‘Sonkers’ are Surry County’s claim to dessert fame

For a good time, pack up your spoons and take a unique road trip along the “Surry Sonker Trail” in North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley. At every stop, savor the flavor of an indigenous dessert dish known as a sonker.

 

It’s hard to say where the name ‘sonker’ came from, but Marion Venable and the folks at the Surry County Historical Society tell us: 

“Sonker is best described as an ultra juicy hybrid between a cobbler and a deep-dish pie. Since the late 1700s, generations of Surry County people have handed down recipes and tweaked them to suit their tastes, using available fruits of the season.” 

“Sonker comes about by blending fruit and dough, often sweetened with sugar or sorghum cane molasses…and an occasional ‘secret ingredient spice’ of the cook’s preference.”

 

“It can be accompanied by a dip (glaze) made of cream, sugar or molasses, and a few drops of vanilla extract.” (The dip is usually poured over single servings of sonker after they’ve been scooped out of the baking dish onto individual plates.)

 

Let’s start with the filling. Some popular fruits used in sonkers are blackberries, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, apricots, huckleberries, dewberries, cherries, apples, pears, plums and even persimmons. Bakers may also choose to use rhubarb (a vegetable that functions like a fruit).

 

Sonkers have traditionally served the useful purpose of making the most of the fruit crop, especially toward the end of the growing season. Overripe fruit adds to the juiciness. Add sugar or molasses and cook the filling in a pot on the stove until it begins to bubble. 

Now, for the crust. It can either resemble pie dough or be reminiscent of biscuit dough. “Sonkers are a ‘hard times dessert,’” said Sandra Johnson of Mount Airy. “It contains no eggs, which were scarce. If you lived in Mount Airy, you grew up eating sonker. Maybe not the elite city folks, but we country folks sure did.” 

If made from pie dough, then the crust usually lines the sides of a big rectangular pan and perhaps the bottom. Dough for the biscuit version is usually misshapen and baked on top of the filling. 

Freelance writer Andrea Weigl of Raleigh said that Surry County old timers would comment that the dough “was sunk down on top of the fruit,” suggesting that the name “sonker” may stem from a twisted pronunciation of “sunk.” 

The dessert had to be “large enough to feed a big family or farmhands who’d spent the day working in the fields,” Weigl added. “Sonkers are warm, gooey deliciousness.”

 

Dr. Annette Ayers, a Surry County native, who is active in the historical society, suggests that “a wonderful way to get the full experience is at the annual Surry County Sonker Festival” held on the first Saturday of October on the grounds of the historic Edwards-Franklin House in Lowgap, west of Mount Airy. 

Eat some sonkers and enjoy bluegrass and old-time music, flatfoot dancing and exhibits by local quilters.

 

The “Surry Sonker Trail” was organized in 2015 as a heritage tourism project. Eight eateries are currently participating. They are found in the communities of Dobson, Elkin, Mount Airy, Pilot Mountain and Rockford. 

Writing for Our State magazine, Sarah Lindenfeld Hall said the sonker is rightfully “celebrated as a part of North Carolina’s culinary landscape.”