PRESS FOR THE TAMALE TRAIL

The Tamale Trail was recently featured in Relish Magazine, as well as The Southern Quarterly. Joe's Hot Tamale Place/ White Front Cafe is the cover image for the Winter 2007 edition of The Southern Quarterly.

**TAMALE TRAIL WINS AWARD**

The Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail is the recipient of the 2006 Elbert R. Hilliard Award for Outstanding Oral History Project, which is awarded by the Mississippi Historical Society. From their website: "The oral history award recognizes as merited oral history projects exemplifying a distinguished collection, high-quality preservation, and proper use of oral history."

Thank you to everyone who has supported this project that documents the history, tradition and culture of hot tamales in the Mississippi Delta. Most of all, thank you to the tamale makers and vendors who have shared their stories.

Look for more interviews to appear online this summer.

The SFA received the same award in 2005 for their Doe's Eat Place Oral History Project.

TAMALES & DONUTS IN GREENWOOD

A stone's throw from oak-lined Grand Blvd. in Greenwood, Honest Abe's Donuts is frequented by folks with a morning sugar tooth. But you can get hot tamales here, too--sweet and savory in one stop. As far as we know, it doesn't matter which you eat first.

Visit our Tamale Trail map to find your way to Honest Abe's front door.

NEW INTERVIEW: SOLLY'S HOT TAMALES

Solly's Hot Tamales has been a Vicksburg tradition since 1939. Henry Solly, a native of Cuba, developed a recipe and began selling hot tamales from a pushcart. Eventually, his tamales got so popular that he retired the cart and opened a storefront. Solly made tamales at 1921 Washington Street until his death in 1992. Before he died, he offered his business to his friend, May Belle Hampton. May Belle and her daughter, Jewel, continued the tradition. Today, Jewel and her daughter, Dina, still make tamales according to Solly's recipe. Read Jewel McCain's oral history interview here.

NEW INTERVIEW: PASQUALE'S HOT TAMALES

While just outside the boundaries of our Tamale Trail, Pasquale's Hot Tamales is an important part of the Mississippi Delta's history with hot tamales. Located across the Mississippi River in West Helena, Arkansas, Pasquale's Hot Tamales has been in business for three generations. Owned by the St. Columbia family, their Sicilian heritage is direct link to the history and tradition of hot tamales being peddled along the river's edge. Read the oral history interview with Joe St. Columbia here.

NEW "BEYOND THE BOUNDS" LISTINGS

Click on our interactive map or visit the Beyond the Bounds section to view recent additions to our list of tamale locations mapped outside of the Delta in the Missisippi towns of Corinth, Jackson, D'Iberville, and Lumberton.

New locations will be added regularly, so please check back often. If you know of a location you'd like to share, please contact Amy Evans. We'd be happy to post your photograph and the location's contact information as part of the Tamale Trail.

CIA & VIKING RANGE ON THE TAMALE TRAIL

In early June the Culinary Institute of America and Viking Range Corporation hosted a culinary tour of the Mississippi Delta. Part of this week-long trip included a guided tour of the Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail.

We began our tour in Cleveland, where we visited Delta Fast Food and sampled some of Mr. Rainey's red hots. In Rosedale, we visited with Barbara Pope and Susie Irving at Joe's Hot Tamale Place. There was a short stop at Big Jim's in Clarksdale, where the group sampled tamales and Koolickles (Kool-Aid spiked dill pickles). We ended the day in Clarksdale at the Shack-Up Inn, where Betty Hicks of Hicks' World Famous Hot Tamales & More in Clarksdale gave the group a short tamale how-to. Ann Cashion, chef instructor for the culinary tour, worked alongside Betty, making a different kind of tamale to illustrate the uniqueness of the Delta-style tamale. Ann made a traditional masa dough, used a catfish fillet for the filling, and then steamed the tamales. Everyone--especially Betty and Ann--enjoyed the sharing of stories and tamale-making methods.

The picture above is of Ann Cashion describing her masa dough (foreground) as Betty Hicks listens.