Frozen Jose Mier Goes Nuts Over This South Carolina Fave
Looking at each state’s signature or favorite flavor gives us a glimpse into what those states are famous for and South Carolina is famous for peanuts. Any candy aficionado can tell you the nuttiest bar by far has to be the Payday candy bar. Its chewy nougat center is rolled in salted peanuts. I love them and they’re at the top of my candy bar list and I can say without a doubt they truly do have the most peanutty flavor of any bar on the market. But this post is not about the candy bar but its namesake ice cream.
South Carolina grows a LOT of peanuts. In 2017 farmers planted 122,000 acres of peanuts and harvested 118,000 of those. The yield was about four thousand pounds per acre. That’s a lot of nuts! Americans demand for peanuts keeps on growing and a lot of those peanuts find their way into the tens of thousands of Payday candy bars sold each year.
No wonder South Carolina is proud of their peanuts. And no wonder their favorite ice cream would be Payday ice cream. There’s a taste of the Old South in that candy and it’s only natural it would lend itself to a frozen dessert. However, like Michigan’s favorite Superman ice cream, this one is a regional favorite and you’d be hard pressed to find it outside the borders of South Carolina. Indeed, it’s even hard to find a recipe online. Of all the ice creams I’ve profiled on this site, this is the most obscure—and it’s not even that exotic. Even Akutaq which I wrote about yesterday has plenty of videos and recipes when Googled. Not so with Payday ice cream.
Luckily there is at least one video detailing the creation of this Southern state favorite flavor which you can view below. If you’ve got a hankering for the frozen version of this stellar candy bar, give it a shot. Otherwise you’ll have to make the trek to South Carolina to sample it. It would be a worthwhile undertaking, though. My Los Angeles area parlors will not have this on the menu I can guarantee you so I’ll look for you Columbia to share a cup or cone of S.C.’s pride.