“My grandmother’s ‘Welcome to North Carolina’ gesture during my summer visits there was to let me help her make peanut brittle on the stovetop,” says Brian Noyes, founder of Red Truck Bakery in Marshall, Virginia, and author of the new Red Truck Bakery Cookbook. “My first job as a youngster was to simply stir, though she ultimately taught me and trusted me with every step of the process.”
“Whenever we need peanuts for a recipe, we grab a tin of Belmont Peanuts off our own retail shelves. Grown and roasted by Patsy Marks and her family on their farm in Capon, Virginia, just above the North Carolina border, they have a bold buttery flavor and an underlying savory sensibility,” he says. “The Virginia variety is the largest type of peanut, so they add a satisfying crunch to complement the brittle’s crackle.”
