EL DORADO, Ark. — A robust sweetness, quickly followed by a sharp, tart pucker: this is the taste of Mayhaw jelly, made from a small, apple-like fruit grown in wetlands in the southern United States. Rhonda and Ken Rudder, owners of Richland Creek Farm & Market in El Dorado, hope to share their artisan Mayhaw jelly with more Arkansans through the Cooperative Extension Service’s Share Grounds program.
“Mayhaws were traditionally gathered by folks who lived in our part of the world going into the swamps in May, when the water levels were high, and they would take a dip net and skim the fruit off the top of the water,” said Rhonda Rudder. “They’d carry it home, wash it and prepare this jelly.”
Mayhaw trees are part of the rose family, and the fruit usually ripens in early summer. Garry McDonald, associate professor of horticulture for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said Mayhaws are native to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and parts of southern Arkansas.
“They’re rather limited in distribution because they grow in more or less swamps or hardwood bottomlands,” McDonald said. “The main reason they’re not very well known is because of this limited area, and because a lot of their preferred habitat has actually been lost.”
McDonald said Mayhaw trees require a lot of moisture but can be successfully cultivated outside of wetlands.
“They are adaptable to more open conditions, so they don’t have to grow in boggy, wet soil,” he said. “You can cultivate them, but they may not thrive under drought conditions. You’re going to have to irrigate them for successful fruit production if you’re growing them outside of their native habitats.”
Rudder said a local friend, Paul McLaughlin, taught her about grafting Mayhaw trees and how to raise them. Grafting is the act of joining two plants together, so they grow as one.
“With these heritage recipes that get passed down, there’s somebody older who comes before you,” she said. “McLaughlin has an orchard of 100-plus Mayhaw trees. He said, ‘Would you like to join the Louisiana Mayhaw Association and get involved?’ So, he took me under his wing. He showed me how to graft my trees, and I helped him take care of his orchard. He was just kind enough to show me the ropes.”
At their farm in El Dorado, Rhonda and Ken began making Mayhaw jelly in 2007.
“I’m a horticulturist, so I have an orchard of various things,” Rudder said. “The vegetables I was trying to grow on bottomland soil were not doing so hot. So, I said, ‘Forget this, we’re going to grow some Mayhaws.’ The Mayhaw trees are doing outstanding on that ground.”
Testing it out, scaling it up
Rudder said the Mayhaw jelly has a flavor that surprises new tasters.
“It’s very tart, that’s why it’s such a good jelly,” she said. “Every time somebody tastes it for the first time, they say, ‘Well, that’s different than anything I’ve ever had!’ It’s everybody’s favorite.”
McDonald said this element of surprise, as well as the fruit being lesser known among its peers, makes Mayhaw jelly unique.
“If you just eat Mayhaws by themselves, they’re kind of bitter,” he said. “But it has that synergistic magic when you mix it with sugar: it’s tart, but also has very tasty flavors. Plus, just the rarity of it has a novel effect, which I think captures people’s imagination.”
In addition to grafting and raising their own Mayhaw trees, the couple also harvests and prepares the fruit for production. This includes inspecting the berries, sorting them, and freezing them in four-pound bags until it’s time to produce the next batch.
“We call this an artisan jelly, it’s a high-dollar jelly,” Rudder said. “I could sell the recipe for others to make it, but if they don’t have the Mayhaws, they don’t have anything. It’s totally in-house for us. We grafted the trees, we picked the fruit and prepared it, then we produce it at the Share Grounds because we don’t have a commercial kitchen.”
Share Grounds is an educational and technical assistance program that offers clients access to a commercial kitchen facility at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Rison, Arkansas. Amanda Philyaw Perez, extension associate professor of food systems and food safety specialist for the Division of Agriculture, and David Hill, extension program associate for food systems and food safety, help clients navigate the processes and regulations involved in food entrepreneurship.
Perez said Share Grounds is designed for food entrepreneurs like the Rudders to explore the market for their products.
“The Share Grounds is a place for people to test new ideas and create innovative food products,” she said. “Few people may be familiar with Mayhaw, and making a product with an unfamiliar ingredient can be a risk. The Share Grounds has been a testing ground for identifying a market.”
Before learning about Share Grounds, the Rudders sold their Mayhaw jelly and other products at local farmers markets. When the Share Grounds program was announced in 2019, Rudder was selected as one of the program’s first clients. But when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, the project was delayed. Due to further complications with flooding, the commercial kitchen space had to be renovated before reopening. The Arkansas Community Foundation and the West Foundation provided necessary funds to get the facility ready for clients.
“It came back on my radar when I saw a post on extension’s Facebook page about how the kitchen space had been remodeled,” Rudder said. “We just hopped in the car and came up here that afternoon, just cold called, and we met David. It was around Thanksgiving last year, and it’s taken that long to write the procedures, get the permits and take the classes. This is our second commercial batch.”
A localized treasure
In addition to local sales, the Rudders now have a website for Richland Creek Farm & Market, and they’ve sold a few orders through the mail. Rudder said she hopes that with future commercial batches, she can have more products available in a wider area. The couple plans to produce muscadine, scuppernong, blackberry, plum and other jellies as well.
Perez said it’s important for Arkansans to take advantage of the state’s native plants and the possibilities for their use.
“As people explore solutions for improving our local food system, reconnecting with products that grow naturally in the region and finding ways to reintroduce them to our food culture is an important part of that process,” Perez said.
Rudder and her husband said they think the tradition of making Mayhaw jelly should continue to be shared.
“Keeping our southern culinary heritage alive is the footing of our business,” Rudder said. “We love it when people tell us that our jelly is just like their grandmother made — that’s a powerful connection. But even more than that, we are proud to be a sector of the food business where heritage is passed forward.
“This jelly represents a bridge, where people connect across generations and miles to their native roots,” she said. “And if they didn’t grow up eating Mayhaw jelly, it’s a sampling of our way of life.”
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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