RICHMOND, Va. -- When you think of Virginia's finest food and drink, you might think of Virginia ham, Virginia oysters, and Virginia wine.
But Marshall Rabil suggests Virginia peanuts should be atop that list.
"There are a lot of different products that Virginia is famous for, that I love," Rabil said on the September episode of the Eat It, Virginia podcast. "But you can't argue that there's a state that produces peanuts better than we do. I think that Virginia started the peanut game in the mid to late 1700s and we are still on top of our game."
Rabil should know a thing or two about peanuts.
His grandparents, Dot and HJ Hubbard, started Hubbard Peanut Company, which you may now know as Hubs, in Sedley, Virginia, back in 1954.
"My great-grandfather had a little peanut farm," Rabil shared. "[Dot] was picking peanuts out of her father's peanut farm and had a unique way of cooking them. She would pick the largest one she could find, and she'd soak them in hot water, and she'd fry them in oil. It's called blister-fried cooking. That was kind of the way that we would cook around Southampton County. But she would give them to her college friends and folks in Farmville as gifts. And then people were like, man, Dot, these things are fantastic. We need more of these. And so my grandfather kind of had the business idea, and they kind of talked and went out on a limb and took a very small loan, and they started Hubs."
Rabil also shared family lore about why the Hubbards charged more for their product than the well-established Planters peanuts (also from Virginia).
"[HJ] would go to the local pharmacies and hardware stores, and there was already some competition in place as you can imagine, in Virginia, we do peanuts well, but there was one company Planters that was established in the early 1900s. But what was different about Planters and Hubs — and this is the way he pitched his product, was: 'Hey, our peanuts are twice as big because she's picked the largest one she can find. He said, 'I think they taste twice as good, so therefore they should be twice the price.' So we were selling dime bags of Hubs sitting next to nickel bags of Planters. And that's how the specialty industry of peanuts was born in the kind of the gift quality level of peanuts."
Fast forward 70 years and the family's next generation continues to market and sell specialty, gift-quality, peanuts from rural Virginia.
Rabil said the combination of quality Virginia peanuts and Virginia people contribute to Hubs' success.
"Great people around us. It's been a real community business, even from the inception," he said. "Dot would work with local ladies here in Sedley to help her skin peanuts. We had Vernon Parker was our cook for over 50 years. We've got people in our production line, Stella, for example, was on the filling machine for 43 years. David Benton came in the early 90s and worked, and he just retired in May. So we've been surrounded by a great team of people who have made a career out of this."
"I think we've got a good product, and people in Virginia help us spread hubs around the country by giving it to friends. And you know, that's it, really," he said.
To show off its community, Hubs helped organize the Homegrown Harvest Festival.
The festival, which takes place October 4-6, is a showcase for restaurants and food purveyors in that part of Virginia.
"I've been in Charleston, New York, I think Richmond is really growing as a food destination. I think it's going to be known as one of the greatest places to eat in the country. It's slow. I mean, the restaurant scene has really popped off, but I don't think that Tidewater, Virginia gets the credit that it deserves as the culinary destination with the bounty of ingredients that we have from the Chesapeake Bay and the ocean and all of our farms and the farmers that are raising animals sustainably," he said. "So I always wanted to work with chefs and bring a party to Southampton County and Franklin. And so last year we created this festival to benefit the Food Bank and the CROP Foundation. And this year we've kind of expanded it."
Click here for ticket and schedule information.
Other topics discussed on this episode of Eat It, Virginia include:
- A new bagel place in Richmond (2:30)
- The opening of Toast at Scott’s Walk (5:10)
- Gelati Celesti Turns 40 (6:25)
- The opening of Southern Kitchen at Stony Point Fashion Park (10:40)
- The thought process behind Richmond restaurants offering (or not offering) reservations (11:40)
