Jan. 1 is National Bloody Mary Day

Bloody Mary Brunch Basket

A Bloody Mary is a popular cocktail containing vodka, tomato juice, and usually other spices or flavorings. While there is not much complexity in mixing vodka and tomato juice, more elaborate versions of the drink have become trademarks of the bartenders who make them. A common garnish is a celery stalk when served in a tall glass, often over ice. The Bloody Mary is the US’s most popular alcoholic drink for brunch. This drink has been called “The world’s most complex cocktail.

The Bloody Mary's origin is unclear. Fernand Petiot claimed to have invented the drink in 1921 while working at the New York Bar, which later became Harry's New York Bar, a frequent Paris hangout for Ernest Hemingway and other American expatriates. Another tradition maintains that actor George Jessel created the drink around 1939. In 1939, Lucius Beebe printed in his gossip column "This New York" one of the earliest U.S. references to this drink, along with the original recipe: "George Jessel’s newest pick-me-up which is receiving attention from the town’s paragraphers is called a Bloody Mary: half tomato juice, half vodka."

The name "Bloody Mary" is associated with a number of historical figures—particularly Queen Mary I of England—and fictional women from folklore. Some drink aficionados believe the inspiration for the name was Hollywood star Mary Pickford. Others trace the name to a waitress named Mary who worked at a Chicago bar called the Bucket of Blood.

Bloody Marys by the Shore

Blue Crab Bay STING RAY Spicy Bloody Mary Mixer is a thick and rich blend of clam and tomato juices spiced with Blue Crab Bay's Chesapeake Bay Style Seafood Seasoning and freshly grated horseradish. Sting Ray Bloody Mary Mixer won top honors in Outstanding Beverage, a prestigious award competition at the International Fancy Food Show in New York. Great alone, as a mixer, or a cooking sauce A true combination of the flavors of the Chesapeake region!  

October is Breast Cancer Month

All Natural Peanut Butter

October is Breast Cancer Month so eat Virginia Peanuts and natural Peanut Butter made from Virginia Peanuts! A new study in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment showed that young girls who consumed a serving of peanut butter or peanuts at least twice a week, reduced their risk of benign breast disease (BBD) in young adulthood by up to 39%. This gives parents even more of a reason to pack a peanut butter sandwich with their kid's lunch. The article explains that, "Vegetable fat consumed by pre-adolescent girls and vegetable protein consumed by adolescents may be protective, while peanut butter, high in both protein and fat, consumed at any age may be associated with lower risk for BBD." Peanuts contain more protein than any other nut and peanut butter contains about 8g of protein per serving. In addition, peanut butter contains healthy oils and many nutrients such as phytosterols that have been shown to reduce the risk of major diseases including cancer. Previous research has shown that benign breast disease (BBD) in young women is associated with increased risk of breast cancer and other adult diseases. At younger ages, vegetable fat intake from peanut butter and peanuts twice a week, had a 44% decrease in risk for BBD. And in older ages, it was the vegetable protein intake from peanut butter and peanuts that was associated with decreased risk. In addition, these results were stronger with girls who had a family history of breast cancer.

Two Virginia Apple Butter Festivals

Skyland! A snitter's paradise! On Saturday, September 21, there will be held the 14th Annual Apple Butter Celebration at Skyland Resort from 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The Apple Butter Celebration is a one-day festival at Shenandoah National Park and it is one of the biggest ones held at the park's Skyland Resort. Freshly made apple butter, apple crafts, apple food …. apples are just everywhere! Celebrate the apple harvest as the staff sets up the copper kettles and stokes up the fire for a day of apple boiling. Apple varietals such as Jonagold, Red Delicious, and Rambo are boiled in kettles to make the festival's apple butter.

By now you’re wondering what it means to "snit". Snitting a peeled apple consists of quartering it, scooping out the core and seeds, then halving the quarters and putting them into a bucket. It takes nine bushels of apples to yield 32 gallons of apple butter from just one kettle. Event organizers plan to make six kettles of apple butter in all. Experts say no two kettles taste the same, as the mix of apples and spices is a little different in each one.

Watch the process, give the kettle a stir and try a delicious sample. Then take home some fresh-from-the-kettle jars of apple butter. There will also be live entertainment featuring the Hi-Horse Cloggers and Narrow Path Blue Grass Band, face painting, pony rides and crafts for the kids and wine tasting for the adults. Local crafters will be on site with their handmade items. Delicious foods featured are Apple Smoked BBQ, Grilled Chicken with an Apple Salsa, Granny Apple Cole Slaw, Apple Cobbler plus hot and cold Apple Cider.

For three weekends in October, Graves Mountain Lodge will be hosting its 44th Apple Harvest Festival. Enjoy fun-filled days complete with Graves famous food, live Bluegrass Music & Cloggers, Arts & Crafts, Hay Maze & Hay Mountain, Hayrides, Horseback Rides, Pick your own Apples and tour the family's working educational farm, visit the animals and more. Experience farm days of yesteryear, watch kettles of apple butter cook over an open fire. Date(s)/Time: Saturday, October 05, 2013 - Sunday, October 06, 2013 (10:00 AM-4:30 PM) Saturday, October 12, 2013 - Sunday, October 13, 2013 (10:00 AM-4:30 PM) Saturday, October 19, 2013 - Sunday, October 20, 2013 (10:00 AM-4:30 PM)

If you can’t make it to one of these great festivals, you can still get some perfectly spiced and incredibly smooth Graves Mountain Apple Butter from us!

The History of Cake

In honor of Rowena Fullinwider, known as Norfolk's "Cake Lady" long before she decided to go into business, let's talk about the history of cake.

The history of cake dates back to ancient times. The first cakes were very different from what we eat today. They were more bread-like and sweetened with honey. Nuts and dried fruits were often added. According to the food historians, the precursors of modern cakes (round ones with icing) were first baked in Europe sometime in the mid-17th century. This is due primarily to advances in technology (more reliable ovens, manufacture/availability of food molds) and ingredient availability (refined sugar). At that time cake hoops--round molds for shaping cakes that were placed on flat baking trays--were popular. They could be made of metal, wood or paper. Some were adjustable. Cake pans were sometimes used. The first icings were usually a boiled composition of the finest available sugar, egg whites and sometimes flavorings. This icing was poured on the cake. The cake was then returned to the oven for a while. When removed the icing cooled quickly to form a hard, glossy [ice-like] covering. Many cakes made at this time still contained dried fruits (raisins, currants, citrons). It was not until the middle of the 19th century that cake as we know it today (made with extra refined white flour and baking powder instead of yeast) arrived on the scene. Butter-cream frostings (using butter, cream, powdered sugar and flavorings) began replacing traditional boiled icings in the first few decades of the 20th century.

Cake is a Viking contribution to the English language. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the English word cake back to the 13th century. It is a derivation of 'kaka', an Old Norse word which means a baked flour confection sweetened with sugar or honey, mixed with eggs and often, but not always, with milk and fat. People have consumed cakes of all kinds throughout history and at all sorts of ceremonial occasions. In today's world, people traditionally serve cakes at holidays, birthdays, weddings, funerals, and baptisms--in short, at all significant times in the cycle of life because they represent our best culinary offering honoring our most loved people. In "olden times" when refined sugar, spices, nuts, and dried fruit were expensive, it was an honor to be honored with cake. Today cake isn't extra expensive and we have many choices (store bought, box mix, scratch, bakery special order) but the message remains constant. Cake says: you're important and we love you.

The tradition of eating cake on ceremonial occasions has its basis in ancient ritual. Cakes, in the ancient world, had ties with the annual cycle, and people used them as offerings to the gods and spirits who exercised their powers at particular times of the year...The Chinese made cakes at harvest time to honor their moon goddess, Heng O. They recognized that the moon played a crucial role in the seasonal cycle, so they made round cakes shaped like the moon to reward the lunar goddess, with an image of the illustrious Heng O stamped on top... "The Russians traditionally pay their respects in spring to a deity named Maslenitsa by making blini, thin pancakes they call sun cakes...The pagan Slavs were not the only people to make round cakes to celebrate the spring sun. The ancient Celts, who celebrated Beltane on the first day of spring, baked and ate Beltane cakes as an important part of their celebration...At the Beltane festival, the ancient Celts also rolled the cakes down a hill to imitate solar movement. Rolling the cakes, they hoped, would ensure the continued motion of the sun. This activity also served as a form of divination: If the cake broke when it reached the bottom of the hill, the Celts believed that whoever rolled it would die within a year's time; but if the cake remained intact, they believed that person would reap a year's good fortune...Agricultural peoples around the globe made offerings of cakes prepared from the grains and fruits that arose from the soil. The types of ingredients used to make these cakes contributed to their symbolism...The cake's size and shape were equally symbolic of its ritual purpose...round cakes symbolized the sun or the moon...All of these cakes had definitive links to the myths the people embraced.

National Cake Day will be celebrated on Nov.26. Be sure to have a slice of cake that day, but you don’t have to wait until then! Check out all our delicious Rowena cakes.

A Tribute to Rowena Fullinwider

On July 22, 2013 Rowena Fullinwider, founder of Rowena’s Gourmet Foods, passed away. She was a pioneer in the specialty food business, a tireless advocate for local and small businesses, an inspiration for women business owners for 30 years and most importantly, a wonderful and caring person.

We’d like to share with you some highlights from her obituary in the Virginia Pilot Online: In the early 1980s, Rowena began to explore the possibility of starting her own business. Already known for making pound cakes to donate to various charities for their fundraisers - she was encouraged by friends and family to open a business to sell the cakes on a larger scale. In 1983, she opened Rowena's Gourmet Foods in the historic Ghent section of Norfolk. Word spread quickly about her delicious cakes, jams and curds, and soon Rowena's Gourmet Foods was being featured in Southern Living, Gourmet Magazine and Bon Appetit, as well as on the Food Network. In 1987, Rowena's became the first specialty food producer in Virginia to carry the Virginia's Finest® trademark.

When asked in later years about her reasons for starting a business, Rowena said that she wanted to teach her children a few of life's lessons. "I needed my children to know that I not only stood for something, but that I also acted on it," she says. "You have to be a responsible business citizen and a responsible community citizen."

In terms of such responsible citizenship, Rowena made an indelible mark on Norfolk's social and professional landscapes. As well as running her own successful business, she served on several boards (including as president of the local National Association of Women Business Owners in 1996-97). She successfully lobbied Congress to help small businesses receive an exemption from the National Labeling and Education Act of 1990; served as chairman of the Governor's Small Business Advisory Board for six years; and was a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995, serving as the co-chair for the Regulation and Paperwork Reduction committee. Rowena and her company were able to win numerous awards over the years, including the coveted Blue Chip Enterprise Award in 1994, and the Women Business Advocate Award for Virginia and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Small Business Administration in 2004.

In terms of community service, Rowena always believed that those who give back to the community will be rewarded abundantly. For many years, she was particularly involved with the Girl Scouts of America, as well as with the charity For Kids, a private agency whose mission is to "Break the cycle of family homelessness". At the same time, she mentored other women business owners, donated considerable time and product to charities.

Rowena recently sold Rowena's to local businessman, John McCormick, who is proud of the legacy she left behind; Rowena’s Kitchen will continue to honor her memory and commitment to outstanding service, gourmet foods and a healthy and vibrant local economy.

Cabin Creek Roasters

Monty Ruckman started roasting his own coffee after swearing never to drink bad coffee again after 21 years of bad U.S. Navy coffee. With increased demand for his coffee and four years of experience Cabin Creek Roasters began business as a small volume, specialty coffee roaster located in the beautiful Shenandoah County. After the coffee is roasted, it is immediately bagged in high-quality re-sealable UV resistant bag with a one way CO2 escape valve. It also protects the coffee from moisture and oxygen and once opened the air can be pressed out through the valve to extend freshness.

Here is what they have to say about Coffee:The taste of coffee (characteristic) can vary greatly, depending on where and under what conditions the beans are grown, as well as the roast profile applied to them. The characteristics of the bean can depend on everything from the type of coffee tree they are grown on, to elevation, or rainfall; how they were picked and prepared, and where and how they were dried. Every single step of coffee cultivation can drastically change the flavor of the bean. The plantation workers, the earth, and even the weather have all contributed to the natural unique taste this bean will carry. By the time the green (raw) beans have reached our Roastmaster, they already carry within them the characteristics to make a unique flavor of coffee.

 Not every coffee is roasted to the same level (style). Our Roastmaster finds the perfect roast style to enhance each coffee we import, so that each has its own taste, and is discernible from our other coffees. Roasting will not only bring forth the natural flavors and oils from within the bean, but it will also add a roasted flavor ranging from an essence of light cinnamon to a bittersweet caramel smoky flavor. It is the job of the Roastmaster to celebrate and honor the beans’ attributes with a perfect roasting recipe and then to recreate that same roast consistently. The roasting process is a lot of what sets good coffee apart from exceptional coffee.

We have chosen Cabin Creek Colombian Supremo coffee for our gift baskets and boxes. It takes the place of First Colony coffee which is no longer roasted in Virginia.

A Cup of Hot Chocolate, S’good for What Ails Ya, Part 3

Cocoa's perceived medicinal value made chocolate a natural product for apothecary shops. It was considered nourishing for the sick as well as an aid to digestion and was believed to promote longevity, help lung ailments, energize the body, cure hangovers, suppress coughs, and, as mentioned, stimulate the libido. For that reason, the Virginia Almanac of 1770 cautioned women against it, warning “the fair sex to be in a particular manner careful how they meddle with romances, chocolate, novels, and the like,” especially in the spring, as those were all “inflamers” and “very dangerous.”“This was very much ignored. Women were the main consumers of chocolate. It was this sexy reputation that caused chocolate to become associated with love, Valentine’s Day, sinful pleasures, and decadence. Ben Franklin recommended chocolate as a cure for smallpox in Poor Richard’s Almanac of 1761; Doctor Benjamin Rush did the same in his medical texts.

Thomas Jefferson thought chocolate would overtake tea and coffee as the American beverage of choice. In a letter of November 27, 1785, to John Adams he wrote, “The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain.” In this he was mistaken. Chocolate drinking would soon decline...... in favor of chocolate eating.