May 8, 2024
I wasn’t sure what “Duck Nuts & Duck Salt” were when I saw a jar recently. I had heard about them and knew they came from a small town called Louisburg, Kansas. But that’s about all I knew. I picked up a jar recently and then reached out to the owner Jerrod Nelsen who told me a heckuva story. Well worth telling.
Jerrod’s good friend Matt Deighton originally founded the company. Matt was from Visit Greensburg, Kansas and did some cool things…particularly after the F5 tornado destroyed the town. He wrote a few children’s books that included his beloved dog Mollie. If you go to the website you’ll see a photo of Matt and Mollie. And after the tornado, when Matt and other residents were living in communal-style FEMA trailers, his “duck salt” became well known. One kid called it “Duck Tape” as it “made his mom’s food taste better.”
So we are clear — No ducks are harmed in the process of producing “Duck Nuts.” The concept of “the Duck” for “Duck Nuts” comes from Matt being part of a river rafting crew called “Duck 8.”
Unfortunately, Matt passed away in 2022. And his good friend, Jerrod, who gave me some of this background, eventually took on ownership of Duck Nuts.
To this day, 3% of the company’s net profits go toward charitable causes. I checked out the website and you can even nominate a charity to go back to. In the words of Jerrod — “Matt was such a good guy and gave so much of his life to helping others…we’ve had our fair share of challenges, but hope he’s proud of what we’re doing.”
So…the next time you need some nuts in your life, and I’m not around…seriously give this place a shot. It’s Kansas owned and run by a guy in a small community in Kansas. That’s great. They have some other products including seasonings.
I do know there are places you can pick Duck Nuts up at. And I’m sure you could ask your local grocer to carry them if you’d want to. I found mine at Jacob Liquor Exchange in Wichita. I’ll post the website in the comments.
— TKG
