Picard's Peanuts sells many different products (i.e., chocolate, jams, corn nuts, almonds, pistachio's, etc..). However, what caught my eye were the Ontario-grown peanuts. Apparently, Mr. Picard has been growing peanuts in Lasalette, Ontario since 1979--Lasalette is located somewhere between Woodstock and Simcoe. There are 90 to 100 acres planted every year in mid-May and harvested in mid-September. Who knew that there were peanut farms in Ontario? I didn't know that!
Anyways, I thought that was a really cool find--check out their website http://www.picardspeanuts.ca/ . They have locations in St. Jacobs, Woodstock, Waterdown, Talbotville, Brantford, etc..
The stores also sell local Ontario peanut butter or if you'd like to make your own they have the machine there to do it. Unfortunately it was out of order when we visited the St. Jacob's store.
Another product that I found at the store was Ontario Popcorn. It's an actual corn cob that is popped into popcorn in the microwave!
A family owned business since 1985, 'Uncle Bob' grows and sells Ontario popping corn out of Walsingham, Ontario, which is located south of Tilsonburg and Simcoe. There are many varieties to choose from and you can even order online!
According to their website (http://www.ontariopoppingcorn.com/) Almost all of the popping corn sold in Canada comes from American sources. They also mention that there are two disadvantages to the popular bagged popcorn--(1) as it all comes from the U.S., it must be fumigated to comply with Agriculture Canada's regulations, and (2) there is evidence that paper fibers from the bag liner migrate into the popped corn during the time that the bag is in the microwave.
I made the popcorn tonight and I was very pleased. It tasted great and there were absolutely no hard bits in my popcorn. Because it's being popped right off the cob the hard bits stay on the cob and you're only left with the popcorn. I definitely recommend this product!
Note--the popping corn is sold at all Picard Peanut stores and I also saw some at the Arva Flour Mill yesterday as well.
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