In a region referred to as the Red Clay Hills, Calhoun County is known for its abundance of sweet potatoes, aptly holding the moniker as the "Sweet Potato Capital of the World." The state ranks number three in sweet potato production in the United States, and in 2023 produced more than 4.3 million hundred-weight (100 lbs) per the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC). 1 Though many may only think of the popular tuber during the holidays, for others, it is a way of life and a part of their generational history.
For more than 100 years, the Cook family has owned land in Vardaman, Mississippi. Today, the family operates Cook Farms, one of 172 sweet potato farms in the state, 2 and Sweet Potato Sweets, an almost 30-year-old bakery and confectionary shop downtown off Highway 8. Jan Cook-Houston, daughter of Paul and Daphna Cook, carries on her family's legacy at the farm and in their shop.
Speaking on her family’s history of farming in the area, Jan tells the story of how her great-great-grandfather initially came to Vardaman:
“My Dad’s grandfather was one of the founding people who brought sweet potatoes to this area. He came from Tennessee. They were raising sweet potatoes there, but they didn’t have the land for row crop. Here, the farmers were mostly pig farmers. Well, they had all this land that they didn’t need for pigs, so they did a land swap with the people in Tennessee. They came down, and my Dad’s grandfather was one of them. And his Dad [Jan’s grandfather] was a sweet potato farmer, and my dad is a sweet potato farmer. I help with my Dad’s farm since he’s 91, but my nephew, Kevin Stafford, his grandson, is partners with my Dad. So even though my Dad only had one son, and [my brother] wanted to be a pharmacist instead of a farmer, it is still in our family.”
Last fall, I sat down with Jan to discuss sweet potato farming, some of her favorite treats, and the importance of her family's contribution to Mississippi foodways. When I went out to meet Jan on one cold and rainy day, we drove around Vardaman as she shared a typical day in her life. With my camera in hand, Jan stood alongside me telling stories of her father’s farm and her mother’s sweet shop. The quotes in this photo essay are all by Jan and provide a snapshot of our heartfelt conversation that day—a conversation that included tears, laughter, and a mutual understanding about a hardworking family whose contribution to the land and Mississippi’s foodways tradition not only supports their family but a community.
The Farm
Pictured in the far background is Jan Cook-Houston’s “little farmhouse” in Vardaman, Mississippi. “I live in this little farmhouse,” says Jan. “I had a four-bedroom in Anniston, AL when I moved back here in 2010. So I came here, I didn’t know if I was going to live here or if I was going to live in Oxford. I just didn’t know what I was going to do. So my Dad had this little house and he said, “Well let’s just fix up that little house until you make your mind up, and I haven’t left yet, and I’ve been happier here than I’ve ever been in my life.”
Article Photography by Jai Williams
Among rows and rows of sweet potatoes at Cook Farms, Jan begins to reminisce about her childhood. “Dad’s had the farm since he was 18 years old. He loves it. He told somebody that farming was his love. He loved every minute of it,” says Jan. Like her dad, Jan loved being on the farm. While her siblings preferred to stay inside, Jan found ways to help her dad out and learn the art of farming from him. “When I was little, my Dad would put me in a field like this and [he] would start me [on the tractor] at that other end and he would say, ‘Just keep it in the middle.’ And he would do what he needed to do and then meet me at this end when I needed to turn because I wasn’t old enough to turn it.”
To pick the potatoes out of the ground, farmers employ multiple methods. Some use a machine called a digger [pictured], and some use a bucket crew. A bucket crew is a group of workers that pick the sweet potatoes by hand. At Jan’s farm, the sweet potatoes are harvested using a digger machine. “We still use the digger,” adds Jan. “It has two forks, and it goes down two rows at a time and those sweet potatoes come up on the conveyor belt and in front of the people that are there working.” On each side of the conveyor belt, workers grab the potatoes and put them in crates to be washed and sorted later.
“I used to drive the digger, but we got so busy at the Sweets Shop,” says Jan. “I do drive the tractor when we transplant [the sweet potatoes] in the ground. I do that every spring, every May.”
Dad’s had the farm since he was 18 years old. He loves it. He told somebody that farming was his love. He loved every minute of it.
The sweet potatoes are put in crates as they are taken off the digger conveyor belt and sorted by size and shape.
“This one is a wonderful number one, that’s a beautiful potato right there,” exclaims Jan. According to the USDA, a “U.S. No. 1 consists of sweet potatoes of one type which are firm, fairly smooth, fairly clean, fairly well shaped, which are free from freezing injury” and other internal and external damages.
“Our soil is perfect for sweet potatoes,” explains Jan. “The quality is better and so we grabbed the ‘Sweet Potato Capital of the World’ title before anyone else did.”
During our tour, Jan took me to a neighbor’s farm to show me the crates of sweet potatoes that are stacked before being taken to the packing house on large trucks. “Vardaman is such a small town, everybody that owns land, that farms, grew up here. I’ve never known anyone that’s moved in here, bought land, and started a farm. They were from here. My Dad just lived, maybe a mile down the road here. That’s where he was born and raised.”
Jan then took me to a friend’s packing house located in Vardaman where locally farmed potatoes are washed, sorted, and packed before shipping. Pointing to the building, Jan adds, “This is my friend’s packing house. They are growers, packers, and shippers. We went to church with them all my life. His mom and dad were friends with my mom and dad. People just help each other.”
Inside the packing house, potatoes are washed on a conveyor belt.
Sweet Potato Sweets Shop
When Jan isn't helping her father or nephew on the farm, she spends most of her time at Sweet Potato Sweets running the daily operations of the family business. “My Mom started the business in 1996 with two other ladies, Karen Wright and Barbara Williams,” says Jan. The shop has always been owned and operated by women—a significant accomplishment built on hopes, dreams, and a challenge from a local to bake a large number of sweet potato pies for a potential client. The three women started small and continued to grow the business over the years.
I tell everybody my Mom had four children and five babies, because this was her baby. She bought it; we bought it in her name; and before she died she was the sole owner. I know in heaven she’s happy about it.
As you enter the sweets shop, hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla waft through the air. Baked goods are everywhere, from pies waiting on shelves and displays full of bread to miniature goodies on the countertop and boxes of sweet potatoes for those who prefer to bake at home.
Sweet Potato Sweets on Highway 8 in Vardaman, MS.
“We as a family, feel like it’s our service to the community to have this place here,” states Jan. “My Mom always said after she opened it, she realized it was such a shame for people to come through Vardaman and not be able to buy a sweet potato pie. We do everything, one at a time, by hand. We peel every potato by hand. We roll every sausage ball by hand. We roll every cookie by hand, and I think if we got bigger, we couldn’t do that.”
Jan recalls, “The pie recipe came from my aunt, Betty Wright [of no relation to Karen Wright].” “She was my mother’s sister, and everybody loved her sweet potato pies, so when my mother opened the business she said, let's use her recipe.”
Freshly baked sweet potato bread cooling down.
“My personal favorite is the sweet potato bread,” says Jan. “It has dates and walnuts in it, and if you said, ‘Do you like dates?’ I’d say, ‘No.’ But oh, it cooks out in that bread, and it’s wonderful.”
We do everything, one at a time, by hand. We peel every potato by hand. We roll every sausage ball by hand. We roll every cookie by hand, and I think if we got bigger, we couldn’t do that.
“My mother’s recipe, the muffin tops [pictured on the far left], people tease us about that,” reminisces Jan. “They’ll say, ‘Well what happens to the muffin?’” Jan chuckles at the answer, “We only have the tops. My mother didn’t like the muffin part of the bread, she just liked the top. She didn’t want to make muffins, so she got a pan that would cook just the tops.”
“The yum yums [pictured here cooling on a tray] have four ingredients: sweet potatoes, cream cheese, brown sugar, and pecans. I’ll tell you those four ingredients that are in there, but you can’t make it. It’s a process that we do, that nobody’s been able to recreate it. And that came up because my younger sister Traci [Cook] was in the kitchen playing, and she used the wrong ingredient for something. She was about to dump it in the trash, and my mother said–being the frugal person she was, ‘Well, just put it in the oven and see what it will do.’ And it turned into one of our best sellers.”
Pictured in the shop: Jan’s parents, Paul & Daphna Cook
“I think my family has done a lot for the sweet potato industry,” says Jan, “And the sweet potato industry has done a lot for Mississippi.”
Sweet Potato Sweets is now solely owned by the Cook family, and Jan continues to follow in her mother Daphna’s footsteps while honoring the legacy she left behind. Jan’s voice begins to slightly waver as the memory of her mother is never far away. “I tell everybody my Mom had four children and five babies, because this was her baby. She bought it; we bought it in her name; and before she died she was the sole owner. I know in heaven she’s happy about it.” Jan continues, “We would never want to see this place close. So, after I get too old to do it–and I don’t think there’s anybody coming up old enough to do it–I just hope that somebody in this community will step up and want to continue it, I really do. And I think they will, I think they will.”
Footnotes
Jai Williams
Jai Williams is a southern photographer who focuses on imagery through an ethnographic lens.