National Pie and National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

Sweet Potato Pie

During December there is a lot to celebrate, but let’s not forget to celebrate National Pie Day on December 1. It took generations to perfect the Classic Pecan Pie, and our recipe will make any Southern baker proud - using only fresh ingredients and fancy Georgia Pecan halves. Our Sweet Potato Pie is made exclusively for Smithfield in their friend Nell's Rockahock Farm kitchen. The tangy flavor, layered with cream cheese, and topped with pecans take the traditional sweet potato pie one step further.


Later in the month enjoy celebrating National Chocolate Covered Anything Day on December 16. We have plenty to choose from: chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered peanut brittle, chocolate covered specialty nuts include chocolate covered cashews and chocolate covered almonds, and chocolate peanut clusters. Some come in gift assortments.

Milk Chocolate Peanut Brittle

Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Chocolate Lover's Tin

Gift assortments include: Chocolate Peanut Clusters are Virginia Peanuts Topped With Caramel and Milk Chocolate. Chocolate Nutty Brittle comes in a tin, chock full of premium specialty nut dipped in rich milk chocolate to double your pleasure! Lightly roasted Georgia Pecans, Whole Almonds, Jumbo Cashews, and Macadamia Nuts make this delicious treat doubly special. The Colonial Tavern Peanut Basket Combo includes a tin of chocolate covered peanuts, along with a tin of salted peanuts, a 2 lb. Colonial Tavern Bag of Salted In-Shell Peanuts and an Official Peanut Basket. Deluxe Peanut Tower includes chocolate covered peanuts. Two Fine Nut Collections include Chocolate Covered Peanuts. Chocolate Lover’s Sampler includes dark and milk chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate brittle bites, milk chocolate almonds, dark chocolate cashews and peanut and caramel clusters. The Holiday Star Collection Box includes chocolate covered peanuts. The Holiday Trees Tin, Pine Cone Tin and the Little Drummer Collection include chocolate covered peanuts. The Nutcracker Holiday Tower includes chocolate covered peanut brittle. In the Gaming Collection, the Bridge Mix has assorted chocolate covered bites of nuts, cremes, caramels, and toffees and the Casino Mix includes chocolate covered almonds.

National Turkey Day, Stuffing Day, Leftovers Day and Cashew Day

Smoked Turkey and Smoked Ham

National Turkey Day or Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday in November. The 4th Thursday in November is also National Stuffing Day. It seems natural that the 4th Friday in November is National Leftovers Day.

We have succulent whole smoked turkeys and smoked breasts of turkey as well as ham and turkey combos from Smithfield. Smithfield’s array of side dishes such as biscuits, sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, green bean casserole and southern cornbread stuffing are available to make Thanksgiving extra easy.

Cornbread Stuffing

Indian Cashews

Thanksgiving’s great, but let’s not forget about crisp, firm, meaty, Indian Cashews. November 23 is National Cashew Day. We’ve got Indian cashews, chocolate covered cashews, honey toasted cashews, and cashews in gifts (tins, chests, and gift baskets).

October is National Apple Month and National Seafood Month

Apple Butter and Preserves Gift Box

October is National Apple Month
Good taste comes naturally to Virginia Apples. Our warm days, cool nights, rich deep soil and consistent rainfall are ideal for apple growing. The state of Virginia ranks sixth in the nation in apple production. This year, according to local orchard owners and state agriculture officials, a hotter and drier than average summer, followed by a late round of rain, will result in a good crop of apples in Central Virginia.

Graves Mountain Lodge, nestled deep in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Syria, Virginia, use family recipes and their own apples to make their old-fashioned Apple Butter perfectly spiced and incredibly smooth and creamy. The batches are kept small and each product is made as needed. They use the finest quality fruit, pure cane sugar and all natural seasonings in creating a product they feel is as good as "Grandma used to make."

Graves Mountain Lodge celebrates their apple harvest with an Apple Harvest Festival held: Saturday, October 06, 2012 - Sunday, October 07, 2012 Saturday, October 13, 2012 - Sunday, October 14, 2012 Saturday, October 20, 2012 - Sunday, October 21, 2012 Enjoy fun filled days complete with good food and entertainment including bluegrass music, cloggers, over 70 arts and crafts vendors, hayrides, hay mountain, hay maze and horseback rides. Experience the days of yesteryear watching apple butter being cooked in kettles over and open fire. We are proud sell Graves Mountain Apple Butter and Preserves in sets of three 9 oz. jars, assortments of 9 oz. jars, in gift boxes and in gift baskets.

Crab Balls

National Seafood Month

The Virginia seafood industry is one of the oldest industries in the United States and one of the Commonwealth’s largest. Virginia is the nation's third largest seafood producer and the largest on America's Atlantic Coast. Our prime fishing areas include the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay and its many tributaries, some of the most productive harvesting grounds in the United States We sell Chesapeake Bay Crab Balls and Crab Cakes. A fluffy blend of jumbo lump and backfin crabmeats are combined to import the sweet flavor of the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab.

From Blue Crab Bay we sell five seafood soups, including Crab Norfolk, a chowder flavored with bits of Virginia Ham and potatoes and named after the dish that is made with crabmeat and ham. A more popular soup in the Southeast, Barefoot says the company's Southern Style She-Crab Soup is made with crab roe for added flavor and local blue crabs from the tidewater area. The Chesapeake Bay Style Cream of Crab Soup includes the company's Chesapeake Bay seasoning for a slightly spicier flavor. Finally, the company also offers New England Clam Chowder with pieces of Virginia ham. We also sell Blue Crab Bay seafood dip kits which are perfect for entertaining or gift giving. The Crab Dip Kit was a SILVER TROPHY WINNER at an International Fancy Food Show. The Clam Dip and the Shrimp Dip are equally delicious. All capture the flavor of the Chesapeake Bay! They are featured in many of our Virginia Marketplace gift baskets

We also offer 11 seafood soups from Chincoteague Seafood Company. Their product line can best be described as a "gourmet" quality line that is competitively priced and is “Naturally Sea-Licious”. They use no MSG, preservatives, artificial colorings or artificial flavorings in our soups. Chincoteague Seafood Company has been awarded the American Taste Award of Excellence certificates for their New England Clam Chowder, Corn Chowder, Manhattan Clam Chowder, Lobster Bisque, Shrimp Bisque, Clam Bisque, Cream of Crab Soup, and Vegetable Red Crab Soup.

The History of Peanut Soup

Peanut Soup Mix

Considered a southern delicacy in some parts of the country, peanut soup in America dates back to the early 1700’s. For decades, peanut connoisseurs have speculated about how this soup arrived and gained popularity in the United States.  

 History shows that peanuts have been around since the Incan Empire. Peanuts are a well-traveled legume. European explorers made their acquaintance in the Caribbean. Spaniards exported them, carrying them on ships to the Philippines and Indonesia. The Portuguese - who discovered peanuts in Brazil, not far from the legume's Peruvian birthplace - took peanuts to Africa, where the nutritious, hardy legume fed the nation's sailors stationed along the coast. Peanuts are thought to have been brought to America by the Portuguese slave traders who served peanuts while they were in transit.

“Peanuts were certainly eaten by slaves before they were eaten by whites”, says Frank Clark, who oversees the historic foodways program at Colonial Williamsburg, which for decades has served peanut soup to guests of the museum’s King’s Arms tavern – despite the dish being a culinary anachronism. “If you’d come to an 18^th-century tavern, it’s very unlikely you’d have encountered peanut soup there,” Clark says. Although there is no documentary evidence of peanut soups being served in 18thy century America, it is believed that the slave diet would have included peanut soups, mushes and stews, perhaps styled after the tomato-based soups popular in central Africa or a Sudenese soup made with lamb bones, garlic and rice. Still, the soup - which marks many northerners' first introduction to creamy peanuts in a bowl - will stay on the menu, since Colonial Williamsburg is obliged to honor its own history as well as the record of what occurred during the Colonial era. bones, garlic and rice.

It’s unclear exactly how peanuts evolved from a food seen as fit for slaves and pigs to a food approved by Anglo-American tastemakers. The first known recipe comes from an 1847 cookbook by a Sarah Rutledge, a housewife from South Carolina, who published a recipe for Ground Nut Soup. Her recipe includes a pint of oysters and peanuts ground with flour. After her book was published, several other variations of the soup appeared in newspapers and cookbooks.

It is still a mystery to how peanut soup became a popular dish at fine dining restaurants across the country. The popularity of peanut soup surged domestically after the Civil War, during which Confederate soldiers introduced their Union counterparts to the legume. The increased availability of peanut butter also helped. In Germany, a doctor praised cheap, albumen-rich peanut soup as the perfect “article of food for the corpulent, for diabetics and for subjects of kidney disease.”  Peanut soup became popular in American homes in the early twentieth century, as peanuts and peanut butter became available at grocery stores across the country. Peanut soup is now served at several fine dining restaurants, America Eats Tavern in Washington, D.C. and Wit and Wisdom in Baltimore both feature the soup on their menus.

I
n 1941, the National Peanut Council published a collection of peanut soup recipes from George Washington Carver.  He is believed to have had the largest collection of peanut soup recipes during that time, including recipes for peanut bisque, peanut soups, a consommé, and purees.

The PeanutShop of Williamsburg All-Natural Peanut Soup evokes memories of Colonial tavern fare. Just add chicken stock for a rich, creamy and fortifying soup that will warm the hearts of the hungry.

September 13 is National Peanut Day

September is the start of autumn and the harvesting of peanuts. Peanuts are planted after the last frost in April or early May and the heaviest harvesting months are September and October.

The peanuttiest of days is September 13^th, National Peanut Day.  Actually, peanuts are not nuts. They are "legumes", like peas, beans, and lentils. Peanuts are one of America's favorite snack foods, and it’s more than a snack food. Peanuts are the main ingredient in peanut butter. Peanuts star in a variety of recipes, and are a topping for countless foods and desserts. Many Chinese recipes use peanuts in main menu items.

Peanuts once took the rap as a not so healthy food. More recent research suggests that peanuts can reduce cardiovascular disease and lower triglycerides in the body. Peanuts are high in protein and fiber, and are now believed to help curb hunger and therefore help in diet control.

Celebrate National Peanut Day by eating Virginia Peanuts wherever and whenever during the day that you can. Eating Peanut Butter counts, too. Want to try something different (and peanutty, of course), try some Peanut Soup or Peanut Straws.

The Virginia Peanut Festival in Emporia, Virginia will be Sept. 20-23. The Virginia Peanut Festival will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. The majority of exhibits and entertainment are free to the public. There will be storefront displays, a parade, arts and crafts, antique farm equipment, a quilt show, a peanut cook-off, music and great food. A carnival will be back with even better rides than last year, ones that will appeal to the young and young at heart. Virginia is for lovers.....Emporia-Greensville is for nuts.

Homemade Blue Crab Bay Seafood Appetizers

Triple Dip

According to the Feb/Mar issue of Fancy Food and Culinary Products, cheese balls and dip mixes have created their own role in the food industry. Blue Crab Bay markets its cheese balls and dip mixes as being particularly all inclusive. All customers need to add is a dairy base for an outstanding dip or cheese ball with bold flavor. Ease of use is something that is important to customers and these mixes give that restaurant quality taste with items you have on hand. The company’s dip kits make wonderful gifts.

We sell Blue Crab Bay Crab Cheese Ball Kit and Crab, Clam and Shrimp Seafood Dip Kits. The Clam Dip Kit contains chopped clams and salt free Clam Dip Blend.  Blue Crab Bay Clam Dip Kit was a favorite item as seen on Rachael Ray. The Shrimp Dip Kit contains a tin of Tiny Wild Cocktail Shrimp and a packet of our Shrimp Dip Blend. Only mayonnaise and cream cheese are required. The Crab Dip Kit contains premium crabmeat with Blue Crab Bay's own Crab Dip Blend and a recipe for "Company Crab Dip". Only cream cheese and sour cream are required.

Virginia Gourmet Treasures

We sell the seafood dip kits on their own, in a trio called The Triple Dip and in our Virginia Gift Baskets and Virginia Seafood Gift Baskets and Virginia Gift Boxes.

Virginia Brunch Selections Gift Box

Blue Crab Bay Crab Dip Kit is featured in our Virginia Brunch Selections gift box. 

We feature four Blue Crab Bay Seafood Soups with the three Blue Crab Bay Seafood Dips in a gift box that is perfect for a seafood lover or a hostess gift.  

We feature Blue Crab Bay’s Crab Cheese Ball Kit in several baskets, Virginia Gourmet Treasures is one of our favorites.  and the Clam Dip Kit in Gourmet Treasures of Virginia. 

August Is....

Aug. 3 is Grab Some Nuts Day! Start with Virginia Peanuts, known for their large size and crunchy texture and have been referred to as "the peanut of the gourmet." Of course, if you want variety, there are also Georgia Pecans, Pistachios, Almonds, Indian Cashews, Marcona Almonds.....

Aug 4 is National Chocolate Chip Day

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies, but how about kicking it up notch...

Paula's Coconut Chocolate Chip Gooey Cake ,Yum! Thirty-two ounces of pure heaven. Coconut, Chocolate Chips and all the rich flavor of Paula's traditional gooey butter cake!

or

Peanut Butter Brownie Cake  you'll just die for. This rich chocolate brownie flat-cake, is overflowing with a thick creamy peanut butter filling, sprinkled with chocolate chips, and drizzled with icing. Available Sept. - May

July is National Picnic Month

July is National Picnic Month
Here's just a few ideas for a great picnic:
Virginia Peanuts

Roasted In-Shell Peanuts In Bushel Basket - 10 lbs. Unsalted or Salted

Blue Crab Bay Seafood Dips
Genuine Smithfield Ham Biscuits

July 4 National Barbecue Day

See our May blog for National Barbecue Month

July 12 National Pecan Pie Day

Our Pecan Pie uses only fresh ingredients and fancy Georgia Pecan halves.

July 30 National Cheesecake Day

Cheesecakes are available May to September
Praline Cheesecake is made from scratch - using crushed pecan pralines for the crust and a creamy pecan caramel topping.
Key Lime Inspiration Cheesecake with Pound Cake - Cheesecake baked over Rowena’s famous Island Kissed Key Lime Pound Cake, tart and sweet, touched by a Caribbean influence.

Chocolate Caramel Peanut Cheesecake - Handmade chocolate cookie crust, layered with New York cheesecake and topped with creamy caramel, our signature Virginia Peanuts and Praline Peanuts. Then drizzled in a decadent chocolate ganache. All natural ingredients! Yummy!

Sunday, June 19 is Father's Day

Father's day is the day we celebrate our fathers, father-figures, and fatherhood!. It was invented by a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd who was raised by her father and thought that they should be celebrated just as much as mothers. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who reared his six children in Spokane, Washington. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June.Her dad was born in June so she chose to hold the first father's day on June 19th of 1910. It was President Calvin Coolidge who decided to hold father's day on the third Sunday of June 14 years later In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.

Dad's love Virginia Peanuts. Father's Day is one of two holidays when Virginia Peanuts sell best. Dads also love tasty BBQ sauces such as Bone Doctor’s Original Tomato Based and Vinegar based Carolina BBQ sauces, James River Barbecue Sauce and Virginia Gentlemen sauces flavored with Virginia Gentleman 90® Small Batch Bourbon. How about some ribs......

May is National Barbecue Month

National Barbecue Month is the time to talk about our barbecue sauces.

Montebello Kitchens Virginia Barbecue Sauce is made with seasoned tomatoes, onions, red chilies, house spices and apple butter. Regionally grown apples are used to create their apple butter that sweetens this delightful sauce. It is made with all natural and organic ingredients by hand in small batches. Can be found in many of our gift baskets.

New to our gift baskets is Pork Barrel BBQ Sweet BBQ Sauce, an award winning sauce developed by two Senate staffers working late into the night. Pork Barrel BBQ is a national award winning BBQ sauce and rub company who competes on the professional barbecue circuit and has a restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia. Sweet Pork Barrel BBQ Sauce is an exceptional way to give your food tasty, sweet flavor with a perfect smokin' kick! All natural ingredients and contain no preservatives or MSG.

We also have BBQ sauces from Virginia Gentlemen and from Smithfield, James River Barbecue Sauce and Bone Doctor’s. Virginia Gentlemen’s award-winning sauces with the traditional hunt scene labels are anything-but-traditional when it comes to the taste sensation you'll experience. They are flavored with Virginia Gentleman 90® Small Batch Bourbon, the perfect complement to all your favorite pork recipes. They come in a three bottle variety pack: Bourbon Maple, Bourbon Teriyaki and Bourbon Chipotle.

Bone Doctor’s barbecue sauces are handcrafted by orthopedic surgeons! They are from family recipes, created with surgical precision by two Bone Doctors over years of weekend barbecues. Try both the Original tomato based and Carolina Bold zesty vinegar based sauces.

Smithfield’s ever-favorite original James River Barbeque Sauce is unchanged since the 1950s. Smithfield, VA., is one of America's oldest and largest meat processing centers. What better place to find perfect BBQ sauces developed by the meat experts. This is a wonderful all-purpose sauce but especially as a condiment for pork.

In addition to Barbecue Sauces for National Barbecue Month try some North Carolina Style Pork Barbecue. Hickory smoked and cooked with plenty of zesty vinegar and seasonings. Nothing to hide the smoky flavor of this tender pulled pork barbecue, made locally Carolina style. 5 lb. tub.

Another option is Smithfield’s new improved BBQ Pork Ribs, unsurpassed for pure tenderness and flavor. Fully cooked in their special sauce. 

April is National Pecan Month

Celebrate National Pecan Month with The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg’s Sweet Georgia Pecans -handcooked in copper kettles with fresh creamy butter and brown sugar according
to our old-fashioned Southern recipe or Praline Glazed Pecans – mammoth Georgia pecans are hand cooked and generously coated with a sweet praline glaze. Or try their Southern Pecan Trio sweet and salty - enjoy these mammoth pecan halves any way you like 'em. Roasted & Salted, Praline Coated, or Sugar & Spice.


Other celebrations in April Include:

April 2 National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day (See our blog on Peanut Butter)

April 17 National Cheese Ball Day
Entertain the easy way with Blue Crab Bay's Crab Cheese Ball Kit. The kit includes a tin of premium crabmeat (product of Thailand), crab seasoning and a packet of crushed Crab House Nuts® (Extra-large gourmet Virginia peanuts cooked in peanut oil and seasoned with spicy Chesapeake Bay Seasoning. Available in some of our gourmet Virginia Gift Baskets



April 21 is National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day
Try some of The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg’splump firm Cashews double-dipped in rich creamy milk chocolate. There’s nothing better!!

The Grand Reopening of The Williamsburg Pottery

Jimmy Maloney began what was once Virginia's biggest tourism draw by selling a few nicked pots on the side of Route 60. That dirt-hill-turned-retail-Mecca will roar to life again Thursday, April 5 but in a modern way.

After an estimated $30 million rejuvenation, the Williamsburg Pottery will reopen to the shopping public — on what would have been Jimmy's 100th birthday — with remarks from special guests Governor and Mrs. Robert F. McDonnell as well as the attendance of Lieutenant Governor and Mrs. William T. Bolling and other local and state officials and the hopes of its backers that the busloads will return.

The goal isn’t to merely be another shopping center, but a shopping and tourist destination. The new building facades by the architecture firm Guernsey-Tingle reflect that, with a Dutch Colonial theme rather than the traditional Colonial Williamsburg theme.

Dramatic outdoor lighting reinforces that sense of place as a tourist destination. The Pottery will now open until 9 p.m. instead of closing at sundown.

The Grand Opening of the new and improved renovation will be a joyous day in the many chapters of the Williamsburg Pottery's 74-year history. Come them for shopping, music, food, fun and so much more! Vendor demonstrations will also be a part of the event!

10:00 a.m. Gov. McDonnell will join President and CEO of the Pottery Ms. Kimberly Maloney for the unveiling of the statue of Jimmy Maloney..., the Pottery's founder. This will take place in the outdoor courtyard plaza.

11:00 a.m. Ribbon Cutting ceremony will take place at the entrances of all four buildings officially opening the new Pottery to the public.

If that isn't exciting enough, festivities will continue on to Friday, April 6th and Saturday April 7th as well! If you get a chance join them to celebrate the NEW Pottery!

Chincoteague Vegetable Red Crab Soup – An Easter and Spring Favorite

Vegetable Red Crab Soup is the perfect starter for your Easter meal, an elegant alternative to cream based soups. The soup is a colorful combination of juicy crab meat, a kaleidoscope of fresh vegetables and a generous splash of seasonings. Not condensed, just heat and serve. Check out some ways we sell it: In a set of three 15 oz. tins, enough for a party of 12. For a thoughtful hostess gift, our Spring Favorites! gift basket includes several soups including Vegetable Red Crab as well as other gourmet tasty treats. Another thoughtful hostess gift is a Seafood Soups and Dips gift box. We have two varieties that include vegetable Red Crab Soup.

Easter Favorites From Virginia

Spring is here! Along with Spring, comes Easter. Easter Sunday is April 8, just a few weeks away. The Virginia Marketplace has everything you need for a gourmet Easter meal. For your Easter ham we recommend a Brown Sugar Cured and Spiral Sliced Ham or a Paula Deen Honey Ham . For something extra special try the Steamship Ham Roast. Start your Easter meal with gourmet Seafood Soup, Cream of Crab or Vegetable Red Crab Soup. To accompany your meal try Smithfield’s new side dishes, Cheesy Green Bean Casserole, Mac and Cheese or Sweet Potato Casserole. There are several varieties of
mouthwatering biscuits to choose from: 24 Layer Cream Cheese Biscuits, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Parmesan Herb Cream Cheese Biscuits or Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Biscuits. Try some Monastery Creamed Honey from the monks of Holy Cross Abbey, Berryville, Virginia on your biscuits.

Don't forget dessert! How about a Spring Loaf Sampler or a traditional
Egg-Shaped Cake from Rowena.


Looking for a hostess gift? The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg Easter Egg Bucket is filled with Virginia Peanuts and pastel egg-shaped Holland mints. Their new Happy Easter Basket is filled with gourmet specialties: Praline Peanut Clusters, Divinity, Pecan Gophers, Pralines, Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Brittle, Jordan Almonds and more! The Spring Tin is decorated with daffodils and daisies and filled with chocolate covered Virginia peanuts.

March is National Peanut Month

Celebrate National Peanut Month! Peanuts are whole foods that contain a variety of vitamins and minerals, ample protein and beneficial unsaturated fats. All Virginia-type peanuts are known for their large size and crunchy texture and have been referred to as "the peanut of the gourmet." The Virginia Marketplace sells many kinds of Virginia Peanuts: salted, unsalted, seasoned, sweet, in-shell,boiled and chocolate covered.

Some special days in March are:
March 4 National Pound Cake Day We sell many flavors of pound cakes from Rowena’s in Norfolk,Virginia: Almond, Lemon, Chocolate, Chocolate Cappuccino, Mint Chocolate, Orange, and Key lime. We sell them in 40 oz. round bundts with and without curd sauces and 24 oz. loaves with and without curd sauces as well as some Specialty-Shaped cakes such as egg-shaped for Easter and some 10 oz. tea loaf assortments. There is also a Baby Bundt assortment with 6 flavors of pound cakes. Almond, Lemon and Chocolate pound cakes are available in sugar free versions.

March 8 National Peanut Clusters Day
Try some of these traditional Southern favorites taken to the next level from The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg. Using their extra-large hand cooked Virginia Peanuts, topped with a generous dollop of creamy smooth caramel and rich milk chocolate. You'll get crunchy and creamy - all in one yummy mouthful! Also a dazzling Tower of handmade nutty treats guaranteed to please any nut lover in your life that includes Milk Chocolate & Caramel Peanut Clusters.

March 9 National Crabmeat Day
We have crab cakes and crab balls as well as crab dip and a cheese ball kit. Our crab cakes are harvested from the Chesapeake Bay, washed and cooked within an hour of delivery, then handmade and frozen to ensure freshness. A fluffy blend of jumbo lump and backfin crabmeats are combined to impart the sweet flavor of the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab. Blue Crab Bay Crab Dip Kit -After a decade of searching for the finest shelf-stable canned crabmeat to offer their customers, they finally found it! Premium crabmeat is packed in a gift box with Blue Crab Bay's own Crab Dip Blend. Entertain the easy way with Blue Crab Bay's Crab Cheese Ball Kit. The kit includes a tin of premium crabmeat, crab seasoning and a packet of crushed Crab House Nuts® (Extra-large gourmet Virginia peanuts cooked in peanut oil and seasoned with spicy Chesapeake Bay Seasoning). Check out all these great proucts in our Seafood section.

February is National Snack Month

Every month of the year has ethnic, cultural, religious and yes, food holidays. Every month also has special days to celebrate the things we love. February celebrates many of the things we love to eat from Virginia! February is National Snack Month

February 25 National Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day
February 25 National Clam Chowder Day
February 26 National Pistachio Day
February 27 National Chocolate Cake Day.

We all love to snack. We have so many different items, it’s hard to decide. May we suggest: Virginia peanuts (extra large salted and unsalted , chocolate covered, sweet and seasoned), specialty nuts like pistachios, almonds, and cashews, Peanut Straws and Peanut Butter.


For National Chocolate Covered Peanut Day we suggest some of our many different products with chocolate peanuts. We have baskets, gifts tins, and gift boxes as well as tins of chocolate-covererd peanuts.



For National Clam Chowder Day we suggest seafood soups from Chincoteague Seafood Soups and Blue Crab Bay. We offer Chincoteague New England Clam Chowder and Manhattan Clam Chowder and Blue Crab Bay Eastern Shore Clam Chowder and New England Clam Chowder. These seafood soupsare sold in sets of 3 of the same can or samplers as well as in gift boxes and gift baskets.

For National Pistachio Day we suggest our extra large and meaty pistachios and our new Smoked Hickory and Garlic and Onion Flavor pistachios or our VERY popular Pistachio Basket.

For National Chocolate Cake Day we offer a wide variety of chocolate cakessuch as Rowena's Double Delicious Chocolate Pound Cake, Chocolate Cappuccino Pound Cake and Chocolate Mint Pound Cake, also Red Velvet Cake, Chocolate Layer Cake and Paula's Double Chocolate Gooey Cake.

Check back next month to see what Virginia foods are celebrated in March!

Virginia Seafood Soups for Anytime

We carry many different soups, chowders and bisques from Blue Crab Bay and Chincoteague Seafood Co.
Blue Crab Bay started in 1985. Blue Crab Bay founder Pamela Barefoot had an inspired vision of what a business could be. From her seaside farmhouse kitchen she imagined a company that would put the tastes of the Chesapeake region on the map, be a protector of the environment and provide stimulating and fun employment for citizens of her rural community. Surrounding herself with foods from the Chesapeake, a functioning stove, a list of contacts and boatloads of imagination and determination, Barefoot got to work. Sales exploded, awards rained plentiful, and the number of employees mounted. Blue Crab Bay makes five delicious seafood soups and chowders.

New England Clam Chowder - A smooth and creamy New England style clam chowder with corn, potatoes, and bits of hickory-smoked Virginia ham added for a true regional flavor.

Eastern Shore Clam Chowder is All Natural! This condensed clam chowder is a spicy and flavorful version of a traditional clear broth soup. Made without tomatoes or milk. Contains ocean clams, fresh vegetables, herbs, pepper and sea salt.

Crab Norfolk Chowder - Blue Crab Bay combines delicate Blue Crab meat with bits of hickory-smoked Edwards' Virginia ham, potatoes and corn to create a sensationally smooth and creamy chowder.

She Crab Soup - Considered one of the most elegant of all Southern soups! A creamy bisque style soup flavored with the delicate meat and roe of the Chesapeake Bay's Blue Crab.

Cream of Crab - Perhaps the ultimate comfort food of the Chesapeake Bay region! Cream of Crab soup is accented with Chesapeake Bay Style Seafood Seasoning giving it a slightly spicy flavor. Traditionally served at elegant dinners, its rich and creamy consistency is highlighted by the flavor of crabmeat.

These soups and chowders are sold individually in a set of three cans and in samplers of four of the cream soups or try all five in a sampler that includes Eastern Shore Clam Chowder. She Crab Soup, Cream of Crab Soup and several samplers are available in a Blue Crab Bay award winning seafood themed gift pack. The gift pack can be gift wrapped if you like. We also sell Blue Crab Bay soups and chowders in seafood gift themed gift baskets and in other Virginia Marketplace gift baskets and in a gift box with Blue Bay dip kits.

Chincoteague Seafood Co., a local family-owned business has successfully operated boats and processing facilities in Chincoteague and Atlantic, Virginia. Chincoteague is nationally known as the home of quality seafood, particularly clams, crabs and oysters.

The company was started in 1955 when Bernard Rubin, the founder and current Chairman, began selling their clam chowder to restaurants in New England under their original Cape Cod label. In 1969, as a result of a clam supply problem in the northeast, he searched for a new location and opened a processing facility in Atlantic, Virginia to take advantage of the area's abundant supply of high quality clams. In 1974, as a result of company growth, the second processing facility was opened in Chincoteague, Virginia and also became the corporate headquarters. Their newest venture, completed in May 2001, was the acquisition and move into a brand new office facility and distribution center in Parsonburg, Maryland (outside of Salisbury, Maryland).

Their product line can best be described as a "gourmet" quality line that is competitively priced and is "Naturally Sea-Licious". Their uncompromising recipes are based on fresh, high-quality ingredients, and provide a home-made authentic taste and presentation. They use no MSG, preservatives, artificial preservatives, artificial colorings or artificial flavorings in our soups.

They have been awarded the American Taste Award of Excellence certificates on their New England Clam Chowder, Manhattan Clam Chowder, Corn Chowder, Clam Bisque, Lobster Bisque, Cream of Crab Soup, and Vegetable Red Crab Soup.

Check out all Chincoteague Seafood Soups, Chowders and Bisques: She Crab Soup, Cream of Crab Soup, Vegetable Red Crab Soup, Crab and Cheddar Soup, New England Clam Chowder, Manhattan Clam Chowder, Corn Chowder, Lobster Bisque, Shrimp Bisque, Clam Bisque and Lobster and Cheddar Bisque. We also sell Chincoteague soups, bisques and chowders in seafood gift themed gift baskets and in other Virginia Marketplace gift baskets and in gift boxes.

January is National Soup Month

Grab a spoon! It’s National Soup Month. Every country in the world has soup recipes and family traditions from long ago. In fact it's no surprise that soup is probably the oldest form of food right up there with bread.

Approximately ten billion bowls of soup are consumed by Americans every year. Soup has been popular from its beginning in Greece in 600 B.C. when it was considered the first fast food. The Greeks sold soup as "fast food" on the street using lentils, beans and peas as the chief ingredients.

There are several theories as to the origins of the word soup. Some people believe that the word "soup" stems from the word "sop". People would pour broth over a slice of bread which would "sop" up the broth. The word soup possibly developed from this. Others believe the word soup stems from the slurping sound while sipping the liquid from the spoon. Another possibility could be the word "sup" which means to eat the evening meal; this even may be where our word "supper" comes from.

Here are some fun soup facts that history tells us:
Soup can be dated back to about 6000 B.C. and was first made of hippopotamus.

Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers (which probably came in the form of pouches made of clay or animal skin) about 9,000 years ago)

Coming in from out of the cold to a tantalizing, hot bowl of your favorite soup is a great way to warm up. It's one of America's comfort foods through the long, cold days of winter which makes January one of the best months to be National Soup Month. But soup shouldn't just be eaten for one month; there are so many benefits for eating soup all year long.