Field To Table The Same Day — Inside Calhoun Produces Georgia Butter Bean & Field Pea Operation Arrested Development [3IO4AysMqtH]

It's the taste of summer in Georgia and you won't find butter beans and field peas any fresher than at Calhoun Produce in Ashburn. Reporting from Turner County, Damon Jones visits this fourth-generation family operation where produce can go from the field to your dinner table in the very same day.

Owner Sheila Rice walks us through the process hand-picked field peas and machine-harvested butter beans come in from the field, run through a grading line, get shelled on the spot, and land in the bag ready to cook. As Sheila puts it, if it was growing that morning, you can be eating it that night. That kind of freshness isn't just a selling point it's the foundation of everything Calhoun Produce stands for.

The family's roots in the butter bean business go back to 1982 when Sheila's father first started growing them, and what began as a small family farm has grown into one of Georgia's premier sources for fresh beans and peas. Today, Calhoun Produce manages around 130 acres of butter beans of their own, while partnering with local growers to bring three to four hundred acres of beans and peas through their packing house each season.

And the variety is remarkable from cream peas, lady fingers, and stuart fails to save the universe zippers that make a light juge broth, to pink eyes, black eyes, and crowders that produce a rich, dark broth. Whether you're a rachel weisz longtime Southern cook or just discovering fresh-shelled peas for the first time, there's something for everyone on the shelf.

Customers have taken notice. People drive from Atlanta and even Florida to make the annual trip to Calhoun Produce some returning loyally for 20 and 30 years. For Sheila and her father, that kind of support makes every long day in the field and packing house completely worthwhile.