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.

Pork Barrel BBQ

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. They have won many awards. In November 2010 they received their biggest honor to date by being named one of “The 125 Best Foods for Men” and the Best BBQ Sauce in the Nation by Men’s Health magazine. They were also named one of the Best Barbecue Sauces in the Country by Country Living Magazine in July, 2011! We include Pork Barrel BBQ Sweet BBQ Sauce in many of our Virginia Gift Baskets. Enhance your meat with this delightfully, deliciously bipartisan American favorite for pork, beef, poultry and fish, our 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 offer a combo of two of their award winning sauces, the Original and the Sweet with the BBQ Spice Rub through Smithfield Marketplace.

National Barbecue Month so now's a good time to tell the story of Pork Barrel BBQ, the story of the American Dream. The journey began in early 2006 during a heated budget debate in the United States Senate. Two fatigued Senate staffers, Brett Thompson and Heath Hall were working late into the evening and discussing the late night food options on Capitol Hill. While dreaming of a tasty barbecue dinner and wishing there was a good barbecue joint in Washington, D.C., Senators were engaged in a debate over the merits of pork barrel spending. Suddenly an idea popped into their heads, an idea that is now a reality – Pork Barrel BBQ.

In June, 2008, after weeks in the test kitchen we convened the first meeting of the Pork Barrel BBQ Kitchen Cabinet and asked our Kitchen Cabinet members to rate six variations of what would become our initial product. After several hours of eating, Cabinet members narrowed down the six variations to their two favorites, liking different flavor elements from each. With the blessing of the Kitchen Cabinet, their first product – Pork Barrel BBQ’s All-American Spice Rub – was finalized and ready to take the barbecue world by storm. In December 2008, after months of working through the world of starting a small business, Pork Barrel BBQ was officially founded. It was their goal to prove that the free market was still the greatest path to success for a small business and that it was still possible to grab a piece of the“American Dream".

 In June, 2009, they formed the Pork Barrel BBQ Competition BBQ team and entered their first contest, the Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle in Washington, DC. At this contest we unveiled our first BBQ sauce, Pork Barrel BBQ Original BBQ Sauce, in the Nation’s Best BBQ Sauce Contest and took second place.

In July, 2009, began retail production of award winning Pork Barrel BBQ Original BBQ Sauce. In September, 2009 ABC aired their first appearance on Shark Tank which would take Pork Barrel BBQ to a whole new level moving us from a regional to national company almost overnight. On the show we were able to strike a deal with New York real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, who became the first outside investor in Pork Barrel BBQ. We also made our first appearance on Fox & Friends, getting the chance to smoke a few hundred pounds of meat at the Fox News headquarters in New York City.

In January of 2010 they headed to San Francisco to attend our first Fancy Food Show. At the show we official launched our Pork Barrel BBQ Sweet BBQ Sauce to rave reviews. They also had the opportunity to ring the closing bell at the NASDAQ with the Shark’s from Shark Tank.

In January, 2011 they returned to the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco in mid-January where we introduced our third BBQ sauce, Pork Barrel BBQ’s Mustard BBQ Sauce.

June of 2011 was a huge month for Pork Barrel BBQ – we went off the beaten path of barbeque products and introduced Que, the world’s first barbeque scented fragrance to rave reviews. Que is “An Intoxicating Bouquet Of Spices, Smoke, Meat And Sweet Summer Sweat.”

Nov. 29, 2011 Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant opened in Alexandria, Virginia where you can try their national award winning pulled pork, ribs, brisket, chicken and exclusive Pork Barrel BBQ brisket sausage. In the future, they pledge to stay true to their mission – to unite the nation through the great tradition of BBQ, and bring bipartisan flavor to your next meal.

April 28 is James Monroe's Birthday - 5th President and a Virginian

Monroe was the third of the first five Presidents to die on the Fourth of July; John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had died on that day five years earlier. Thousands of mourners followed his hearse up Broadway in Manhattan to the Gouverneur family vault in Marble Cemetery, while church bells tolled and guns fired at Fort Columbus. Monroe's body was later moved to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Monroe was the second of five children born to Spence and Elizabeth Jones Monroe, "small" planters who raised tobacco on their 600-acre farm. Initially educated at Parson Campbell's school in Westmoreland, Monroe studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1774 until he enlisted in the Third Virginia Regiment in 1776.

James Monroe came to the presidency as one of the most qualified men ever to assume the office. Monroe's fifty years of public service began with his election to the Virginia General Assembly in 1782. Subsequently, Monroe served in the Confederation Congress and in the first United States Senate; was twice Minister to France, once to Britain and to Spain; served four one-year terms as Governor of Virginia; and became President James Madison's Secretary of State and Secretary of War during the War of 1812. Monroe's greatest achievement as a diplomat was the final negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

In 1799, James Monroe and his family moved into their Albemarle "cabin castle," adjacent to Jefferson's Monticello. For twenty-four years the Monroe family's home was the Albemarle County plantation Highland.

In 1799, James Monroe and his family moved into their Albemarle "cabin castle," adjacent to Jefferson's Monticello. For twenty-four years the Monroe family's home was the Albemarle County plantation Highland.

Elected President of the United States in 1816 and in 1820, James Monroe resolved long-standing grievances with the British, acquired Florida from the Spanish in 1819, and proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Somewhat optimistically labeled the "Era of Good Feelings," Monroe's administration was hampered by the economic depression brought on by the Panic of 1819 and by the debates over the Missouri Compromise that same year. Monroe supported the American Colonization Society, which established the nation of Liberia for freed blacks. Its capital was named Monrovia in his honor. Monroe himself was tom between his belief in the "evil of slavery" and his fear of the consequences of immediate abolition.

When his presidency ended on March 4, 1825, James Monroe resided at Monroe Hill, what is now included in the grounds of the University of Virginia. He had operated the family farm from 1788 to 1817, but sold it in the first year of his presidency to the new college. He served on the college's Board of Visitors under Jefferson and under the second rector James Madison, also a former president, almost until his death.

Monroe had racked up many debts during his years of public life. He sold off his Highland Plantation (now called Ashlawn-Highland. It is now owned by his alma mater, the College of William and Mary which has opened it to the public as an historic site.

Today, visitors can tour the fifth president's home, which was recently refurbished based on new research and inventory lists. Original and period French and American furniture, boxwood gardens, and a 535-acre working farm await visitors. Reconstructed using archaeology and a 1908 photograph, the slave quarters stands alongside two original outbuildings. Children especially enjoy the resident cows, sheep, chickens, and peacocks that complete the working farm atmosphere. Throughout the year there are many special events such as the Virginia Wine Festival, Ash Lawn Opera Festival, Plantation Days, and Christmas festivities.