Durkee is an American brand of

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

marinade Marinating is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. The origin of the word alludes to the use of brine (''aqua marina'' or sea water) in the pickling process, which led to the technique of adding flavor b ...

s, and powdered sauce mixes owned by

B&G Foods B&G Foods is an American branded foods holding company based in Parsippany, New Jersey. The company was formed in 1996 to acquire Bloch & Guggenheimer, a Manhattan-based producer of pickles, relish and condiments which had been founded in 1889. ...

. Durkee Famous Foods was established by Eugene R. Durkee in 1851.

History

Durkee's was established by Eugene R. Durkee, the founder of E. R. Durkee & Co. Spice dealers in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, in 1857. By 1917, the company had built a four-story industrial structure in Elmhurst, Queens. As of 2021, the company has a major production facility in

Ankeny, Iowa Ankeny (, ) is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States and a suburb of the state capital of Des Moines, as part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Ankeny was 67,887, m ...

. Which is the actual home of what was Tone Brothers Spices (Owned by Rykoff Sexton at that time) Currently owned by B&G Foods who own Durkee brand. Durkee became the largest factory and employer in Elmhurst, with over 300 employees, primarily women. E.R. Durkee died in 1926, leaving everything to his daughters. Since the 1980s the company has had a series of owners, and in 2016 it was sold by ACH Food Companies, a subsidiary of

Associated British Foods Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major pr ...

, to

. Glidden Co. purchased the firm in 1929, and it became Durkee's Famous Foods, a division of Glidden Co. Glidden merged with SCM Corp (formerly Smith-Corona company) in 1967, and Durkee became the Glidden-Durkee Division of SCM. The Company was sold in 1986 and was subsequently absorbed into a larger-food processing conglomerate. In 2007, the building was renovated and became the Elmhurst Educational Campus, which hosts three separate high schools. The company's Durkee Sauce is sold at Court Street Grocers in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and served on their Turkey + Durkee sandwich in the "mustardy, vinegary, mayonnaise-based" sauce concoction.

References

External links

* American brands Brand name condiments {{Food-product-stub