Their strategy and approach is always shifting, but the end game remains the same.

Results.

(bright music) (quirky music) - [David] Something sweet is happening in Georgia in so many ways, from a legendary ice cream shop that's become a staple in historic downtown Savannah to an up and coming granola snack.

Also based in Savannah offering a variety of tasty flavor creations.

And finally, we venture to the mountains of Ellijay and discover why everyone around these parts is buzzing about some unique spirits being served in the House of Applejay.

(bright music) We begin this episode in Savannah at a century old ice cream shop that is now as popular as ever.

(screen whooshing) (lively music) It all began as a simple shop serving handcrafted ice cream.

Founded by the Leopold brothers in 1919, George, Peter and Basil Leopold perfected their secret formulas.

And a Savannah icon was born.

Watching, learning and understanding the world of ice cream was Peter's son Stratton, who eventually took Leopold's ice cream to new heights.

Now over 100 years later, the brand stands stronger than ever.

But the story of Leopold's had a few detours.

Fascinating ones at that.

(lively music) - [Stratton] The beginning was in 1919.

My dad served in World War I and when he came back, he, Basil and George established the first store on Habersham and Gwinnett Streets here in Savannah.

- [David] This is a newer location, but it's already kind of become a legendary location.

Let's talk about the shop where we are now and what it's meant to this area.

- We opened here because the area over around Gwinnett and Habersham had deteriorated.

It's now really nice again, as much of Savannah is.

But what we did, we brought much of that store here.

And the black marble soda fountain is the 1930s.

It was a remodel, my dad did then.

We tried to create as much of that atmosphere as we could here - [David] Walking into Leopold feels a little like stepping back in time.

You see the marble counters, paper hats behind the counter, the scent of fresh waffle cones.

- I'm gonna scoop a couple of things for you here.

- Okay.

All right.

- First, butter pecan.

The pecans are from about 80 miles away.

- That's good.

- Nice and local.

And they're roasted, especially for us.

- Really?

- So, yeah.

Okay.

The second one I'm scooping for you is called Savannah Socialite, very popular flavor, dark and light chocolate.

- [David] Looks like there's something else in there.

- Pecans in it.

- Okay.

- Homemade caramel, - Oh yeah.

- swirl in it with a touch of Maker's Mark.

- Just a touch.

- A touch.

- All right, all right.

Fantastic.

See, the hardest part for me is to see all these flavors and know what to get.

You just made it easy for me.

Do you like to mix 'em or just kind of get a little of each?

- I personally don't.

I go for one flavor at a time.

- Okay.

- So try that.

(lively jazzy music) - There's something different about it.

It's so good.

- Well, it's all natural, just good things in it.

Egg yolks instead of a chemical.

Just- - Mm-hmm.

- And I tasted the pecans in it.

Or you worked with Paula Deen, right?

Pecans.

- Pecans.

- Mm-hmm.

(lively jazzy music) - [Asha] Hi, I am Asha.

- Asha.

- Yeah, I'm a training manager.

- Okay.

All right.

Do you have a favorite flavor here, Asha?

- It's too many.

- Too many.

That sounds like a good one.

- My all-time favorite is Lavender.

We'll get that in September.

- Okay.

- And then, peaches are number one summer seller, like you know, people from all over, they want Georgia peaches and we have peaches in our ice cream.

- All right.

- Well, you can't go wrong here.

That's what I'm learning.

- Yeah, exactly.

(upbeat music) - But there's another layer to Stratton Leopold's story that surprises many first timers.

For years while helping preserve his family's ice cream legacy, Stratton also built a successful career in Hollywood.

He's worked alongside some of the biggest names in film and served as executive producer on major motion pictures, including "Mission: Impossible III" and "The Sum of All Fears."

And here at the downtown shop, those two worlds now live side by side.

Movie memorabilia lines the walls just steps away from the ice cream counter blending Savannah nostalgia with Hollywood storytelling.

It's unexpected and somehow fits perfectly.

(upbeat music) Not far from Broughton Street, the real magic happens behind the scenes, inside Leopold's ice cream production facility.

(upbeat music continues) You're the plant manager.

- Yes.

- A lot goes on here.

This is everybody gets to go to the beautiful store, - Yes.

- get that ice cream.

But this is where the magic happens.

- It's where it's all made.

This is Leopold's Tutti Frutti ice cream we're making here.

This is one of the original flavors.

It is a rum-based ice cream, candied cherries and pineapples.

John-John here is adding in all of these secret ingredients.

(chuckles) - It's rum.

(chuckles) (Luther chuckling) - Yeah, it's rum.

That's the secret.

(upbeat music) - My name's Kieia.

My position is kitchen assistant and I help my Baker bake cookies and prep everything that goes into our ice cream, whether it's cookies, whether it's chocolate chips, whether it's peppermints, it just depends on what I have.

- [David] You're around good smells all day.

- All day long.

So this is our mix for our chewies.

We use these for our ice cream.

We cut 'em up.

And once they're baked, they're about that big around and they're nothing but chocolate and it's awesome goodness.

(upbeat music) - All right.

Well you brought something good.

It's held its shape here as we've been talking.

- Yeah.

- Tell me what we got here.

- So this is our cookie squared.

It's our take on a cookie dough ice cream.

- Okay.

- It is just a vanilla base, but it's got cookie dough pieces in it, as well as mashed up cookies in the background.

So we bake a bunch of cookies, grind them up into dust that goes into the background.

So you're getting baked cookie and unbaked cookie in here.

- Oh wow.

- Extremely popular flavor.

- [David] It's neat though that you all use a lot of local products and that's important to Leopold's.

- [Luther] Oh yes.

What's going in it is good quality stuff.

- I love that.

You know, halfway through this interview, I finished.

- Yeah.

- So, we might have to find some more at some point.

- Some more?

- Yeah.

- There's plenty.

(David and Luther laughing) (whimsical music) - [Stratton] We are at our latest store here on Whitemarsh Island in Savannah.

We're extremely proud of it and it's doing quite well.

- [David] So you are bringing ice cream to folks all around the southeast, but you believe in helping the community you're in.

- It goes back to my father.

My father served at World War I and when he came back, no one left that place hungry.

No one.

And we're talking 1920s too.

And every veteran that came in, anyone in uniform, everything was gratis.

And my dad believed very strongly in community 'cause people did look out for each other.

And what we do now, I mean we continue, we do benefits for churches, synagogues, all houses of worship.

We work closely with law enforcement on fundraisers.

We do.

We work with Feed the Hungry, we work with the military quite a bit.

(whimsical music) - [David] You've done many things in your life, why has ice cream been kind of that staple that has lasted the whole way through?

- I grew up in it, washing glasses behind that very same soda fountain as a 10-year-old.

It's important to me.

I like to eat it.

(chuckles) - Don't we all?

(laughs) - Yeah.

- [David] More than a century after the three brothers opened their doors, Leopold's ice cream remains one of Savannah's sweetest traditions in old school ice cream shop with an array of sweet flavors and a little bit of movie magic, all converge here at Leopold for an experience to write home about whether it's your first time or hundredth trip to this legendary parlor.

(whimsical music) (bright music) Remaining in Savannah just a few miles away, another tasty Georgia treat is being created.

But this one is a little more on the crunchy side.

Let's head to the Party of Hive.

(lively music) Maggie is the queen bee of her family party of five.

And she's, of course, the queen bee for Party of Hive.

(lively music continues) But Maggie works a little harder than your average queen.

So she didn't just bring me here to try a few snacks.

I was brought here to work.

(granola crunching) You see everything here at Party of Hive is hands on.

- My name is Maggie Lilly and I am the Chief Granola Officer, CGO of the company, - [David] The first CGO I've ever met.

I'm very excited.

I'm very excited.

Alright, well we can start with the name, Party of Hive.

- There are five of us in our little family, my husband, Jay, and we have three children.

And our logo is a beehive because we use honey in all of our recipes.

And you know, when our children were little, our house felt very much like a beehive.

So that's sort of how we came up with the name.

- [David] So now we get to the creation of the Party of Hive granola sensations.

How did it all begin?

- Our girls were little, wanted to create some good snacks for us.

I love to cook.

I got a vegan cookbook and followed a recipe in there.

Then over the years, just sort of created the OG recipe, kind of grew from that.

(gentle music) Party of Hive granola, great to take with you in the car, you know, moms who want their kids to have a good hearty snack.

And I use certified gluten-free oats.

Oats are by nature, gluten-free, but a lot of them are cross-contaminated if companies process other wheat containing foods on their equipment.

But the oats that I use are certified gluten-free.

- [David] The OG was obviously the original Granola gangster.

- That's right.

- And then new flavors.

Did you just start toying with it?

How did it grow and where did these new flavors come from?

- I love sweets.

Lemon blueberry was my second flavor.

I love a lemon pound cake.

I should not eat lemon pound cake for breakfast, for snacks, for dessert every day.

So I wanted to create a lemon flavor so that one grew.

And then my kids love peanut butter.

So peanut butter was my next flavor.

And really just, I'll eat something and think, gosh, mint chocolate sure would be a good healthy snack.

So mint chocolate was born.

So yeah, I guess they're all just kind of a play on other foods that might not be so healthy.

I turn 'em into granola.

(upbeat music) - [David] I am here with the queen bee.

This is the OG, - [Maggie] This is the OG.

- This got it started.

I see pumpkin seeds.

- Yes.

- [David] And a few other, maybe some secret ingredients?

- Maybe.

- What do you wanna share that's in here?

- Alright, so I start with certified gluten-free oats, raw pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, shredded coconut, and that's it.

- Yeah, it smells so good.

- That truly is it.

- Alright.

All right.

This is where the magic happens.

- This is it.

Okay, so I start by weighing out all of the dry ingredients.

- Okay.

- And then, come to assemble the nectar, which starts with coconut oil and local Georgia honey.

Add the honey, - Ooh, yeah.

Hence hive.

- There you go.

Salt and add some cinnamon.

Okay.

So I've got all the ingredients.

- Oh.

And this is a Georgia spice.

- It is a Georgia Spice.

So Spices Etc., my friend, Jimmy, owns the company.

I really like to help other, small businesses around.

- [David] I love that.

- [Maggie] So now I'm gonna whisk all of these together.

You just holler if you wanna hop in there.

- Oh, - Now you gotta (indistinct).

- yeah, right.

- Come on.

- Oh yeah, you can get some forearm workout, that honey- - Oh, you know what, I forgot to add the vanilla.

While you stir that, you gonna add that.

- I dunno if you can hear me breathing.

It's a lot of work.

- Now, dry ingredients.

I'm gonna pour these into the nectar.

Sometimes my mom will jump in here and take over the stirring because by batch ten in one day my arm's a little hot.

- [David] Yeah, your mom was the one that looked like Popeye.

- That's right.

- Big forearm.

(Maggie laughing) The arms, she'd love that.

- That's right.

So yeah, I really just wanna get it all mixed up.

I wanna be sure every single oat has got some of the nectar on it, right?

- [David] I love it.

And I'm starting to see those chunks come together here.

- All right.

So I think we're at a good place here.

- Are they all equally hard to mix?

- They really are.

(upbeat music) So, I spread it all out.

- Okay.

- We just pat this down and I think this is how it stays together so well that's patted and then it goes in the oven.

All right.

(oven door thudding) So I think we're ready to go.

Just perfect.

- [David] After the cooking, every bag is carefully packed.

And as I quickly learn, some packers are better than others.

- Okay.

So we're gonna put it in the bag.

- All right.

All right.

- Just go for it.

- Do I need to break it up more.

- You don't.

No.

- You just drop it in.

- [Maggie] We're gonna just drop.

- [David] Oh, this is wonderful.

- Yep.

- I have eaten this before, but I haven't eaten it today.

- All right, taste what you've done today.

(chuckles) - All right.

Hmm.

Better, every time.

- It is pretty good.

- And that bite had everything in it.

- Yeah.

- I saw pumpkin seed, I saw cranberry.

- It's 'cause you did all the mixing.

Well done.

- That's right.

Thank you.

This is my bag.

It's hard to pick a favorite flavor and Maggie keeps dreaming up new ones.

And it's clear she loves sharing her creations.

So whether you are snacking for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, this tasty and healthy Savannah original, as you uncovered.

(bright music) From Savannah, we work our way further north to the mountain town of Ellijay to enjoy the spirits and a few bare necessities at the House of Applejay.

(gentle music) Cultures and recipes from all around the world are here in Georgia.

And the folks in Ellijay have quickly accepted the extraordinary talents of Caroline, her mother, Sabine, and their amazing creations of liqueur and spirits here at the House of Applejay.

(gentle music) - [Caroline] House of Applejay is a distillery and we are specialized in vodkas and liqueurs.

- First off, where are you from?

- I am from Germany, originally.

That's where my accent is from.

But I am since almost 15 years in the US.

- [David] So when people come here, I love it.

'cause you can see it right off the road.

What can people experience when they come visit health of Applejay?

- So our tasting room is open five days a week from Wednesdays through Sunday.

So they can actually have a full experience here in the tasting room.

We have samples.

So you can try all of our products and we will explain how you can use them and when you can use them, how you can drink them.

We offer tours of the back.

And so we have room for 12 to 16 people, we can actually host back there.

And I make historic tours where drag people through 3000 years of distilling history.

There's a lot of things to actually learn and see and understand.

And I always say there's always a reason why we created something.

And it's interesting to learn why and how.

And this gives a drink, a story to it, and makes it much more fun to drink it.

- Always thought that, with wine and food, it's always better with the story.

(gentle music) And when you visit, you won't only explore the spirits, but you'll tour the distillery.

And while doing that, you'll pick up a little or more appropriately, a lot of historical knowledge from the world of distilling and beyond.

- In the good old days, Gilmer County, it's known for a lot of moonshiners.

Apparently, the first moonshiners I could trace in the colony have been very likely of German decent, believe it or not.

So they're called the Salzburgers.

The Salzburgers actually came over to the colonies and in the second year of the annals they write that they made a brand new from corn stalk and they basically raised the corn one and a half meters, which is about this high.

And then they press it and treat it like sugar cane and made a brandy from it.

They claimed it was good.

I doubt that.

(chuckles) - I doubt it.

(chuckles) The first distiller was Tapputi-Belatekallim So Tapputi was the name.

Belatekallim is actually a title.

And she had a female helper and she made perfumes in the Palace of Mesopotamia.

- [David] Perfume distiller.

So she distilled perfume.

- Yes.

And if you think about it absolutely makes sense.

Distilling comes from perfume making.

- [David] Okay.

- [Caroline] And as you can see with our distillate, we are always after catching the natural flavors and the essences and the good smells.

(gentle music) - All right, this looks a little different, possibly a little older.

- It is.

- Okay.

- So this is a 1911 antique Muller still pot.

And it is a beautiful antique piece.

And it is still, as you can see, wood-fired.

So if you open the hatch, yeah, in the old days, they would put wood in here and then just warm up the mantle, warm up the mash.

And then the beautiful vapors would basically evaporate, go through the doppler which moonshine would call that a doppler.

And then there's the cooling column.

And down here on the spout, this is where the alcohol wood came up.

- [David] And I see the coil.

So it the same general science as the modern.

- [Caroline] Yes.

(lively music) - I've mentioned the mastery of the distilling.

So it was time to learn it firsthand.

And yes, Caroline had an extra pair of chemist glasses for me.

So at least I looked the part.

Master distiller.

Tell us what we're doing here.

- We're proofing now the alcohol.

- Okay.

- So we have here our vodka that we need to proof so that we can actually see our test, how much alcohol it has.

So open it and just fill it into our test file.

Everything.

- Oh, fill it.

- Yep.

Looks good to me.

So in the good old days, you would use a classic ethanol hydrometer.

The reading though is pretty difficult.

So we have a modern helper and I let you use that.

So what you, I like you to do now is you take this, put it into our test tube, and then you push this button several times.

- [David] Okay.

- Until you don't see any bubbles coming up.

It already gave us the reading.

39.17, alcohol by volume.

- So that will be about 80 proof?

- About, yeah, a little bit less.

- Okay.

- So, if you are actually getting into liqueur making, you will have a lot of time here.

(laughs) - Yes.

This is your home half the time.

(bright music) - So before we start with the liqueur tasting, I have, on the outside, our grass-flavored vodka - Grass-flavored.

- Grass-flavored.

- You had mentioned that before.

Okay.

All right.

- So this is sweet grass.

Smell this for me, please.

- Oh wow.

- That smells sweet, right?

- It does smell sweet.

- This is the key.

So as a distiller, I always say if it's in the nose, I can catch it.

- Okay.

- If it's not in the nose, it's impossible for me to have something that I can catch.

So there will be nothing in the distillate.

And this grass-smelled sweet, so that's what we're after.

- And you know what I keep thinking of the original distiller making perfume.

- Yes.

- And it's the same way to get a profile.

- Yes.

Yes.

If we can catch something that's in the nose, that's actually beautiful, so cheers.

- Grass vodka.

(gentle music continues) - Smooth, right?

- Yes it is.

- [Caroline] So this is perfect in a martini.

- [David] Yes, absolutely.

- In a Bloody Mary, in a Cosmopolitan.

So it's a very smooth, we won a silver medal in New York for it.

Now we are coming to the liqueur categories.

So the Cranberry Chris 55 proof.

A very contemporary, balanced, all naturally curve.

It's perfect in a cosmopolitan together with a grass vodka, I take two shots of the grass vodka, one shot of this, just some dashes of unsweetened lime on top.

It's beautiful.

Oh.

- Yes.

(gentle music) There you go.

There you go.

- The next one we we're having is our apple liqueur, Applejay for Ellijay.

So we're using three different types of apples here, a sweet, a sour and a bitter apple juice that we combine.

A lot of people ask what type of apples.

I'm not disclosing that (laughs) - That is your secret.

- That's our secret.

- Between us.

- I can tell you I ate, I really ate a lot of apples.

(laughs) (David laughing) - You tried a lot.

So bitter, sour and sweet.

- Yeah, this is perfect if you drink this on the rocks with some charcuterie cheeses, this is just awesome.

Cheers to the Ellijays.

(chuckles) So this is our cherry cola over here.

Then we have the Applejay Mule, an appletini.

(laughs) - This should do it.

(laughs) Full disclosure, I'm not having all of each.

- [Caroline] No, no, no.

- But I am willing to try some.

- You can just try what you like and then we're going from there.

(whimsical music) - And as you may have noticed, the black bear is not only a symbol of the North Georgia Mountains, but is the identity for the House of Applejay.

And I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the House of Applejay's annual Groundhog Day spectacular on February 2nd, but as expected here, it wasn't a groundhog looking for it's shadow.

(quirky music) - How's everybody doing today?

(guests cheering) At the House of Applejay here in Ellijay And here in the Ellijay, we don't do little bitty mid-size animals, right?

We love bears.

And one very special bear named Hibernation Hank.

I want you to say it three times in a row.

I want you to say, "Wake up, Hank."

Okay, are y'all ready?

- [All] Wake up, Hank.

Wake up, Hank.

Wake up, Hank.

(guests cheering) Let's go, Hank.

Woo.

Look at him, go.

Hank, did you see your shadow?

And are you ready for early spring cocktail season?

- Well, we're in the south, right?

- [Guests] Yeah.

- Hang on a moment for my prediction.

(quirky music) I predict we're gonna have an early cocktail season.

(guests cheering) That's the way it should be.

- Ladies and gentlemen, that is our official forecast.

Thank you for waking up, my pal.

Hibernation Hank here.

Let's celebrate the start of cocktail season, House of Applejay Style.

Let's go.

(guests cheering) So whether Hibernation Hank sees his shadow or not, Groundhog Day and many other festival worthy holidays are celebrated in style at the House of Applejay serving good times, good spirits, and good people in the mountains of Ellijay, Georgia.

(lively music) (bright music) So from a legendary ice cream shop and a new age granola stop in Savannah to a mountainside spirit that's offering the bare necessities, the Peach State delivers a variety of homegrown treats for kids and adults alike.

I'm David Zelski, see you at the next "Fork in the Road."

(lively music) - [Announcer 1 ] "A fork in the Road" was brought to you by... (gentle music continues) - [Announcer] Community, learning, working, playing, celebrating, doing life is always better together.

At GPB, we aim to provide you with the tools to be able to do life together well.

Our mission to educate, inform, and entertain inspires everything from our wide range of programming to our stimulating radio conversations to our fun in-person events, we've got something for everyone.

Visit gpb.org/community to learn more about our upcoming events.

(bright music) - [Narrator] From the soil of our family farms to your table, there's something special about Georgia.

Something you can taste in every bite.

(gentle music) Fresh flavors, local farms, unforgettable experiences, Georgia has it all.

Support local.

Taste the difference and make memories along the way.

Look for the Georgia Grown logo wherever you shop.

Or visit georgiagrown.com.