Guide to My Southern Sweet Tooth Quiz

Answer: beignets

Dessert in New Orleans is a necessity, and the beignet is the official state donut of Louisiana. Most well-known of all beignet shops is Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street. The beignets there are served fresh from the fryer and washed down with the traditional chicory café au lait.

Answer: mint julep

Considered the traditional drink of the Kentucky Derby since 1938, the mint julep is made with fresh spearmint leaves blended with the finest Kentucky bourbon. The earliest references to mint juleps are found in an 1803 publication by John Davis that described a cocktail sipped by Southerners in the mornings. Kentucky Senator Henry Clay took the drink to Washington, D.C. in the early-to-mid 1800s and the drink's fame grew.

Answer: moon pie

Moon pies go right along with beads and RC Cola when watching a Mardi Gras parade anywhere in the south. In fact, Mobile, AL is the home of Mardi Gras and a giant moon pie, dropped from one of the tallest buildings during New Years Eve. The moon pie originated in the 1930s in Chattanooga, TN, but has become a customary parade throw throughout the south.

Answer: red velvet cake

Red velvet cake is a recipe known the world over, but the Southerners make it their own. During the Great Depression, a Texas flavor extract company, Adams Extract, aided in bringing the cake to popularity due to making red food coloring readily available. Traditional ermine icing is made by making a roux with milk and flour, boiling, and blending in butter and sugar. Traditionally, the beetroot (or the beet, as I know it) has given the cake its red coloring.

Answer: key lime pie

Unlike the typical lime found in most supermarkets, key limes ripen to a yellow and their juices are also yellow. A true key lime pie is yellow (if you've seen green, you've been duped). The filling of a key lime pie is thickened without baking as the acids of the lime interact with the egg and milk to thicken naturally.

The dessert originated sometime during the 19th century in Key West, FL.

Answer: Bananas Foster

Bananas Foster were invented in 1951 by chef Paul Blangé at Brennan's. The dish was named after the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission, Richard Foster. Traditionally the final preparation of the dish is done table-side to the delight of all onlookers as alcohol is added and set aflame. The heat serves to burn off the alcohol content and meld the flavors.

Answer: praline pecans

The "Mother Tree" in San Saba, TX was identified by famed pecan exhibitor, E. E. Risien, who purchased the land and began ferrying pollinated pecan flowers from afar for experimental pollination. His efforts produced a half dozen different varieties of pecan.

The pecan is actually a fruit (a drupe) in which the flesh of the fruit is not eaten, just the nut meat of the inner pit. The pecan tree is the state tree of Texas.

Answer: sweet potato pie

The sweet potato is one of the primary cash crops of the state of Mississippi, and each year the Sweet Potato Festival is hosted in Vardaman, MS. This city dubs itself the Sweet Potato Capital of the World. Sweet potato pie is a Southern favorite, and you can find it with or without a marshmallow topping.

Answer: king cake

A New Orleans tradition since the time of the French occupation of the southeast, king cakes are nearly prerequisite for most major events in Louisiana, from Mardi Gras to Louisiana State University's home game against Alabama. The Southern twist on the king cake tradition comes in the form of the hidden trinket.

The traditional thing in this part of the world is a small plastic baby tucked into the pastry. The deal is, if you are the one finding a baby in your piece of pastry, you are responsible for supplying the next king cake.

Answer: sweet tea

I was schooled very quickly that it isn't "iced tea," but "sweet tea" and it is a Southern tradition. It is common to find the sugar content of Southern sweet tea as high as 22% of the components of the drink. The earliest recipes for sweet tea can be found in a cookbook entitled, "Housekeeping in Old Virginia" which was published in 1879.