Hot Dogs, All Grown Up

Hot Dogs All Grown Up
By Steve Viuker,
Special to TheStreet.com
The Frank Dog, A Beefy Classic
Summer's certainly the time for dining al fresco, although it need not be at a fancy cafe table or on a linen picnic blanket. Indeed, some of the season's finest offerings can be eaten out of hand: a hot dog and an ice-cream cone Food snobs, put those noses back down: The latest offerings in both these worlds are increasingly upscale, organic and lovingly hand-crafted.
Americans eat almost $2 billion worth of hot dogs a year. However, in the past four years sales of packaged organic hot dogs have increased sharply. Although they've been around for at least a decade, this new breed of hot dogs tastes better.
And they're better for you -- instead of relying on sodium nitrates for color, texture and shelf life, organic hot dog makers substitute celery juice, lactic acid and sea salt.
The amount of packaged hot dogs sold has dropped by more than 6% over the past four years, to 772.4 million pounds from 825.8 million pounds. Organic hot dogs, although still a tiny slice of the market, have boomed -- during the same period, the number of pounds sold has increased 21% to 1.2 million.
These are boutique hot dogs, made in smaller batches from nearby herds, in keeping with the local, sustainable food trend as a better economic and social choice than mass-marketed foods.