Homegrown Virginia is putting “homegrown” back on the table in a big way. Last week Homegrown Virginia, in conjunction with Virginia Food Works and the Prince Edward Cannery, held a food tasting event to showcase local products for holiday gift giving.

Homegrown Virginia, headed by Allie Hill, and Virginia Food Works, directed by Emily Wells, offer commercial and co-packing services for local food producers and farmers at the cannery while Patty Gulick helps individuals prepare and process produce from their home gardens.

“The food tasting was a new event for the holidays to bring in local businesses and to get them to think about selling locally-produced products to their customers,” Prince Edward Cannery Manager Patty Gulick said.

Gulick, who took over as manager last summer upon the retirement of Lena Rose Huddleston, sees a growing demand for food grown on local farms and processed close to home.

“I’m finding that the 30 to 50-age group is more conscious and more aware of what their kids are eating now,” Gulick said. “They’re looking into producing their own food — growing it and finding a place like the cannery to process it. About 25 percent of the home canners we have are in that age group. They’re saying, ‘This is what I want to do, and I’ll be back!’”

Gulick believes a resurgence of home canning is definitely underway.

“It’s coming back,” she said. “Home canning was a big thing back in the 60s and 70s. That started dying off — a whole generation got away from that with fast food and microwaves and everybody’s lifestyle being much faster. Now it’s coming back.”

Gulick believes Prince Edward is fortunate to have its cannery facility.

“Canneries used to be everywhere,” she said. “There was one in Keysville and in Appomattox. They’re all gone now. I think the closest one is in Hanover, but it’s much smaller than ours.”

The size of Prince Edward’s cannery, in operation since the 1970s, came to the attention of commercial producers in 2010.

“About that time the county became interested in commercial food processing,” Virginia Food Works production manager Emily Wells said. “They hired Virginia Food Works as management for the commercial side.”

Virginia Food Works (VFW), Wells explained, acts as a middleman between local producers and consumers. VFW is a non-profit organization the works with existing and prospective producers from initial development to final production. According to Wells, food entrepreneurs can rent the cannery for an affordable hourly rate to process their products for resale.

Wells, who splits her time between an office in the Prince Edward Court House and the cannery, noted that there is always something going on.

“We do outreach to let people know about the commercial opportunities at the cannery,” she said. “We help food businesses make sure they’re in line with regulations and get inspected by the Department of Agriculture and the FDA. We’re the ones who supervise and make sure everything runs smoothly.”

The concept for Homegrown Virginia had a homegrown origin as well.

“It began with a group of canners talking about starting a business,” Buckingham resident Rita Dick said.

During the first few years Homegrown Virginia provided a service for other food producers.

“This year is the first time that the business has actually been purchasing its own ingredients and processing products to have its own product line,” Wells said.

Currently 16 specialty products — from applesauce to merlot jelly —have a Homegrown Virginia label.

“One of the advantages of Homegrown Virginia starting a product line is that we can pick and choose who to buy produce from,” Wells said. “The produce we’re buying is all from Central and Southside Virginia farms.”

In addition to Homegrown Virginia, a number of other local food artisans were on hand for last week’s food tasting at the cannery.

Lindi Copeland, of Po River Apiary in Spotsylvania, explained that she packages her Honey Habanero Sauce at the Prince Edward Cannery.

The honey she produces in her hives, she noted, tempers the heat of the habaneros.

“It’s good on crackers or for a party with cream cheese,” she said.

Jennifer Beckman, of Backpack Provisions, displayed the motto, “Grow local; drink local,” for her line of Bloody Mary mixes. Each of her three varieties has the decidedly homegrown taste of locally grown tomatoes and herbs.

While Gulick enjoys the commercial production side, she also likes working with individual gardeners and farmers who bring their produce to the  local cannery.

“Everybody’s always happy when they’re working here,” she said. “The old-timers will help the new ones along so they won’t be overwhelmed in doing such a large batch. Everyone’s excited about their produce and putting it up.”

Gulick recalled one regular canner who recently came in to make a large batch of potato soup.

“Her soup smelled wonderful,” Gulick said. “When I asked her about it, she told me she was making it so she could give it to the homeless.”

Gulick believes that all her canners, individual and commercial, prepare their products with love.

At Prince Edward’s Cannery, homegrown clearly means “all the comforts of home in a can.” It is a label every product wears with pride.

For information on Homegrown Virginia products visit www.HomegrownVirginia.com; for Prince Edward Cannery information contact Patty Gulick (434) 223-8664.