QUESTION: I was at Whole Foods Market the other day looking for a tasty prepared hot treat for dinner. Don’t do this all the time, but I love Whole Foods and have just got to have it. My eyes fell on what the clerk told me were Tamales.  The clerk says Tamales is a state food of Arkansas. Is that true? Thanks, Whole Foods Always

SCUTTLEBUTT:  A delta man, maybe from Marianna or possibly Helena told the plainclothesman at the King Biscuit Blues Festival aka Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival that Tamales is big business. He says you don’t see ‘em around as much as you used to back in the 50’s, 60’s, even 70’s. The delta man said someone in his family, an uncle he believes, had a knock out Tamales recipe. Everyone loved his uncle’s Tamales.  He loved making ‘em, but would share his recipe with no one. “You’d need a thousand dollars or so and just maybe you’d get that recipe from him,” says the delta man.

SKINNY:  Little Rock has an impressive organic-locally grown food movement. Whole Foods Market shares this cause and like you WFA, I enjoy their tasty prepared hot treats too. Check out Whole Foods Market Little Rock online for calendar of events, recipes, and so much more.

Now I don’t know if Arkansas actually has a state food. The Dutch Oven is the state’s cooking vessel and rice is the state grain.  As far as Tamales are concerned they are not recorded as a state food but have been a staple here for quite some time.  According to the folks who bring us the great Encyclopedia of Arkansas.net, “The St. Columbia family in Helena-West Helena (Phillips County) has been making and selling hot tamales since the late nineteenth century.” Today the family continues the tradition by selling Pasquale’s Hot Tamales online.  The St. Columbia family hail from Italy and have an interesting story.  Check out their website.

The folks at Encyclopedia of Arkansas.net tell us that most historians are convinced Tamales were brought to Arkansas, specifically the Delta by area Latino migrant laborers who worked in cotton fields up and down the Mississippi River in the 1920s and 1930s.

CHECK THIS OUT:

www.tamaletrail.com

The Hot Tamale Trail is an oral history of folks from the Delta talking about this food.  The first entry, Ervin’s Hot Tamales, is notable (well they are all great) because the grandmother shares how her husband got the recipe from a guy in Arkansas for over $1000.

AND CHECK THIS OUT: To learn how to make Delta styled tamales click here!

CHECK THIS OUT TOO: On The Power of Tamale: Authentic Christmas Tamales – Food Network, a Mexican-American family shares their special tamale recipe. This clip is part of The Power of Food show on the Food Network.