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This is the time of year when we all tend to feel a little harried, frazzled, or just want to chill out and get away from it all. However, cooler weather also signifies a time of year when I can most enjoy my favorite comfort foods. Here is the story behind one of my favorite comfort foods.
Our home is in Leon County, Florida which is also the location of Tallahassee, the state capital. While Tallahassee is a good sized city of over 180,000 people and a sizable suburban population, much of the area in Leon County is still fairly rural and is dotted with plantations, farms, private and public forest lands, and small communities.
Within just a few short miles of the Capitol, one can drive along any one of of a number of canopy roads. If you take a pleasant drive for about twelve miles along one of these canopy roads, Centerville Road, you will first pass suburban subdivisions and then farms and horse farms, all of which are very beautiful. At the twelve mile mark, Centerville Road continues north as a dirt road across the Georgia line and Moccasin Gap Road, which is paved, intersects on the east side. If you take Moccasin Gap road for several miles, you will come to the rural community of Miccosukee.
However, at this same intersection, there is a small wooden structure, a country store, looking much the same as it did in 1927. This store is Bradley's Country Store and it is a genuine, working country store for the people living in this rural area. Bradley's is also the destination for their delicious sausage which they have shipped all over the world. When my husband was in his late teens, he worked as a bricklayer's helper one summer and helped build the smoke house which is the most modern building on the site.
Bradley's purchases the hogs from nearby farms, does their own slaughtering and makes the sausage on site several times a week. You can be assured that the sausage you buy from Bradlesy's is very fresh.
My husband and his buddies used to run from property located near Bradley's every Saturday and often would bring home some sausage for us to enjoy. Sadly that group now runs closer into town so we do not get their sausage as often. However two weeks ago, my husband was out that way and brought home two pounds of their homemade sausage, one each of links and ground. Their perfectly seasoned sausage is leaner than store brands and leaves very little grease when cooked up. Each day that we had the sausage, it was like I was in heaven.
Bradley's sausage is one of my favorite comfort foods. Apparently that is the case for many other people because this unchanged little old fashioned country store is still going strong after nearly 85 years.