Hidden gem in Charlotte’s Oakhurst neighborhood where the menu is as creative as the food
May 4, 2022
Garnet Gals’ delicious jams grow beyond the Carolinas
Mother-daughter small business partners with local farms for agriculturally-supportive preserves
By Shannon Blair
Garnet Gals is run by a mother-and-daughter duo. Photo courtesy
Relocating from Sanford, North Carolina will extend the meaning of “local” for Andrea and Megan Lambert, the mother-daughter duo behind North Carolina’s Garnet Gals. A move to the mountains of Andrews, North Carolina this year means that Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee will “all now be local” for the company, which sells made-from-scratch jellies, jams, and marmalades made using fresh produce from local farmers, owner Megan Lambert says.
The team will maintain a Charlotte-area residence and storage; however, the main operations will occur within and from the new Andrews facility. “We will go from working with twenty pounds of fruit at a time to sixty or seventy,” Megan Lambert says. “We also have a new gas-fired forty-gallon tilt skillet there for production.” The Garnet Gals may have more robust equipment and higher-volume capacity on the horizon, but Megan and Andrea remain focused on working with regional producers to concoct their homemade preserves –– with an overarching goal to be supportive of local food economies.
Garnet Gals preserves use produce sourced from local farms. Kristen Wile/UP
“The Piedmont Culinary Guild helped make it all happen,” Lambert says of Garnet Gals’ success. “The membership meetups have been crucial to forming relationships with local farmers.” Garnet Gals source fruit from farms across the area, including grapes from Dover Vineyards (Concord, N.C.); strawberries from Bush-N-Vine (York, S.C.) and Gary Thomas Farms (Sanford, N.C.); apples from Perry Lowe Orchards (Moravian Falls, N.C.); peppers from Green Meadow Acres (Concord, N.C.); pears from Old Sol Produce (Wesley Chapel, N.C.); and tomatoes, figs, and berries from Hoffman Farms (Iron Station, N.C.).
Megan Lambert’s initial fascination with the myriad of produce flavors possible began in Napa. “I like to say I ran away to pastry school,” she says. Her culinary path to Garnet Gals was a winding one: After studying hotel and restaurant management, she obtained her masters in nutrition. It was during her dietetic internship that she decided to seek a pastry certification. She owned a bakery for about five years before shifting into a teaching career for more than fifteen years with Johnson & Wales University.
In 2012, Lambert’s hobby of making homemade preserves transformed into a business venture. Her mother Andrea suggested they work together on the concept. Mom Andrea handles everything beyond the kitchen, while Megan develops and prepares the recipes. The two work well together and have an in-sync routine. “We are very similar and can depend on each other,” Lambert says. “Of course, at moments we can be too similar!” Andrea’s mother and Megan’s grandmother Garnet Spencer, for whom the shop was named, was a businesswoman, too. “She was a self-employed beautician who ran her own shop,” Lambert says. “A real straight shooter.”
Garnet Gals has become sustainable enough these days to now serve as Megan’s full-time occupation. She has made it her mission, amidst growth, to do her part in increasing awareness of local farmers and doing what she can to help their production thrive.
“Brent Barbee, along with the other farmers I’ve met by working with PCG and Freshlist, have been so kind and helpful,” Lambert says. “They have given me so much inspiration with the beautiful fruit that they grow.”
When asked about where to begin with so many options available (sixteen and counting), she suggests these:
