Wow! We at Duda Farm Fresh Foods are really excited to see how much interest our DANDY celery straws are generating in cyberspace. Over the past week we have seen a lot of information generated about our product and we think we should weigh in on the discussion in order to answer some of the questions we’ve seen and correct some of the information that has been posted.
First of all, our DANDY celery straw is not engineered in any way. It is a naturally-grown celery stalk with a hollow core. Using traditional plant breeding methods, we cross pollinated one of our own celery varieties with a hollow-stemmed wild celery – found on one of our farms in Texas. The results of this cross were selected again and again and re-crossed with traditional celery until a larger, more mild-tasting, hollow-stemmed celery was produced. It has taken a number of years to develop the celery straw we have today.
While we are very proud of our celery straw, it is by no means as sleek as the photos we have seen floating around on various blogs. Our celery straw still resembles a stalk of celery – just a hollow stalk. Photos are available if you would like to post them on your site.
For those of you who are interested in knowing how to get your hands on our straws, we are still test marketing this product to find the right channels for distribution. We have seen definite interest from both the foodservice and retail areas and we are actively pursuing both markets. Our main push will be through foodservice outlets and we will continue educating buyers for hotels, restaurants, and other high-end, premium market places about the benefits of this specialty item: it is unique; environmentally sound; a healthy alternative to a straw; adds taste to any drink it is paired with; and is versatile - piped with any filling, it can be served as an appetizer.
Foodservice and retail buyers can contact us at celerystraws@duda.com. And, we encourage all you consumers out there to ask your retail and foodservice suppliers to start offering DANDY celery straws. Have a DANDY day!
First of all, our DANDY celery straw is not engineered in any way. It is a naturally-grown celery stalk with a hollow core. Using traditional plant breeding methods, we cross pollinated one of our own celery varieties with a hollow-stemmed wild celery – found on one of our farms in Texas. The results of this cross were selected again and again and re-crossed with traditional celery until a larger, more mild-tasting, hollow-stemmed celery was produced. It has taken a number of years to develop the celery straw we have today.
While we are very proud of our celery straw, it is by no means as sleek as the photos we have seen floating around on various blogs. Our celery straw still resembles a stalk of celery – just a hollow stalk. Photos are available if you would like to post them on your site.
For those of you who are interested in knowing how to get your hands on our straws, we are still test marketing this product to find the right channels for distribution. We have seen definite interest from both the foodservice and retail areas and we are actively pursuing both markets. Our main push will be through foodservice outlets and we will continue educating buyers for hotels, restaurants, and other high-end, premium market places about the benefits of this specialty item: it is unique; environmentally sound; a healthy alternative to a straw; adds taste to any drink it is paired with; and is versatile - piped with any filling, it can be served as an appetizer.
Foodservice and retail buyers can contact us at celerystraws@duda.com. And, we encourage all you consumers out there to ask your retail and foodservice suppliers to start offering DANDY celery straws. Have a DANDY day!