Posted on 10/17/2010 8:42:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Colorful, Crunchy Veggie To Debut In Stores In December
Is America ready for red celery? A Florida produce company thinks so and has bet consumers will bite on the colorful crunch of its new product.
Red celery will hit selected supermarkets Dec. 1 - in time to add some eye-catching color to holiday tables, said Dan Duda, president of Duda Farm Fresh Foods, which was set to unveil the new celery at a produce industry trade show in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday.
"It's bright, it's red, it's different, it's unique," said Duda, who added that it has the same flavor and crunch of regular green celery. It was nearly 20 years in the making, he said. One of the family owned company's celery breeders, Larry Pierce, started developing it in 1991, working off a European heritage variety using natural breeding methods. Jean Ronnei, who oversees the award winning school meal programs of the St. Paul public schools, said the new celery could be a "perfect fit" for her cafeterias, which run "coolest new veggie" contests to encourage students to try fresh produce.
"We do eat with our eyes," Ronnei said, adding that she hoped it would be priced low enough for the school lunch market.
"If there are efforts under way to jazz up veggies, I'm all for that," she said.
Red celery will be test marketed first on the west coast and in the northwest and southwest, Duda said. It will carry a premium price that will vary by location as they gauge how much extra shoppers are willing to pay. It will be rolled out nationwide sometime later. Duda declined to go into much detail about the company's marketing plans for competitive reasons and would not say which retailers would carry it or specify which cities.
American consumers used an average of just over 6 pounds of fresh celery per person last year, compared with about 8 pounds of fresh carrots, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture. The 2009 celery crop totaled 1.97 billion pounds, with a total value of $364.8 million.
Based in Oviedo, Fla., Duda Farm Fresh Foods says it cultivates 39,000 acres of produce in Florida, Georgia, California, Arizona and Michigan and ranks as one of the world's largest celery producers.
Catsup is Elizabethan English. It used to be vinegar, herbs, spices and sometimes mushrooms. It survives as Eastern North Carolina vinegar-based barbecue sauce.
I had no Idea that there ever was a non tomato based version of Ketchup.
Ketchup is a Malaysian dish. It used to be pickled fish.
I think it was designed for kids, it was supposed to taste the same, but for some reason the idea of Blue Katchup was just not appealing to me so I never tasted it. I dont think it lasted very long anyway.
I hate celery.
“.......duda......duda.............................
it’s=its
Now it can hide in a bloody mary...
I LOVE celery, and cannot stand the foul slimy concoction foisted upon the public as a foodstuff called “ranch dressing”.
Nellie, I appreciate your disdain for celery, and would never try to force you to eat it in any form. I can only feel badly for you that you cannot enjoy the interesting variety of stimuli that eating a stalk of that veggie brings.
OCC, after trying evey style of ranch “flavoured” foods I dared, I can honestly say that I will eat 3 week old tuna before anything with the descriptive “ranch” EVER passes my lips again.
That stuff is FOUL, and if some moron manages to get celery to taste like that crap, I guarantee that nobody in my family or circle of friends will EVER buy that stuff when I am on the guest list.
Did I mention that I CANNOT STAND ranch dressing?
Hah, I was thinking the same thing!
While I can’t say I hate celery, it ain’t a favorite. I really can’t understand its sanctified role in the French trinity of aromatic vegetables called mirepoix. Mirepoix is used as a base in any number of sauces; since carrot is another member of the trinity, celery can’t be included just for its crunch. But what other flavors or “aromatic” behaviors does it exhibit? Vaguely sour but flavorless to my palate and absent to my nose.
I have a hunch that fennel bulbs would be a far superior component in mirapoix.
Doesn’t look like it adds anything but color to a salad.
If it tastes the same I’m not going to buy it at a premium because it has a slight of hue of red.
Now if they could make it taste like prime rib....!
Camp town ladies sing their song,
All the duda day...
All the duda day,
All the duda night....
“Did I mention that I CANNOT STAND ranch dressing?”
I can’t either...except for homemade.
1 C. Mayo
1/3 C. Buttermilk
1 tsp white vinegar (I just use a capfull)
2-3 cloves of minced garlic, depending on size and personal taste (I use a garlic press or just throw it in the food processor)
Mix well and add
Chives- I use a small handful of dried (2T)
Parsley- likewise
Mix gently and refrigerate. It’s called Ranch but nothing like the bottled stuff. It’s the best salad dressing I’ve ever had. It’s been a huge hit and after having it, I can’t eat bottled Ranch dressing. It’s just gross.
Sounds like the purple carrots that Texas A&M tried out.Bombed miserably
Evidently, to some people, celery has a *bite*. My husband is one of them. I wonder if it is those folks who are called *super tasters*?
I learned early on while cooking, to use a small amount of celery in anything cooked. A little goes a long way. This is doubly true for celery leaves, IMO.
However, fresh celery adds crunch to various tuna, chicken, potato and egg salads. It does add liquid, though.
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