Company unveils red celery

Duda Farm Fresh Foods hopes the celery, which will be sold under the brand name Celery Sensations, will give a 'colorful crunch' to salads and dips.

By

Reuters

Mon, Oct 18 2010 at 12:22 PM

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Research & Innovation, Farm Bill, Science

Celery breeder Larry Pierce holds red celery in a field

SEEING RED: Celery breeder Larry Pierce holds red celery in a Salinas, Calif., field. Pierce started the red celery project in 1991 and developed it from a European heritage variety using natural breeding methods. (Photo: Duda Farm Fresh Foods/AP)

MIAMI - A Florida-based produce company is looking to titillate the eye and the taste buds by offering a new red-colored celery to give a "colorful crunch" to salads and dips.

Celery producer Duda Farm Fresh Foods unveiled the celery variety, to be sold under the brand name Celery Sensations, at the U.S. Produce Marketing Association's annual Fresh Summit Trade Show in Orlando, Fla. on Saturday.

The company said its researchers developed the milder-tasting red salad vegetable by cross-pollinating an existing green commercial variety with an old-world heritage celery root, or celeriac variety, whose original heirloom seed could be traced back to Eastern Europe.

"It has the same great crisp, fresh flavor as regular celery," Duda Farm Fresh Foods' President Dan Duda said in a statement.

(Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Stacey Joyce)