{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "sc-mustard",
 "type": "style",
 "names": {
  "name": "South Carolina mustard barbecue",
  "aliases": [
   "Midlands barbecue",
   "mustard-based barbecue",
   "Carolina Gold barbecue",
   "Dutch Fork barbecue"
  ],
  "said": "Midlands menus say 'barbecue' or 'pork' and let the color of the sauce speak; the bottles say Carolina Gold or Southern Gold."
 },
 "region": [
  "sc-midlands",
  "sc"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "state": "SC",
  "meat": "mixed",
  "base": "mustard",
  "fuel": "mixed"
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "Pork — whole hogs at some pits, hams or shoulders at others — cooked over hardwood coals or on cookers, chopped or pulled, and dressed with a yellow sauce of prepared mustard, vinegar, sugar and spices. Hash, a stew of pork and onions that in the Midlands often takes mustard too, comes over white rice beside it, and the meal is often a buffet. The style belongs to the Midlands, the counties around Columbia: a belt the geographers Charles Kovacik and John Winberry drew in 1987 from Newberry and Lexington counties down through Orangeburg toward Charleston, the German-settled country whose fork of the Saluda and Broad rivers is called the Dutch Fork.",
  "story": "German Protestants took up land between the Saluda and Broad rivers from the 1730s, in what became Lexington, Newberry and Richland counties — the Dutch Fork, 'Dutch' from deutsch — and at Orangeburg, where a colony of Swiss, German and Dutch families settled in 1735. The state's accounts lay the mustard sauce at their door: the tourism office says they 'brought their love of mustard', and the South Carolina Barbeque Association's history names the families who sell it — Bessinger, Shealy, Hite, Sweatman, Dukes. *Tradition holds —* the sauce was on farm tables long before any bottle; the earliest name attached to it is Joe Bessinger, who served it with pit-cooked pork at Holly Hill from 1939, and some accounts credit him with inventing it.\n\nHis sons carried it out of Orangeburg County. Maurice opened Maurice's Piggie Park at West Columbia in 1953 with his brother Joe Jr.; Thomas opened Bessinger's in Charleston, and Melvin opened Melvin's in Mount Pleasant in 1982; the Dukes family opened buffet restaurants from the 1950s — the two families, Charleston Magazine says, brought Midlands barbecue to the Lowcountry after the war. Maurice bottled the sauce as Carolina Gold, sold it in supermarkets nationwide in the 1990s, and by 1999 ran the largest barbecue business in the country.\n\nThe name also carries a civil-rights case. In 1964 Anne Newman, the wife of a Black minister, was refused entry to a Piggie Park drive-in and sued under the Civil Rights Act; Bessinger argued that his religion forbade serving Black customers. The Fourth Circuit ordered the restaurants opened to all, and in 1968 the Supreme Court, in Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, held that a plaintiff who wins such an injunction ordinarily recovers attorney's fees. On July 1, 2000, the day the Confederate flag came down from the State House, he raised it over his restaurants and handed out tracts arguing that slavery was not inherently evil; grocery chains dropped Carolina Gold, his $50 million suit against them failed at the state Supreme Court in 2007, and his children took down the last flag in 2013. He died in 2014.",
  "how": "At Sweatman's, whole hogs cook twelve to fourteen hours over oak and hickory coals and are basted with the mustard sauce as they go; at Maurice's, hams cook sixteen hours over hickory and the chopped meat is coated with the sauce for the plate; at Hite's, whole hogs and hams go over oak and hickory coals rendered from a wood fire. The sauce is prepared yellow mustard, vinegar, sugar or brown sugar and pepper — Bessinger's supermarket bottle listed soy sauce too. It goes on at the block, stands on the buffet line, and in the Midlands goes into the hash pot; some Orangeburg places blend it with ketchup into a 'rust' sauce.",
  "today": "Mustard sauce has spread from the Midlands to menus across the state this century. Maurice's is open in West Columbia — its offices, pits and side factory burned on October 26, 2024; the restaurant and its sign survived — with Bessinger's in Charleston, Sweatman's at Holly Hill and Hite's in West Columbia on Fridays and Saturdays, Shealy's at Batesburg-Leesville, and Dukes restaurants around Orangeburg."
 },
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "mustard-sauce",
   "as": "its sauce, and the thing South Carolina is known for beyond its borders: prepared mustard, vinegar, sugar and pepper.",
   "rel": "sauce"
  },
  {
   "to": "hash-and-rice",
   "as": "its side: the pork-and-onion stew over white rice, which in the German Midlands often takes mustard too.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-pee-dee",
   "as": "the other South Carolina: whole hog and clear vinegar-pepper in the northeast, where this is mustard in the middle.",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-light-tomato",
   "as": "the band to its north on the four-sauce map, where ketchup goes into the vinegar instead of mustard.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-heavy-tomato",
   "as": "the western corner, where the sauce is thick and sweet with tomato.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "eastern-nc",
   "as": "the whole-hog cooking it shares at Sweatman's and Hite's; only the sauce on the hog differs.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "whole-hog",
   "as": "the cut at Sweatman's and Hite's, basted with mustard sauce as it cooks.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "pork-shoulder",
   "as": "the cut, with hams, at Bessinger's in Charleston and at Maurice's, where hams cook sixteen hours over hickory.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "hickory-and-oak",
   "as": "the coals under Sweatman's hogs and Hite's, and the hickory under Maurice's hams.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "dutch-fork",
   "as": "the German-settled fork of the Saluda and Broad whose families the sauce is traced to.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "to": "carolina-gold",
   "as": "the name the sauce is bottled and known under, from Maurice Bessinger's supermarket brand.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "to": "maurice-bessinger",
   "as": "made the sauce a supermarket product and his company the largest barbecue business in the country by 1999; the defendant in Newman v. Piggie Park, and the man who raised Confederate flags over his restaurants in 2000.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "joe-bessinger",
   "as": "served the sauce with pit-cooked pork at Holly Hill from 1939; some accounts credit him with inventing it.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "lake-high",
   "as": "the SC Barbeque Association's founder, whose history maps the sauce onto the German-settled counties.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "robert-moss",
   "as": "the historian who says the state has two sauces, sweet mustard and spicy vinegar, not four.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "maurices-piggie-park",
   "as": "West Columbia, since 1953: hams over hickory, chopped and coated with the sauce the family now bottles as Southern Gold.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "bessingers-bar-b-q",
   "as": "Thomas Bessinger's Charleston pit on Savannah Highway, cooking shoulders and hams over wood coals.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "sweatmans-bar-b-que",
   "as": "Holly Hill's farmhouse pit, whole hogs basted with mustard sauce over oak and hickory, in its brick pits since 1977.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "dukes-bar-b-que",
   "as": "the Orangeburg-country buffets of Manuel Dukes's descendants, from the 1950s, with mustard and 'rust' sauces.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "hites-bar-b-q",
   "as": "West Columbia, since 1957: whole hogs and hams over oak and hickory coals, and a sauce built on a strong yellow mustard.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "shealys-bar-b-que",
   "as": "the Batesburg-Leesville buffet, established 1969.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "jackie-hites-bar-b-q",
   "as": "Jackie Hite's pit at Leesville, opened May 1979 by the town's fire chief and later mayor: hickory-smoked pigs, a sauce of mustard, vinegar and pepper.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "cannons-bbq",
   "as": "a pit at Little Mountain, in Newberry County's share of the Dutch Fork.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "south-carolina-barbeque-association",
   "as": "the association whose sauce map puts mustard in the middle of the state.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "barbecue-sandwich",
   "as": "in South Carolina, pulled pork with the yellow sauce and slaw on a bun.",
   "rel": "serves"
  }
 ],
 "confusable_with": [
  {
   "id": "sc-light-tomato",
   "tell": "Yellow on the meat is mustard; a thin orange-red is light tomato; a brownish blend of both is Orangeburg's rust sauce, which is still mustard country."
  },
  {
   "id": "sc-pee-dee",
   "tell": "Both put hash and rice on the plate and both may cook the whole hog; the Pee Dee's sauce is clear and peppery, the Midlands' is yellow and sweet."
  }
 ],
 "geo": {
  "lat": 34.0006,
  "lon": -81.0347,
  "precision": "region",
  "source": "Columbia, the middle of the Midlands mustard belt (Wikipedia coordinates)"
 },
 "links": [
  {
   "label": "Barbecue in South Carolina — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue_in_South_Carolina"
  },
  {
   "label": "South Carolina's Four Barbecue Sauces — Discover South Carolina",
   "url": "https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/south-carolinas-four-barbecue-sauces"
  },
  {
   "label": "BBQ History — South Carolina Barbeque Association",
   "url": "https://www.scbarbeque.com/bbq-history/"
  },
  {
   "label": "Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc. — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newman_v._Piggie_Park_Enterprises,_Inc."
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  "s:wp-barbecue-in-south-carolina",
  "s:wp-dutch-fork",
  "s:wp-orangeburg-south-carolina",
  "s:wp-maurice-bessinger",
  "s:wp-newman-v-piggie-park",
  "s:wp-dukes-bar-b-que",
  "s:wp-hash-stew",
  "s:web-sc-four-sauces",
  "s:sc-parks-sauce-map",
  "s:web-scba-bbq-history",
  "s:web-piggiepark-mustard",
  "s:web-charlestonmag-mustard-migration",
  "s:web-bessingers-destination-bbq",
  "s:web-sfa-sweatmans",
  "s:web-sweatmans-history",
  "s:web-hites-destination-bbq",
  "s:web-sfa-jackie-hites",
  "s:web-shealys",
  "s:high-sc-barbeque"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-barbecue-in-south-carolina"
  },
  "fields": {
   "text.story": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:wp-maurice-bessinger",
    "note": "settlement from the Dutch Fork and Orangeburg articles; the German attribution from the tourism office and the SCBA history; Joe Bessinger 1939 from the Piggie Park site; the Lowcountry migration from Charleston Magazine; Newman v. Piggie Park and the flags from the two Wikipedia articles; the farm-table sentence is marked tradition"
   },
   "text.how": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:web-sweatmans-history",
    "note": "Sweatman's from its own site and the SFA; Maurice's from the Piggie Park site; Hite's from Destination BBQ; the bottle's contents and rust sauce from Wikipedia"
   },
   "text.today": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:wp-maurice-bessinger",
    "note": "the 2024 fire from the Bessinger article; hours from the restaurants' own pages and Destination BBQ; check before driving"
   },
   "geo": {
    "tier": "inference",
    "note": "Wikipedia coordinates for Columbia; region precision"
   }
  }
 },
 "images": [],
 "confidence": "high",
 "needs_verification": false,
 "updated": "2026-09-15",
 "blurb": "Pork — whole hogs at some pits, hams or shoulders at others — cooked over hardwood coals or on cookers, chopped or pulled, and dressed with a yellow sauce of prepared mustard, vinegar, sugar and spices.",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "sc-midlands",
   "name": "The South Carolina Midlands",
   "state": "SC",
   "note": "Columbia and the counties around it, including the Dutch Fork; the mustard belt"
  },
  {
   "key": "sc",
   "name": "South Carolina",
   "state": "SC"
  }
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "mustard-sauce",
   "type": "sauce",
   "name": "mustard-based barbecue sauce",
   "as": "its sauce, and the thing South Carolina is known for beyond its borders: prepared mustard, vinegar, sugar and pepper.",
   "rel": "sauce"
  },
  {
   "to": "hash-and-rice",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "hash and rice",
   "as": "its side: the pork-and-onion stew over white rice, which in the German Midlands often takes mustard too.",
   "rel": "serves"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-pee-dee",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Pee Dee whole-hog barbecue",
   "as": "the other South Carolina: whole hog and clear vinegar-pepper in the northeast, where this is mustard in the middle.",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-light-tomato",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Light tomato barbecue",
   "as": "the band to its north on the four-sauce map, where ketchup goes into the vinegar instead of mustard.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-heavy-tomato",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Heavy tomato barbecue",
   "as": "the western corner, where the sauce is thick and sweet with tomato.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "eastern-nc",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Eastern North Carolina barbecue",
   "as": "the whole-hog cooking it shares at Sweatman's and Hite's; only the sauce on the hog differs.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "whole-hog",
   "type": "pit",
   "name": "whole hog",
   "as": "the cut at Sweatman's and Hite's, basted with mustard sauce as it cooks.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "pork-shoulder",
   "type": "pit",
   "name": "pork shoulder",
   "as": "the cut, with hams, at Bessinger's in Charleston and at Maurice's, where hams cook sixteen hours over hickory.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "hickory-and-oak",
   "type": "pit",
   "name": "hickory and oak",
   "as": "the coals under Sweatman's hogs and Hite's, and the hickory under Maurice's hams.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "dutch-fork",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "Dutch Fork",
   "as": "the German-settled fork of the Saluda and Broad whose families the sauce is traced to.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "to": "carolina-gold",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "Carolina Gold",
   "as": "the name the sauce is bottled and known under, from Maurice Bessinger's supermarket brand.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "to": "maurice-bessinger",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Maurice Bessinger",
   "as": "made the sauce a supermarket product and his company the largest barbecue business in the country by 1999; the defendant in Newman v. Piggie Park, and the man who raised Confederate flags over his restaurants in 2000.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "joe-bessinger",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Joe Bessinger",
   "as": "served the sauce with pit-cooked pork at Holly Hill from 1939; some accounts credit him with inventing it.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "lake-high",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Lake High",
   "as": "the SC Barbeque Association's founder, whose history maps the sauce onto the German-settled counties.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "robert-moss",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Robert F. Moss",
   "as": "the historian who says the state has two sauces, sweet mustard and spicy vinegar, not four.",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "maurices-piggie-park",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Maurice's Piggie Park BBQ",
   "as": "West Columbia, since 1953: hams over hickory, chopped and coated with the sauce the family now bottles as Southern Gold.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "bessingers-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Bessinger's Bar-B-Q",
   "as": "Thomas Bessinger's Charleston pit on Savannah Highway, cooking shoulders and hams over wood coals.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "sweatmans-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Sweatman's Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "Holly Hill's farmhouse pit, whole hogs basted with mustard sauce over oak and hickory, in its brick pits since 1977.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "dukes-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Dukes Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "the Orangeburg-country buffets of Manuel Dukes's descendants, from the 1950s, with mustard and 'rust' sauces.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "hites-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Hite's Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "West Columbia, since 1957: whole hogs and hams over oak and hickory coals, and a sauce built on a strong yellow mustard.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "shealys-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Shealy's Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "the Batesburg-Leesville buffet, established 1969.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "jackie-hites-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Jackie Hite's Bar-B-Q",
   "as": "Jackie Hite's pit at Leesville, opened May 1979 by the town's fire chief and later mayor: hickory-smoked pigs, a sauce of mustard, vinegar and pepper.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "cannons-bbq",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Cannon's BBQ",
   "as": "a pit at Little Mountain, in Newberry County's share of the Dutch Fork.",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "south-carolina-barbeque-association",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "South Carolina Barbeque Association",
   "as": "the association whose sauce map puts mustard in the middle of the state.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "barbecue-sandwich",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "barbecue sandwich",
   "as": "in South Carolina, pulled pork with the yellow sauce and slaw on a bun.",
   "rel": "serves"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:wp-barbecue-in-south-carolina",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Barbecue in South Carolina — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue_in_South_Carolina",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-dutch-fork",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Dutch Fork — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Fork",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-orangeburg-south-carolina",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Orangeburg, South Carolina — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangeburg,_South_Carolina",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-maurice-bessinger",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Maurice Bessinger — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Bessinger",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-newman-v-piggie-park",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc. — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newman_v._Piggie_Park_Enterprises,_Inc.",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-dukes-bar-b-que",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Dukes Bar-B-Que — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_Bar-B-Que",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
   "note": "revision 1373146410"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-hash-stew",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Hash (stew) — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_(stew)",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
   "note": "revision 1334401453"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-sc-four-sauces",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "South Carolina's Four Barbecue Sauces (Gwen Fowler)",
   "publisher": "South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism — discoversouthcarolina.com",
   "url": "https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/south-carolinas-four-barbecue-sauces",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:sc-parks-sauce-map",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism — the four barbecue sauce regions",
   "url": "https://discoversouthcarolina.com/",
   "note": "the state tourism office's sauce map (mustard, vinegar-pepper, light tomato, heavy tomato)"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-scba-bbq-history",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "BBQ History (Lake E. High Jr.)",
   "publisher": "South Carolina Barbeque Association",
   "url": "https://www.scbarbeque.com/bbq-history/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-piggiepark-mustard",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "How Mustard BBQ Sauce Got Famous",
   "publisher": "Maurice's Piggie Park",
   "url": "https://www.piggiepark.com/how-mustard-got-into-south-carolina-bbq/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-charlestonmag-mustard-migration",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "The Mustard-Sauce Migration: the evolution of Charleston barbecue, part 1",
   "publisher": "Charleston Magazine",
   "url": "https://charlestonmag.com/the_mustard_sauce_migration_the_evolution_of_charleston_barbecue_part_1",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-bessingers-destination-bbq",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Bessinger's Bar-Be-Que Restaurant in Charleston",
   "publisher": "Destination BBQ",
   "url": "https://destination-bbq.com/stores/bessingers-bar-be-que/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-sfa-sweatmans",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Sweatman's Bar-B-Que — oral history with Douglas Oliver (Rien Fertel, 4 Jun 2012)",
   "publisher": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/sweatmans-bar-b-que/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-sweatmans-history",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "History",
   "publisher": "Sweatman's Bar-B-Que, Holly Hill",
   "url": "https://www.sweatmansbbq.com/history.html",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-hites-destination-bbq",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Hite's Bar-B-Que",
   "publisher": "Destination BBQ",
   "url": "https://destination-bbq.com/stores/hites-bar-b-que/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-sfa-jackie-hites",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Jackie Hite's Bar-B-Q — oral history with Jackie Hite (Rien Fertel, 13 Jun 2012)",
   "publisher": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/jackie-hites-bar-b-q/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-shealys",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Shealy's Bar-B-Que — official site",
   "publisher": "Shealy's Bar-B-Que, Batesburg-Leesville",
   "url": "https://www.shealysbbq.com/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:high-sc-barbeque",
   "kind": "book",
   "title": "A History of South Carolina Barbeque",
   "author": "Lake E. High Jr.",
   "publisher": "The History Press",
   "year": 2013
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-barbecue-in-south-carolina"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-maurice-bessinger",
   "note": "settlement from the Dutch Fork and Orangeburg articles; the German attribution from the tourism office and the SCBA history; Joe Bessinger 1939 from the Piggie Park site; the Lowcountry migration from Charleston Magazine; Newman v. Piggie Park and the flags from the two Wikipedia articles; the farm-table sentence is marked tradition"
  },
  "text.how": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-sweatmans-history",
   "note": "Sweatman's from its own site and the SFA; Maurice's from the Piggie Park site; Hite's from Destination BBQ; the bottle's contents and rust sauce from Wikipedia"
  },
  "text.today": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-maurice-bessinger",
   "note": "the 2024 fire from the Bessinger article; hours from the restaurants' own pages and Destination BBQ; check before driving"
  },
  "geo": {
   "tier": "inference",
   "note": "Wikipedia coordinates for Columbia; region precision"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": null,
 "tag_facts": [],
 "recognition_facts": [],
 "acclaim": 0,
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "sc-heavy-tomato",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Heavy tomato barbecue",
   "as": "the Midlands to its southeast, whose mustard sauce turns up beside the tomato one on Upstate tables.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "from": "sc-light-tomato",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Light tomato barbecue",
   "as": "the mustard country to its south, now spreading into its counties.",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "from": "sc-pee-dee",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Pee Dee whole-hog barbecue",
   "as": "the other South Carolina: yellow sauce in the middle of the state, where this is clear vinegar in the northeast.",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "from": "maurices-southern-gold",
   "type": "sauce",
   "name": "Maurice's Southern Gold",
   "as": "the Midlands style it sells nationally.",
   "rel": "style"
  },
  {
   "from": "melvins-golden-sauce",
   "type": "sauce",
   "name": "Melvin's Golden Sauce",
   "as": "the Midlands style a Lowcountry counter sells, four generations out from Holly Hill.",
   "rel": "style"
  },
  {
   "from": "mustard-sauce",
   "type": "sauce",
   "name": "mustard-based barbecue sauce",
   "as": "the style it names: Midlands pork, chopped or pulled, under a yellow sauce, with hash and rice.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "banana-pudding",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "banana pudding",
   "as": "at Sweatman's in Holly Hill, after hash and rice.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "barbecue-sandwich",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "barbecue sandwich",
   "as": "the style whose sandwich is pulled pork under a yellow mustard sauce, slaw optional.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "collards",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "collards",
   "as": "on the Orangeburg buffets beside hash and rice.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "fried-okra",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "fried okra",
   "as": "a standing side on the Orangeburg buffets.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "hash-and-rice",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "hash and rice",
   "as": "the style whose plate it sits on, over rice, beside mustard-sauced pork; in the Midlands the mustard is in the hash too.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "pickles",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "pickles",
   "as": "part of the Midlands plate as it is usually set out.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "sweet-tea",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "sweet tea",
   "as": "one of the five things Dukes in Orangeburg says people come for.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "white-slaw",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "white slaw",
   "as": "on the South Carolina plate beside hash, rice, pickles and white bread.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "bessingers-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Bessinger's Bar-B-Q",
   "as": "the style it carried from the Midlands to the coast in 1955.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "cannons-bbq",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Cannon's BBQ",
   "as": "its style: Dutch Fork mustard, in the sauce and in the hash.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "carolina-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Carolina Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "the sauce belt it sits in, west of Orangeburg on the Savannah River side.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "dukes-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Dukes Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "its style: the Orangeburg mustard belt, with ketchup stirred in.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "henrys-smokehouse",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Henry's Smokehouse",
   "as": "its second sauce is the Midlands' mustard, spicy.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "from": "hites-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Hite's Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "the style: a Lexington County farm stand with a strong yellow mustard sauce.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "jackie-hites-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Jackie Hite's Bar-B-Q",
   "as": "its style: whole hog under a mustard-vinegar sauce, in Lexington County.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "maurices-piggie-park",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Maurice's Piggie Park BBQ",
   "as": "the style it made national: the Midlands mustard sauce, bottled and shipped.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "mccabes-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "McCabe's Bar-B-Q",
   "as": "the neighbouring style: Manning's sauce is vinegar, the Midlands' is mustard.",
   "rel": "contrast"
  },
  {
   "from": "melvins-legendary-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Melvin's Legendary Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "the sauce family it belongs to, carried from Holly Hill down to the coast.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "shealys-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Shealy's Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "its style, at the western edge of the mustard belt; vinegar and tomato sauces stand beside the mustard.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "sweatmans-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Sweatman's Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "the style it belongs to: whole hog under a sweet mustard sauce, in Orangeburg County.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "joe-bessinger",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Joe Bessinger",
   "as": "the style his sons carried from Orangeburg County to Columbia and the coast.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "lake-high",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Lake High",
   "as": "one of his four regions: the German mustard of the Midlands, which he dates to the settlers of the 1730s to 1750s.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "from": "maurice-bessinger",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Maurice Bessinger",
   "as": "the style he made a national product and the name that carries its court case.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "from": "robert-moss",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Robert F. Moss",
   "as": "one of the two sauces he counts: sweet mustard.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "from": "south-carolina-barbeque-association",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "South Carolina Barbeque Association",
   "as": "one of the four regions on its sauce map: the Midlands' German mustard.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "from": "carolina-gold",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "Carolina Gold",
   "as": "the style whose sauce goes by this name.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "from": "dutch-fork",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "Dutch Fork",
   "as": "the style the Fork's Germans are credited with.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "from": "pulled-pork",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "pulled pork",
   "as": "the style whose sandwich Wikipedia describes as pulled pork under a yellow sauce.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "from": "the-great-divide",
   "type": "story",
   "name": "The Great Divide",
   "as": "the answer South Carolina's Midlands gives, which neither North Carolina camp accepts.",
   "rel": "contrast"
  }
 ]
}