Much-Loved Sweets Made in Chattanooga and Vicinity
Published Feb 29, 2008
The 105-year-old Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City, Tenn. is famous for its pies and salt-rise bread.
Some of the best-loved sweets in the nation are made in Chattanooga and vicinity, including MoonPies, M&M’s and Twix chocolate, Little Debbie snack cakes, and Mayfield ice cream.
Founded in Athens, Tenn., in 1912, Mayfield Dairy Farms now serves nine states and employs nearly 2,000 employees. The Athens plant continues to churn out milk and ice cream as it did in the beginning, and the company operates a second milk plant in Braselton, Ga., and a second ice cream plant in Birmingham, Ala.
“Believe it or not, our best-selling ice cream flavor is vanilla, although Moose Tracks has come close to beating it,” says Bridgett Raper, public relations manager and a Mayfield Dairy Farms employee for 33 years. “In milk, 2 percent is our best-seller. We’re known for our yellow jugs that protect the milk from light, which affects its flavor and deteriorates nutrients.”
Mayfield introduced four new ice cream flavors in 2007: Coconut Cake, Peanut Butteriffic, Chocolate Cream Pie and Olde Savannah Caramel.
“We try to add new flavors every year, and people can go online (www.mayfielddairy.com) and vote for their favorites,” Raper says. “In 2006, we launched Blueberry Cream Pie ice cream, and it’s now in our top 10 flavors.”
A Mayfield milk product also made its debut in 2007. “We took our former NuTrish milk and renamed it Nurture,” Raper says. “We worked with labs to increase its levels of probiotics, which help boost the immune system.”
Visitors can tour the Athens and Braselton plants, both of which also offer ice cream parlors and gift shops.
“It’s fun to promote a product that’s healthy on the milk end. We always say, ‘There’s milk, and then there’s Mayfield,’ ” she says.
Lunch Pail Snacks
Like Mayfield products, MoonPies have a long history. Created in 1917 at Chattanooga Bakery, the MoonPie is a chocolate-covered graham cracker and marshmallow sandwich that was invented for coal miners to carry in their lunch pails.
Nine decades later, the family-owned, fourth-generation Chattanooga Bakery produces about one million MoonPies every day in six flavors: the original chocolate, banana, vanilla, strawberry, orange and lemon.
“We’re the owner of the MoonPie brand and the world’s only producer of the iconic treat,” says Tory Johnston, vice president of marketing for Chattanooga Bakery. “There are some small imitations, but we make the real one, all here in Chattanooga.” The company has 155 employees locally.
Mars Snackfood manufactures other sweet indulgences in Cleveland, Tenn. The company has had a presence in Cleveland since 1977, and its plant employs 650 people. Manufactured there are all varieties of M&M’s and Twix candy.
Other food products originating in the region include Little Debbie snack cakes, made by Collegedale, Tenn.-based McKee Foods Corp. since 1934, and fruitcakes, pies and salt-rise bread produced at the 105-year-old Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City, Tenn.
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by staff
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