Tasty Boiled Peanuts from Margaret Holmes.

holmes peanutHungry for boiled peanuts? Why not try the Margaret Holmes brand, which is sold throughout the Southeast at stores like Publix.

The story from the website says that in the early 1930s, Ed Holmes of Sandersville, Georgia, began canning white acre peas and squash in his kitchen, under the watchful eyes of his wife Margaret.

She was “very meticulous” and only permitted the freshest vegetables to be canned. Holmes named the business after his wife.  They eventually moved out of the kitchen into a factory within sight of their home. With son David, they added black-eye peas, crowder peas, butter peas and field peas. The Margaret Holmes’ line expanded into a very recognized regional label that began in Georgia but moved into Alabama, Florida and the Carolinas.

What other brands like Margaret Holmes could evolve today? One big problem is that food inspection regimes around the U.S. would not allow the sort of evolution from home kitchen to farm factory. Just think of the permits and the inspectors! Would be entrepreneurs would either have to do some civil disobedience, or rent a church kitchen.

To find out more, see the McCall Farms website.

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

1 Comment

  1. Great can food .Especially the mixed greens! surprisingly good

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