North Carolina ought to have a ‘state muffin’

What North Carolina needs is a “state muffin.” Several states have selected their own “official muffin,” so there is a precedent. 

There are two obvious options: a strawberry muffin or a blueberry muffin. Consider this: In 2001, the strawberry became North Carolina’s official “red berry” and blueberry was voted in as the state “blue berry.” 

The “enacting legislation” was a classic case of “pure politics” within the North Carolina General Assembly, according to Jeremy Markovich of Our State magazine. 

The original bill, which was introduced in February 2001 and sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Russell, R-Goldsboro, proposed that the strawberry become the official state fruit, period. The “authors of the bill” were fourth graders in Mrs. Manning Musgrave’s class at Tommy’s Road Elementary School in Goldsboro. (“Go Tigers!”) 

Rep. Russell’s “strawberry bill” passed the House of Representatives, but it stalled in the Senate.

Meanwhile, elementary school students from Dare County stepped up to recommend that the scuppernong grape be the state fruit, not the strawberry. They “bent the ear” of Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Manteo, president pro tempore of the Senate. 

Scuppernongs are big, juicy grapes that are green-gold in color and members of the muscadine family. They took their name from the Scuppernong River, which flows through Columbia in Tyrrell County to enter Bull Bay and the Albemarle Sound. Sen. Basnight represented Tyrrell County as well. 

The “fruit bill” was re-cobbled in the bowels of the Senate, with input from heavy hitters such as T. LaFontine “Fountain” Odom Sr., D-Charlotte, and Sen. John Hosea Kerr III, D-Goldsboro. 

“As if by magic,” Markovich wrote, the Senate comes out with a new version of the bill…and the scuppernong is the state fruit. Not the strawberry. And that’s not all.” 

The blueberry was added to the language in the bill as the official North Carolina “blue berry.” The strawberry was degraded in status to be the state’s official “red berry.” 

Democrats ruled the roost in 2001, so a conference committee approved a “scuppernong/strawberry/blueberry combo” bill. 

The Goldsboro students objected and voted by an overwhelming margin to write to Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, asking him to veto their own bill. He disregarded their plea and signed the bill into law on Dec. 16, 2001. 

When Markovich asked Carolyn Russell, who is now living in Morehead City, about the outcome some years later, she told him: “That’s the way sausage is made, dear.” 

“If you think about it that way,” Markovich said, “that class project was a huge success. The students got involved. They helped introduce a bill to make the strawberry into an official state symbol, and that is exactly what happened. And along the way, they learned some things.” 

Today, some North Carolina wineries are making wine with scuppernong grapes. “In the kitchen,” says Caroline Rogers of Southern Living magazine, “scuppernongs can be used to make jams, jellies and preserves.” 

Muffin recipes with scuppernongs are rare. On the other hand, strawberries and blueberries are popular choices used by muffin makers. 

Elizabeth Waterson of Orange County, Calif., who maintains the blog “Confessions of a Baking Queen,” suggests that strawberry blueberry muffins “are the perfect breakfast treat. Adding strawberries to a classic blueberry muffin mix makes your morning treat a little sweeter!” 

Waterson holds dual citizenship in the United States and in the United Kingdom, where the muffin was first created on Drury Lane of London, England. Heed her advice.

 No other state has crowned the strawberry blueberry muffin as its state muffin. North Carolina should seize the day.