IBNEWSWIRE
November 9, 2009
Gwen Poth
Dee Dee's Gourmet Cheese Straws Now Available
Nationwide
A Charlotte woman who turned her hobby of baking
gifts for family and friends into a successful culinary
business has taken her enterprise nationwide at www.ddgourmet.com.
Donna "Dee Dee" Norton, a mother and grandmother, founded Dee Dee's
Gourmet Cheese Straws in 1999.
For
many hostesses, cheese straws are an essential component of appetizer trays.
Norton has set a new standard
for cheese straws through the use of high-quality aged real sharp cheddar
cheese and a unique hand-blending
process with special seasoning. She has created a cheese straw unlike most
on the market featuring a rich,
buttery flavor with a spicy Southern zing. Norton's secret blending technique
also creates a perfect, crispy
crunch.
Norton says, "The
biggest compliment, and the one I hear most often, is when people tell
me my cheese straws remind me of their grandmother's. That is exactly our
intention and I am thrilled beyond words that after many
years of growing Dee Dee's Gourmet Cheese Straws by word of mouth, we have
built the company to deliver
Dee Dee's Gourmet Cheese Straws coast-to-coast."
Dee Dee's
Gourmet Cheese Straws are available in a variety of sizes. In plastic re-closable,
tamper-proof containers, the cheese straws are sold in 4.125 oz., 8.125
oz., 14 oz. and 1.5 lb containers. In tins, they are
available in 8.125 oz & 12 oz. Dee Dee's Gourmet Cheese Straws are also
available in a smaller size straw
called "Little Gemmies" that are approximately 1" in length
and approximately 1.66 grams per Gemmie and are
available in the same packaging options listed above.
For additional
information on distribution, private label or custom-label personalized
corporate gifts please contact Marc Singer, Cherie Richie or Donna Norton
at 1-980-207-1071. Product samples and high-resolution
images are available upon request.
About Dee Dee's Gourmet Cheese Straws:
Dee Dee's Gourmet Cheese Straws, a family owned business based in Charlotte,
N.C., bakes savory snacks
made from the highest-quality aged cheddar cheese. For more information,
visit www.ddgourmet.com.
The Shelby Report is a tabloid size newspaper
circulated to food and non-food buying influences throughout the US, including
chain and independent supermarkets, superettes, and conveniences stores;
price clubs and dollar stores; their headquarter and division executives,
buyers, merchandisers, and select managers; wholesaler headquarters/buying
office and sales, supervisors; rack jobbers; service merchandisers, and distributors.
Circulation also includes manufacturers (nationwide), food brokers, advertising
agencies and others concerned with the sale and promotion of products and
services sold through food national markets.
Belmont
Woman Looks to Mass-produce Cheese Straws
Oliva Neeley / Gaston Gazette
September 2
Donna "Dee
Dee" Norton knew she either had to stop doing what she
loved or start producing on a larger scale.
Her dream has now become
a reality with the help of her son and sisters as they search
for a manufacturing building to make her famous recipe of gourmet
cheese straws by the bulk.
"Our goal is to put
them in upscale stores and Gift Shops.," Norton said.
If you think she stops dreaming big there, think again. "Ultimately,
we would like Oprah to find them and name them on her favorite
things," she said.
Twenty-five years ago,
her Pennsylvania neighbor who was originally from Virginia
gave Norton an original old-fashioned cookie press to make
Southern cheese straws. Their bond of the South brought them
together and in return gave Norton a chance to perfect the
Southern delicacy —even if it was in Bucks County, Pa.
After she moved back
to North Carolina and then eventually to her hometown of Belmont,
Norton began to create her gourmet cheese straws again for
family and friends. Word spread from county to county and soon
Norton was making as many as 1,000 pounds of her gourmet cheese
straws in one Christmas season alone. Her hands were tired
but she knew that people in surrounding areas were counting
on her famous delicacy as gifts.
Until 2006, Norton still
used the same cookie press that her neighbor had given her
years earlier.
"I cranked it for a long time," she said. With the
help of another friend who was an engineer, they together solved
the problem of grinding by hand. "Together
we devised a machine that helped motorize the process," she
said. "It made the process faster and I was able to keep
up with the high demands." Norton had already
been selling her cheese straws at The Buttercup in Charlotte,
a high-end gift boutique on Providence Road.
As people became acquainted
with her Southern delight, they just couldn't get enough. '
"People like mine because of the shape, the cheesiness
and they have a spicy kick to them," she said. Even though
most Southern cheese straw recipes can be found anywhere, Norton
has her own secret components to her version of the Southern
delicacy. "I have my own tweaks to the
recipe," she said. So while you might not be able to get
them at local chain food stores just yet, Norton believes that
you will be able to one day.
Cheese
Straws Likely in Dee Dee Norton's Oven
Leigh Pressley
Charlotte Observer / Gaston-Lincoln
So
you think you have a lot of holiday baking to do?
Try stepping into the
kitchen of Donna Norton who will bake nearly 1,000 pounds of
cheese straws this holiday season. 'This mother of three and
grandmother of nine sells hundreds of bags of "Dee Dee's
Gourmet Cheese Straws" through high-end boutiques like
The Buttercup in Charlotte's Myers Park neighborhood.
"This time of year,
I bake cheese straws from morning to night," she says. "I
get up very early and I work all day"
For all of ya'll who
don't know about these delicious baked snacks, they're a common
Southern party food, often served with cocktails, iced tea
and other beverages.. Cheese straws are usually served during
holiday parties, but true cheese straw loves eat them all year
long!
Although some cheese
straws are rolled and flattened into discs, traditional cheese
straws are prepared with a cookie press to create the long,
straw-like shape. "Some are curved, but
mine are straight and long with ridges on them," says
Norton. "They're cheesy and spicy, and can be made hot
or mild. Mine are somewhere in the middle."
Ironically, it wasn't
until Norton moved north that she learned to make the Southern
cheese straw. While living in Pennsylvania Norton received
a cookie press from a neighbor who grew up in Virginia. The
cheese straw recipe was created by her friend's mother.
"I started making
them for my family and friends. People wanted to know
where I got them: They couldn't believe I made them.
It just grew by word of mouth."
Norton's connection with
The Buttercup came about when her daughter worked there and
told the owner about her mom's delicious cheese straws. What
was once a holiday hobby became a business venture when the
shop owner wanted cheese straws to sell to well-heeled customers.
After few years, demand
grew so that Norton could no longer create hundreds of pounds
of cheese straws with a hand-cranked press. To streamline the
baking process. a mechanical engineer friend helped her design
a motorized tube with an extruder that pushes the dough out
of the press and onto a cookie sheet. Norton controls the mixing
and pressing with a pedal.
Now Norton's sister,
Gracie Harding of Belmont,. helps with the business occasionally,
as do other family members.
Eventually, Norton hopes
to sell her cheese straws in gourmet grocers such as Dean & DeLuca
and Reid's Fine Foods.
Norton can't help but
try the competition when she finds cheese straws in places
like Harris Teeter. She says the secret to her success is expensive
cheese that costs more than $4 for 10 ounces. "It's
a real biting, extra-sharp, fine cheese," she says. "And
in a pound recipe, I use a pound of cheese. I know it sounds
braggadocios, but the ones I've tried from local stores just
don't taste like mine. Everybody says if you eat one
of my cheese straws, you can't go back to those."
-Leigh
Pressley, who grew up in Gastonia, is a freelance writer.
