MISSISSIPPI - Pie #24 of 50 - Rachel Sevin
State Cookie: Butter Cookie
I have never been to Mississippi.
Mississippi is home to the Mississippi River or "Old Man River" which is the largest river in the US and the nations chief waterway.
Root Beer or if your a Parks & Rec fan "super water" was invented in Biloxi in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq Sr.
In 1902 Theodore Roosevelt during a hunting expedition refused to shoot a captured bear in Sharkey County deeming it unsportsmanlike. Toy maker Morris Michtom saw a drawing of this incident in The Washington Post and created a soft bear cub toy today popularly known as the Teddy Bear and sent it to Roosevelt asking for permission to use his name. The toys became an immediate success. Beary Wonderful!
The pie is a Mississippi Mud Pie! It is a chocolate teddy graham cracker crust, chocolate fudge filling with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. The origins of the pie are muddy (HA! get it?!) but the most popular story is that in 1927 Jenny Meyer lost her home in Greenville to flooding. Soon after this she moved to the Vicksburg Natchez area near Jackson & became a waitress. One day she decided to bake a dense pie with simple ingredients where she melted chocolate and made a filling that resembled the muddy banks of a Mississippi River.
This pie is for Rachel Sevin. Rachel wasn't born in MS but her Mom sure was! In the small town of Sebastopol, MS. Their family has spent many Christmas's there and will spend many more since her parents recently retired & moved to Biloxi!
I met Rachel the day I graduated college while singing karaoke at McDonough's in Savannah, GA. Rachel went to college at Auburn but was dating a friend of mine at the time. Rachel is one of the bravest people I know. she went to Auburn for fashion but somehow ended up in tech and during that time lived in Atlanta. She had always wanted to get back to fashion to she packed up all her things, took a huge chance and moved to NYC. For the past 4 years she has been running a small womenswear company. That's girl power.
Mississippi you sure are the south's warmest welcome and going to you always feels like coming home.