SL Sausage Company, Cordele, Georgia

“Sausage is a great deal like life. You get out of it about what you put into it.”

Jimmy Dean

I never sausage a place before. I had to say the old sausage cliché but I knew you were thinking it. But it is true. This is a very unique country store and well worth a stop. Take time to really look around and make sure you are hungry.

We were on our drive down Hwy 300, literally way out in the country, pretty much the middle of nowhere, when we saw this sausage company. Since they have a gas station out front and we were needing gas anyway, we stopped to fill up, and then went in to check it out. The store had a covered porch with rockers on it that looked inviting.

When we got inside, it was much larger than we expected and it offered what most small grocery stores offer but with much more. The first thing I saw was the sausage in the coolers at the back of the store. They had stacks of sausages all different flavors. It looked fantastic. They also had different flavored bacon to choose from as well. Yummy.

As I turned around, that is when I noticed all the animal art all throughout the store. They did a great job on their displays and added interest to what would just have been a country store. There were deer, bobcat, fish, raccoon, fox, squirrel, and turkeys on display. They all seemed to watching over the store and us as we shopped.

There were lots of good things to buy including, bags of local pecans and peanuts, local honey, preserves, syrups, cornmeal, sauces, and everything you would need to make a meal. In the meat market, there was plenty of fresh meats like steak, hams, bacon, frog legs, jerky, and of course, many flavors of sausage. Their quality meats looked great with plenty to choose from.

You can get breakfast and lunch at the store with a great variety of sandwiches, sausages, salads, homemade deserts, and drinks. We bought a sausage to take on the road and it was fantastic and so full of flavor. They did get the recipe just perfect so when I was eating my sausage it was not dripping grease. It was wonderful. I loved the little fishing squirrel and fox that stood guard over the sandwiches.

SL Sausage Company, formerly known as Salt Lick Barbeque, has been a family business for over fifty years when Monroe Stripling owned a farm, fertilizer business, merchantile store, and grocery store. He and his wife had four children who all worked with him doing various jobs for his businesses. James Stripling, his son, worked the general store. James ended up becoming passionate about pork and opened this store in 1964 which was when he started making his own sausage with his own unique recipes.

When James passed away, Jack Hardin and his son, Ricky bought the sausage kitchen and kept his recipes going. Unlike most sausage places, they only used the best freshest meats. In 1991, he moved his business to Cordele where he now owns two stores. In 1995, they introduced Stripling beef jerky. I must say, we bought some and my was it good. Great flavor.

Their business expanded and now two of Ricky’s daughters – Ashley and Lindsay along with his son-in-law work full time with the company. The third generation is carrying on the Stripling traditions. They have grown to having 70 people working for them and they now produce 300,000 pounds of sausages, and 35,000 pounds of jerky annually. They also have opened up another two stores, one in Bogart and another in Perry, Georgia. There motto is from farm to table.

SL Sausage Company’s hours are Monday – Thursday 6:30-7 pm. Friday and Saturday 6:30-8 pm and Sunday 7-7. They will ship if you call them at 229-432-6328 or order on their web site.

This was a fun and flavorful stop. Bring a cooler  and  stock up. The people working there are very nice and helpful. Check them out: www.slsausage.com. Thumbs up. Till next time. Bye for now.