Pass the (Virginia) peanuts
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The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would like for you to know that Virginia peanuts are safe to eat.
Today, they put out a press release saying “Virginia peanuts, because of their superior quality, are generally sold as shelled or in-shell peanuts, and these products are safe to eat. They have not been implicated in the recent recall of manufactured products using peanut paste from a single supplier.”
VDACS has good reason to want people eating Virginia peanuts. According to the most recent data from the National Agricultural Statistical Service (2007), peanuts are one of the top 25 farm commodities in the state. During that year, there were 21,000 acres of peanuts harvested in our state for a total of $12 million in cash receipts.
Not to mention the fact that they are darn good. I don’t think I’ve had a peanut I enjoyed as much as the big, jumbo salted Virginia peanuts that always show up at our house during Christmas. Ironically, the latest issue of Cultivate, the Virginia Farm Bureau magazine, features a cover story about a Prince William County couple who own a chocolate shop called Chocolaterie Wanders. They make chocolates using almost all Virginia products. Not surprisingly, one of their favorite Virginia products to incorporate into the chocolates is peanuts!
Support Virginia farmers and don’t turn down those peanuts.
February 11, 2009 - 10:40 AM
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I love the Virginia Diner. My sons school did a fund raiser through them and it was the first time I saw people actually get excited at their turn to look the order form.
I love the Virginia Diner too. We used to always stop there on our way to the Outer Banks in the summer. I have been ordering from them for the past few years from friends at work, whose kids are selling their peanuts for school.
Those are good peanuts. We’d get them from time to time when a salesman would give them to Mom as a gift. Delicious!
“Virginia peanuts, because of their superior quality” heh Okay, a little over the top. But hey, they are darn good!
My parents gave me a tin when I first moved here. I gladly dove in. And who woulda thunk that Virginia could rival Georgia in this commodity?
Now my husband would rather buy boiled peanuts from the side of a small florida road. But that’s just him. TomatOes, tomAtoes – right?
num num!
I also love the VA Diner peanuts! I like the “gourmet salted VA peanuts.” They are HUGE and are they ever delicious. The Salem HS band does a fund raiser w/ them each year, and our son was in the band all four years he went there. We had lots of them around! And Greg is right, it’s actually a fund raiser that people are happy to order from! I’ve also seen these peanuts for sale in certain stores, Northwest T.V. Hardware has them at least some times.
Dennis! Did you get my message about the key lime pie? I can’t track down that recipe and I want to share it with someone!
Hi Lindsey! No I didn’t, sorry…did you email me? We were gone a week, Thurs. the 5th til Thurs. the 12th. But I was able to check email while gone. Anyway, here it is!
1- 6oz graham cracker crust
1- can Eagle Brand milk
1- 8oz package cream cheese (room temp.)
1/3 cup- key lime juice
1- tsp vanilla ext.
1- fresh lime
Let cream cheese stand until soft. Mix softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in milk. Add key lime juice and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Pour filling into crust, then grate lime peel
to garnish top of pie. Chill several (3-4) hours and serve. (For a larger pie use a deep dish crust and double the recipe except for the lime peel!)