Why We Grind Our Own Peanut Butter with Virginia’s Finest Belmont Peanuts

Founding Farmers prides itself on making everything we can from scratch with high-quality ingredients sourced from farmers we know and trust. We know it makes everything from our food to our spirits more delicious. Our house-ground Virginia peanut butter is a perfect example of why scratch-made cooking is so much better.

We start with the very best peanuts we have ever tasted from Belmont Peanuts, a small, family farmer-owned company in the Southeastern region of Virginia, known as the “heart of peanut country.” They grow, harvest, dry, and roast gourmet Virginia cocktail peanuts. Delicious on their own, we knew these peanuts would make the very best peanut butter that we could then use to make our beloved desserts and treats – including our Founding Farmers Chocolate.

The Marks family began as a small, mail order Virginia peanut business relying on generations of farming experience with a commitment to good environmental practices and nurturing the soil. Peanuts are in fact a sustainable crop that provide essential, natural nutrients to the land. They joined forces with the Peck family who have years of expertise roasting peanuts. Together, the two families have created something very special. In the words of roaster David Peck, “We are small enough that we cook every peanut by hand, just the way I was taught so many years ago. No automated equipment is used to cook our nuts, just one batch at time, plain and simple.”

Led by our culinary leader, Chef Joe, we grind these high-quality Virginia peanuts in house and use them to make some of our guest favorites. For example, our Virginia Peanut Butter Mousse Pie has been one of our most popular desserts for years. This pie is an ode to peanuts and chocolate with a rich, decadent layer of peanut butter mousse, covered in chocolate, and topped with handmade whipped cream.

To celebrate and honor the Virginia peanut, we didn’t just stop at pies. When we started making our own Founding Farmers Chocolate several years ago, we decided to make a line of Candy Bar Classics, the originals but better, because they are made from scratch with high-quality ingredients you recognize and can pronounce. One of our very first chocolates was our Virginia Peanut Butter Cup. Available in classic milk or dark chocolate, our take on this popular candy bar has been a menu winner since the first day we started offering it.

Another guest favorite can be found on our breakfast menu. Kids and adults alike love our Peanut Butter Banana Toast

atop scratch-made ciabatta with our Virginia Peanut Butter, our very own marshmallow fluff, shaved chocolate, and honey-roasted peanuts. This dish is hands down worth a trip to any of our restaurants for breakfast to enjoy this scratch-made treat.

Please stop by any of our restaurants, including our sibling restaurant, Farmers Fishers Bakers DC, to taste of any or all of our offerings showcasing our house-ground Virginia peanut butter. We are certain you will agree that grinding our own peanut butter with gourmet Belmont Virginia peanuts is well worth it.