Treats for a Winter Day

Saturday morning I woke up to a snow covered wonderland, the second big snow this winter. It has been many years since this has happened. Off to breakfast to warm up and enjoy the snow coming down. On a snowy day when it is cold out I like to enjoy waffles and hot cocoa for breakfast. It was one of those days on Saturday. I always have on hand Byrd Mill Raspberry Pancake and Waffle Mix to have with Puffenbarger Virginia Maple Syrup. Then it's time for a warm cup of hot cocoa and a cozy blanket while watching the snow come down. What a treat! After all the shoveling is done, another treat to enjoy is snacking on chocolate covered Virginia peanuts. What a way to end a magic day! Check all these great Virginia foods at www.thevirginiamarketplace.com

National Peanut Butter Day

Jan. 22 was National Peanut Butter Day. Check out our Peanut Shop of Williamsburg Natural Peanut Butter as well as other peanut butter products..Peanut Straws, Peanut Butter Pie, Peanut Butter Brownie Pie, Southern Truffles, Peanut Soup and Peanut Butter Petit Fours. There are other holidays associated with peanuts and peanut butter. National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day celebrates the "PB&J" sandwich. It is celebrated April 2. Novenber is National Peanut Butter Lover's Month, March is National Peanut Month, June 12 is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day, and September 13 is National Peanut Day.

Peanut butter was first created by blending together ground shelled peanuts, vegetable oil, salt. The peanuts are first shelled, then roasted and the skins removed. Then they are ground into a smooth butter spread. Peanut butter must be at least 90 percent peanuts with no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives to officially be labelled peanut butter. It is sold as either "crunchy" or "smooth/creamy". It is popular in North America where it is used mainly as a sandwich spread, and a key ingredient in the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as well as peanut flavored chocolate bars. Peanut butter may also be aded to desserts such as cakes and biscuits. In some types of peanut butter, chocolate, jelly or other ingredients may be added.

Health Benefits: Peanut Butter may protect against a high risk of cardiovascular disease due to high levels of monosaturated fats and resveratrol' butter prepared with the skin of the peanuts has a greater level of resveratrol and other health-aiding agents. Peanut butter (and peanuts) provide protein, vitamins B3 and E, magnesium, folate, dietary fiber, arginine, and high levels of the antioxidant p-coumaric acid.

Fun Facts About Peanut Butter:
Peanut Butter is the leading use of peanuts in the USA.
It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
There are enough peanuts in one acre to make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.
Peanut butter was first introduced to the USA in 1904 at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis by C.H. Sumner, who sold $705.11 of the "new treat" at his concession stand.
Peanut Butter is consumed in 89 percent of USA households.
Women and children prefer creamy; while most men opt for chunky.
People living on the East Coast prefer East Coast prefer creamy peanut butter, while those on the West Coast prefer the chunky style.
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
The world's largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich was created in Oklahoma City,OK on Sept. 7, 2002 by the Oklahoma Peanut Commision and the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. It weighed in at nearly 900 pounds and contained 350 pounds of peanut butter and 144 pounds of jelly.
The patent for peanut butter was awarded to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in 1895.
Americans spend almost $800 million a year on peanut butter.
Americans eat enough peanut butter in a year to make more than 10 billion peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Americans eat 3 lbs. of peanut butter per person every year That's about 700 million pounds, or enough to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon.
The average American child eats 1500 peanut butter sandwiches by high school graduation.

We're Back to Blogging

We want want to wish all our customers a Happy New Year and thank you for helping us have a successful holiday season. Thanks for your support of Virginia products! Now back to blogging. There will be many new gift baskets in the holiday and regular section of the VA Marketplace gift baskets this year. So far we've added Virginia Gourmet Treasures!, two versions of Let It Snow!, one with Blue Crab Bay Stingray Bloody Mary Mixer!, Winter at the Beach! and From the Heart! 5 new baskets that premiered this January. Click here to see all our gift baskets and stay tuned for more basket additions.

The Super Bowl is coming soon. Celebrate an American tradition withVirginia foods. What does Virginia have to offer in foods? Peanuts and the Super Bowl are a must...we have salted, unsalted, seasoned, sweet and chocolate. Appetizers and the Super Bowl are another must have...try Blue Crab Bay Seafood (crab, shrimp, and clam) dips or Ham and Cheddar together is a crowd pleaser. Crab Balls are an easy pick up food.

What party would be complete without dessert? Rowena's Double Treat has enough cake and curds for a large crowd or try her Baby Bundt sampler with small cakes that are easy to pick up. Try some brownies from Silverland Brownies...who doesn't love gooey pick up food. These and lots more ideas are in our Super Bowl Snacks section, so celebrate the Super Bowl with Virginia foods.

What is Creamed Honey?

Over the last few days I’ve enjoyed Byrd Mill Lemon-Blueberry Scones with Monastery Creamed Lemon Honey and Byrd Mill Raspberry Pancakes with Monastery Creamed Almond Honey.

What is creamed honey? Creamed honey is not whipped honey. There shouldn’t be any air in your creamed honey. Creamed honey is controlled granulation of honey, which results in extremely small sugar crystals. The smaller the crystals the better the creamed honey. A good creamed honey should be smooth, not grainy, like velvet on the tongue. Also known as whipped honey, honey butter, or spun honey, it is simply finely crystallized honey that spreads like butter at ordinary room temperature, and unlike liquid honey, it doesn’t drip. All honey will eventually crystallize, especially if refrigerated. The crystals are typically coarse resulting in a gritty texture that is not especially pleasing to the palette and is also not easily spread. Many people are alarmed when they see liquid honey on their shelf do this and assume that the honey has “gone bad”. Gently warming the honey will restore its liquid state… Just think of the three states of water (ice, liquid, and steam...all different forms of water). And so it is with crystallized honey… it’s still honey. Fortunately, it is possible to control the crystallization of honey so as to produce a creamy texture that is easily spreadable and incredibly delicious. This process involves the introduction of finely grained honey “starter crystals” and control of the temperature. There are many nuances to the process that are closely guarded secrets; however, in the end, creamed honey is merely a very finely crystallized pure honey that spreads like creamy butter. That's the science behind creamed honey that you will immediately forget about when you taste some on a hot, buttered biscuit!

We get the creamed honey we sell from Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, VA is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Shenandoah River. Established in 1950, the Abbey is home to Trappist Monks. Members of the monastery live separated from day to day society in order to spend their days focusing on meditation, prayer and service. Contrary to popular belief, the monks do not take a vow of silence. They do, however, make a vow of personal poverty and live with limited possessions in a dormitory like setting. Though they live separately, they are not totally isolated from the community as guests are welcomed to visit the monastery for quiet reflection in the chapel any time from 3:15AM to 8:00PM or to attend any of the services. Trappist monks believe strongly in “living from the work of their hands”. Monks at the Holy Cross Abbey support themselves through the sale of creamed honey, fruitcake made from an old fashioned recipe, as well as fraters (fruit cake slices dipped in dark chocolate).

We offer six flavors of creamed honey, natural, cinnamon, brandy, almond, raspberry, and lemon, in assortments, gift boxes, gable boxes with just creamed honey or with mixtures of preserves, apple butter and creamed honey. We have gift baskets with just creamed honey, ones with a mixture of preserves and with are other fine Virginia products. Substitute Monastery Creamed Honey in any recipe calling for honey and you’ll wonder if it’s what might be served in "The Land of Milk and Honey".

A Visit to the Virginia Diner

This week the Virginia Diner salted, unsalted, chocolate covered an butter toasted Virginia peanuts dressed up in their holiday labels are arriving at The Virginia Marketplace.

You may not realize that the Virginia Diner really is an 80-year old family owned and operated diner and peanut business located in Wakefield, Virginia known for its home style cooking served up with plenty of Southern hospitality. In those days the little diner was a refurbished Sussex, Surry, and Southampton Railroad car. Being in the heart of peanut country, it wasn’t long before they were cooking peanuts and serving them in the Diner as their country version of “after dinner mints.” Today the Virginia Diner has been replicated and the old railroad car has become a legend, but its quaint atmosphere has been faithfully preserved and still reflects throughout the restaurant. Today, people all over the United States buy and enjoy many varieties of Virginia Diner peanuts and many send them to friends, colleagues, and family as appreciated gifts.

Last year I went to the Dismal Swamp canoeing and camping. On the way home I stopped to eat a buffet lunch at the Virginia Diner. They didn’t have their famous Peanut Pie on the buffet but I had to order it anyway. It certainly was delicious! Here’s a link to the Virginia Diner Peanut Pie recipe on our website. Virginia Diner is known to many as “The Peanut Capital of the World TM” and the locals call it “A Legend in a Nutshell TM”.

Hot Cocoa and Gingerbread, a Perfect Pair

When the weather gets cooler and the leaves start to fall it’s time to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa around a fireplace, or even better, around a fire outdoors. I also love to sip hot cocoa after I come in on a cool day. It always tastes especially delicious when the snow is falling.

When I drink my first cup of hot cocoa I think about how it is almost time to make gingerbread cookies to eat and to decorate the Christmas tree. I always get my cocoa and gingerbread cookie mix form The Virginia Marketplace. We sell award winning Steamer Hot Cocoa, an indulgent and rich combination of quality ingredients. The can of Traditional Hot Cocoa comes with an awesome old-fashioned picture of a horse and carriage. The can of White Chocolate Flavor comes with a gorgeous picture of ice skaters on a frozen pond. Woodpecker Farm Gingerbread Cookie mix comes from all natural, old Virginia family recipes. The mix can be used to make ornaments and gingerbread houses as well as cookies.

We sell the Steamer Cocoa Mixes and Gingerbread Cookie Mix by themselves and in gift boxes and gift baskets. I know that you or your gift recipient will enjoy the gingerbread mix and hot cocoa as much as we do. We found some perfect Snowman mugs to pair with our Hot Cocoa mixes, the perfect gift to send to your hot cocoa lover or yourself.

When I Met Rowena

When I went to the Fancy Food Show in New York I found out about Rowena’s. She makes gourmet cakes, curds, jams, and sauces out of Norfolk, VA. She offered us her signature Carrot Jam. We couldn't help but think how weird and hoped we could swallow it. To our surprise it was unusually satisfying, delicious and addictive. People tend to be skeptical that jam made from a vegetable can be any good, but its cinnamon clove taste wins them over. This jam has been the surprise best-seller at Rowena’s for 25 years. She also had us try some sugar free pound cake but didn’t tell us it was sugar free until afterward. It was so good we never would have known. Rowena’s cakes are not just wonderful to taste; they are shipped in a unique "spotted" shipping box and make welcome gifts for many occasions. The excitement begins the moment the beautifully decorated box arrives. Rowena feels she creates more than cakes; she creates happiness. We’ve been excited to sell Rowena’s gourmet offerings since we met her.


Rowena makes almond, lemon, chocolate, chocolate mint, and cappuccino pound cakes with and without curds. She also makes a Rose Shaped Cake, a Cranberry Torte and a selection of different Baby Bundt Cakes. She makes lemon, raspberry, and key lime curds, Heavenly Curry, Spicy Peanut Sauce and Devilish Mustard Sauce, and Peach Orange Clove Jam, Cranberry Nut Conserve and of course, Carrot Jam. She also creates sugar free almond, lemon and chocolate pound cakes and sugar free lemon and raspberry curds.

Here is some information about Rowena. Three backyard fruit trees and almond pound cake sparked what is today a thriving gourmet food business for Rowena Fullinwider, founder and president of Rowena’s, Inc, in Norfolk, Virginia. Fullinwider often baked for family, friends and church bake sales. People liked what she made and wanted to buy them. A friend offered to carry things in her store. After that, things just started to grow. She started with her almond pound cake, some jams and the lemon curd. As word spread about the “cake lady”, requests for Rowena’s specialty foods exceeded the capabilities of her kitchen. Rowena opened her gourmet manufacturing facility in May of 1983 and in 23 years, her facility has grown to 18 employees, a retail store, staff offices, call center, tearoom, two spacious kitchens and two warehouses. The Almond Pound Cake is to this day her biggest selling item.

Rowena and her company have won 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.

Rowena not only runs her successful business, but she also serves or has served on several boards (including president of the local National Association of Women Business Owners in 1996-97), mentors other women business owners, donates tons of time and product to charities, and gives tours of Rowena's to at-risk children. She lobbied Congress to help small business 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’s has been featured in national publications such as Lady’s Home Journal, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Taste of Home and Southern Living, and has appeared on Food Finds on the Food Network’s Food Finds, QVC, The 700 Club and The Today Show. Rowena’s is the first US small gourmet business to present at the Moscow World Food Fair.