In 2009 we helped the Smude family with a start-up loan to build a 'seed oil crushing facility' on their farm. Great things have been happening since then! The following is an excerpt from the Star Tribune’s June 3, 2011 article, “The Taste 50”:
On their Pierz, Minn., farm, Tom and Jenni Smude are making a Minnesota-made cooking oil, and a superior one at that. After switching out soybeans for 500 acres of drought-tolerant sunflowers, the entrepreneurial couple imported German-made equipment and began producing their cold-pressed, filtered, hand-bottled product. Their gamble has been a win-win situation. Not only have the Smudes created a fragrant, amber-tinted sunflower oil, but their process also turns byproducts into feed for the farm's 400 head of Black Angus cattle.
On the market for just over a year, Smude's Natural Sunflower Oil is catching on with chefs and cooks across the state, including chef Marshall Paulsen of the Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis, who has been going through "a ton" of it since he discovered it last fall, using it for sautéing as well as embellishing the restaurant's popular granola. At home, he mixes it with lemon juice and splashes it on greens, or blends it with butter when preparing eggs. "It has a complex flavor, and it tastes a little more nutty when it's cooked a little," Paulsen said. "The bottom line is that it tastes great. I met the guy, and I liked him. That goes a long way."
Way to go, Tom & Jenni!
On their Pierz, Minn., farm, Tom and Jenni Smude are making a Minnesota-made cooking oil, and a superior one at that. After switching out soybeans for 500 acres of drought-tolerant sunflowers, the entrepreneurial couple imported German-made equipment and began producing their cold-pressed, filtered, hand-bottled product. Their gamble has been a win-win situation. Not only have the Smudes created a fragrant, amber-tinted sunflower oil, but their process also turns byproducts into feed for the farm's 400 head of Black Angus cattle.
On the market for just over a year, Smude's Natural Sunflower Oil is catching on with chefs and cooks across the state, including chef Marshall Paulsen of the Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis, who has been going through "a ton" of it since he discovered it last fall, using it for sautéing as well as embellishing the restaurant's popular granola. At home, he mixes it with lemon juice and splashes it on greens, or blends it with butter when preparing eggs. "It has a complex flavor, and it tastes a little more nutty when it's cooked a little," Paulsen said. "The bottom line is that it tastes great. I met the guy, and I liked him. That goes a long way."
Way to go, Tom & Jenni!
To learn more about Smude Enterprises visit their website www.smudeoil.com.
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